On Saturday we headed north to Mt. Gilboa which lies right on the border of northern Palestine and Israel.  Paul and I, and Dave and Emily set off at the crack of noon in search of Shirsh Zallouh, also known as Ferula hermonis Boiss…wild mushrooms!

A group from the Embassy went about 3 weeks ago.  We hoped to mimic their trip, simply put:  find and collect mushrooms, sauté them with onions, and enjoy with a great bottle of wine.

This is what we were looking for...not what we found.

The mission was….............a complete failure. 

We got to the site (or what we thought was the site – Mistake #1) at about 130pm.  We were all hungry so we had our gourmet picnic lunch before the hunt.  (It was delicious and a lot of fun.  We had roasted red pepper tapenade, caramelized onions, Jerusalem bread, goat cheese, fresh dates and a bottle of Spanish rioja!)  The guide said to take a basket (like little red riding hood) to put the mushrooms in so the dirt and spores fall back to the ground.  Well we aren’t professionals or anything like that – so Dave carried a reusable grocery bag and Paul has a glow-in-the-dark pumpkin bucket.  Haha.  We spread out and searched the field, all four of us staring at our feet looking for fennel.  Yes, fennel.  Wild fennel.  (These mushrooms grow ONLY at the base of wild fennel plants.)  Mistake #2 – you shouldn’t be looking down for wild fennel.  It is about 5 feet high with bright yellow buds on top and wispy leaves all around.  You can’t miss it.  So if we didn’t see it in the field in the first 5 seconds we should have moved on.  It was like the hunting for sunshine in a cave.

We decided to drive a little further up the road and 5 minutes away Emily spotted a fennel plant (and remembered what they looked like.  The rest of us were basing our search on a google image displayed on a BlackBerry with no concept of scale.).  We quickly parked the car and ran into the field with renewed spirits!  No mushrooms.  This was the last weekend of the season and the Bedouins had probably already been through to collect these mushrooms close to the road…so we pressed onwards into the field.

Israel is usually very brown and dry and dead – but this is winter, or the rainy season, so things are as green as they get right now.  The fields were knee high with random weeds and grasses, some of them prickly, but despite this challenge (and my fear of snakes or other small creatures crawling in the grass where I wouldn’t see them) we persevered.  Emily and Dave and I found an orange tree and – happy to have some fruit to show for our 2 hours of efforts – we picked 6 or 7 oranges.  Mistake #3 – you should try one before you pick the next 6.  There are more varieties than we see in the grocery store and this isn’t Florida.  These were sour like lemons with really tough peels and lots of strings and seeds.

Anyway…no mushrooms in this field so we pressed on to a hill covered in fennel.  Rewind – the fennel in this field was only as tall as the other brush, so you couldn’t see it until you were on top of it.  So we press on.  To conquer this hill which we are sure will have mushrooms, we split up and scour the base of every fennel plant we can. 

Nada.  Nilch.  We are losers.  In my mind, the Bedouins won.  As we turn to leave, giving up our hopes of wild mushrooms, Paul yells out “I found one!”  (So it wasn’t a failure?!)  No…still a failure.  The mushroom was big…and slimy and wilting and full of little bugs. 

Okay…on a more positive note.  The mushroom part was a failure, but we had a great lunch!  It was a lot of fun and now we know where to go and what to look for next year.  And we know that we have to go at the beginning of the season.  The best part – as we were leaving it was close to sunset (but not yet dinner time) and a friend had told us of this great restaurant which happened to be right across the street from our little field.  We thought we’d try it out. 

We walked into this cute cabin with low ceilings and wood all around (which is odd for Israel given the general lack of trees.  Most construction is done with cement.).  After about 10 minutes they seated us outside on the patio, overlooking the valley.  Before they served the food, the sun set.  Beautiful!  The waiter put down a large placemat on our wood table and in English it explained how they use local food that is in season and try to let the flavors of the food shine (not covering them up with sweeteners or sauces) – perfect!  Despite not finding mushrooms, it was a very fun day filled with delicious rich food!  I can’t wait until next year when we can do it again…AND find mushrooms!

To the Bottom of the Earth

Last weekend (before the work retreat and the Palestinian fashion show) we embarked upon a journey to the bottom of the Earth!  We didn't go alone, we took our friends with us :)

On Friday night we packed up our backpacks with all of the essential camping gear (tent, sleep bags, water purifier, headlamps) and the lightest food possible (couscous, granola, peppers, and lots and lots of water).  I consider these trips to be like a workout boot camp - we hike up, we climb down, we carry 30lb bags, then we eat just veggies and whole grains, and not very much of them because they are too heavy to carry all that way.  Is the best weight loss plan I can think of because you really have to choose between the chocolate bar and a clean pair of underwear.

We parked our car on the side of the road in the middle of the desert and headed up the first hill (pictured above) and got our first view of the Dead Sea, our destination just 6.2 miles away...on the other side of the desert.  I'll admit that I have a slight fear of heights and the first climb down took me much longer than the rest of the group. 

The area around the Dead Sea is...well...dead.  We only saw a few flowers (which smelled great!) and one or two small green oasises where water once collected.  It was beautiful to go up and down and in between massive rocks and cliffs, noticing the change in the color or the shape as we went along. 



Waterfall below. This is where the two trails "cross."



Israelis are really into hiking (but not camping) so they have books and webpages devoted to marking trails.  These are mostly in Hebrew so they are useless to us.  But there is one good site in English.  The trail guides generally haven't been updated in a few years so the first "waterfall" was dry this time and last time the "river" was really a dried up rock bed.  There are also cultural differences such as the time when "family friendly" included a 10 foot climb up a rock face.  For the most part this guide was good - but the trail itself was like walking through the desert...it was walking through the desert.  Every step gave you more and more desert. This trail guide said at a certain point two paths crossed.  My plan was to take the easy path and avoid the "400 meter steep slope down" which would be "difficult."  Well, the paths crossed, but we were at least 20 stories above the easy path with no other way down than the "steep slope." 

I was a little slow and shaky, but when we finally reached the bottom we found the waterfall and stream with plenty of time to set up camp, collect fire wood and start on a delicious dinner.  In the morning we followed the stream to the Dead Sea.  Our friends headed back to Tel Aviv and Paul and I headed to the beach for our first dip in the Dead Sea (more on this later).  After a swim we showered off and as the sun was setting we headed North in search of another camp site.  Though I usually plan FAR in advance, I had no clue where we were going (hopefully not too far or it would be dark and we would end up in the West Bank).  "What was that? Is that a trail?  Will you see if I can pull the car off the road there?" 

We pulled a U-ey and carefully exited the road onto the sandy/rocky ground.  As soon as our car was a safe distance from the traffic we grabbed our gear, threw on our head lamps and headed up the mountain/cliff.  The sign at the trail head said "no diving" so we figured there must be water - which would mean life and thus firewood....and hopefully some flat ground so we didn't sleep on pointy rocks! 

On the way up we saw our first Ibex!  Actually our first three!  The family was very suspicious of us and we didn't have time to grab the camera, the sun was setting and we had no clue where we were going or what we would find on top.  Lucky for us, when we hit the plateau there it was:  a beautiful green oasis with one live tree and one dead tree!  The ground was comparably soft with no rocks and best of all - we had an amazing view of the sunrise in the morning!  We got sooo lucky! We had enough firewood for 4 hours, there were no lights around so we could see the most beautiful starry night, and because it was the desert we didn't have to worry about wild boars or vultures.  The downside to this camping spot was that - as a green oasis it is the feeding ground for the Ibex....and the ibex....use the restroom where ever they are.  Long story short:  we smelled pretty ripe in the morning when we arrived at our work retreat!



Sunrise Over the Dead Sea - from our tent.



Hiking the Golan: Take 2

To take advantage of the long weekend we decided to try hiking and camping in the Golan Heights again, this time with a map, a trail and designated (safe, vulture-free) campsite. While the online guide said that the hike was family friendly (read: easy) it promised spectacular views of a waterfall and beautiful flowers. The guide lied....at least in part.

We did find AMAZING views of the Sea of Galilee from about 5 miles away, gorgeous fragrant flowers in the midst of dry plains, a waterfall and more! The part it lied about was the difficulty. I don't know what kind of superhero Israeli family could hike 8.8 kilometers up the mountain, down the mountain, forge the river and not lose the oxen or the cart! (Oregon Trail?)

We were following the "red hamburger" - two short fat white lines and a red one in between. Every 10 to 20 yards a hamburger is painted on a rock or landmark to let you know where to go. After the first 15 beautiful minutes of hiking the hamburger disappears. To the right: a river. Ahead: Thick bush. To the left: a wall of boulders. Hmmm... where is that red hamburger? Ah..yes, of course. 15 feet above us on the top of the boulder pile. Climb!!

Continuing on our quest to make it to the camp site before sunset, we came upon a barbed-wire fence with a small metal door frame, with barbed-wire around the frame...and a metal bar diagonally blocking out the door. As Paul approached to try to squeeze through the small opening with his large hiking backpack, the bushes on the other side began to grunt. This was not a friendly grunt if such a thing exists, but a wild boar marking his territory type of grunt. While Paul wanted to rush in to see the boar, Jen wanted to be safe (and have time to take out the camera). Jen won, but Paul really had the better idea and all we have to show for this story is a footprint in the mud.

Continuing on, we came a 92ft deep fresh water pool! It was cold and oh so refreshing after 2hrs of hiking. Because we knew this was coming we had prepared with propper hiking/swimming atire, allowing us to enjoy the most refreshing swim ever! A short while later the river became a little wider and suddenly fell 200 feet into another beautiful pool. The promised waterfall.

Scared of the wind in the night?

Scared of the wind in the night?

Not really…but it could be a giant centipede…or a Philistine Viper…or a wild boar (did you see Bear Grylls try to take one on?)…or an Ibex. But it was none of these things that woke us up at 11pm and then again at 4am. It was something else…


Paul and I rented a car and drove north along the border with the West Bank, over the Jordan River and towards Syria. We hiked for the day at a national park and saw some beautiful flowers, cliffs and the ancient city of Gamla.

As the sun began to set we scoped out “camp sites” near the Dalyot River. We didn’t see many others in this area – just their tracks. Although, we did have to walk part of the trail behind these slow-pokes!


Anyway, at about 5pm we ate dinner – the delicious roasted eggplant pasta I’d made for us the night before – and headed to our site. Besides a few birds there was no sign of life. So we pitched a tent, started a fire, and watched the sun set. Star gazing until about 7 or 8pm, we decided to go into the tent (read: Jen was scared). I don’t know what time we went to sleep, but a few hours later we were awakened by the sound of something brushing our tent. The sound your big brother makes when he is trying to scare you. But Dusty is in California – not the Golan Heights. A little frightened (read: scared to death!), we start to think: Maybe it is just the night wind...or one of those giant centipedes we saw earlier. But then again, maybe it is one of the Philistine Vipers…or a wild boar! Oh my gosh, what if an Ibex is trying to get at our apples!!!

Paul grabs the clock (read his Blackberry) and we see to our dismay that it is only 11pm – we were hoping for sunlight, this is pretty scary! Eventually we go back to sleep. 4am – the tent is shaking again!!! Oh my gosh…oh my gosh. Snakes and Ibexes and boars – oh my! No…it is a RAPTOR! We are camping across the valley from the raptor/vulture observatory. There is a giant vulture perched on top of our tent. Ah… we waited him out, got another few hours of sleep and packed up camp. (P.S. I have the most amazing sleeping bag ever! Thank you Marc & Gaspar!)

On the way home we stopped to see the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee in Capernaum (Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.) and passed the Mensa Domini church where Jesus appeared to the disciples and told doubting Thomas to feel his wounds. Next we trecked up the Mount of the Beatitudes but couldn’t really see it because those jerks charge you money to get in – and they don’t open the gates until 8am (it was like 715am). So we decided to take a short side trip and see Nazareth.

We went to mass (in Arabic) at the Church of the Annunciation where the angel Gabriel told Mary she was with child. Then we walked through Josephs old shop (more so we saw it from above – it is partially excavated and they let you look down into it). After some falafel we headed back home – and now we are exhausted. One quick note though: I never had anything in the States that resembled falafel and…I LOVE IT! Hmmmm!