Checkpoint

Good Morning, Afternoon, or Evening to you! Today was my adventure into the West Bank!

However, last night I spent safely inside Israeli borders with my Swiss room mate. He knew of a bar with good food, so we hung out at "Mike's Place" which, as it sounds, was a somewhat American joint with the slogan "Your home away from home". Although I usually try to avoid American places when I travel, I was too hungry and tired to try to find another place. I had a nice burger with cole slaw and mashed potatoes. Don't worry, though, I'm back to the felafel diet again. Haha

This morning I got up and began my quest to the West Bank. After hearing my Swiss friend's advice, I decided to see both Bethlehem and Jericho today, instead of just Bethlehem. To get there and around Palestine was an experience in itself. First, I needed to find a way to get to the checkpoint between Israel and Palestine. For that, I looked around for half an hour for what are called Service Taxis- big group shuttles for cheap. I found one, paid my money, and left once the van had been filled. Almost immediately after leaving the station, an Israeli policewoman flagged us down and got on board to check our ID's. After that she let us go and we drove the 15 or so minutes to the checkpoint.

Now, when I say "checkpoint", what I'm referring to is a 30 or so foot high concrete wall with barbed wire fencing on the top and watch towers all around. It is reminiscent of a maximum security prison or, more poignantly, the Berlin Wall. We got dropped off at it and had to pass through, by foot, the border check, where they again looked at our ID's. On the other side, after passing through many a yard of graffiti-ed wall, I was faced with the problem of finding a way into Bethlehem. I was immediately surrounded by about 30 taxi drivers offering me rip-off deal after rip-off deal. Eventually, they realized that I was not going to budge, and one of them took me to Bethlehem for 15 shekels, although he pressured me to pay him to take me everywhere else along the way. In Bethlehem I visited the main sight first- the Church of the Nativity.

As the name suggests, this church is built on the location where Mary gave birth to Jesus. There is a shrine-like thing under the nave, and the church is entirely dedicated to it. I had arrived early, so there were not too many tourists around. It was a serene monastic basilica. Then it was off to explore the town.

One thing about the West Bank is that not only is it entirely Arab (Israeli's aren't even allowed into Bethlehem), but it is very poor. Walking through the streets, I could tell that the people there did not have it as good as the Arabs in Jerusalem. This shows also by the prices of things. A Coke in Jerusalem, for example, is about 6-7 shekels, while in Palestine it's around 3. I took all of this in as I walked around the main street of the old town part of the city. Not wanting to leave so soon, I also stopped by the Milk Grotto, which is a cave-like chapel near the Basilica where allegedly Mary stopped to breastfeed the baby Jesus.

I returned once again to the Church of the Nativity, where by coincidence I ran into the two German army men from the hostel. They had recently arrived, and I decided to tag along with them, since transport around the West Bank is mainly by taxi and thus it becomes easier in groups. We grabbed some ultra-cheap felafels and went in search for a way to get to Jericho.

At the bus station, we were told that there were no buses to that area, but there were (you guessed it!) service taxis. It took a while to find them, but when we did we haggled for a little until we agreed to pay 20 shekels per person to Jericho. That wasn't the end, though, since we had to wait about 45 minutes for the taxi to fill up.

The drive to Jericho was absolutely astounding. To get there we had to go down some very steep roads in desolate landscapes, seeing the land get progressively drier and more dead. It was incredible that anyone wanted to fight over this ugly land, but it's theological and theoretical importance is what matters. From the taxi I got a view of the Dead Sea, but not for too long. We had to pass through 2 Israeli checkpoints and one Palestinian one to get to Jericho, although they did not take too long and they didn't check all of our ID's.

The taxi, when we arrived in Jericho, dropped us off in the center of the city, leaving us three to figure out how to get to our main destination- the Mount of the Temptations, where Jesus was tempted three times by the Devil when he was in the midst of a 40-day fast. We had two choices pay 35 shekels to take a cable car, or haggle with a taxi. Luckily, a man who "did tours" came up to us and we convinced him to take all three of us up to the mountain for 15 shekels round trip. After waking up his 5 year old son who was sleeping in the back and dropping him back at home, he drove us the 15 minutes to the mountain. We climbed to the top, which is a Monastery, but found that it was locked. No matter- we spent the hour up there enjoying the view and chatting.

We got back to the city center and then had the task of finding, yet again, transport. This time it was to go home. We found a group taxi that would charge us 12 shekel to get to the main checkpoint outside Jerusalem, so we took it. The drive should not have been that long, but we got stuck in, you guessed it, the checkpoint to get out of Jericho for 20 minutes. They checked out our passports and wished us "a pleasant journey". After emerging from the deep valley where Jericho, the world's deepest city, was we got kicked out of the taxi and directed to another service taxi that brought us back home, sweet home, for 6 shekels.

All in all it was an amazing trip, one of the most interesting days so far. The culture in the West Bank is so foreign and the challenge of travelling was new. It was definitely sobering, though, to see all these checkpoints that undoubtedly get in the way of everyday Palestinian life.

Tomorrow is my last day in Jerusalem, and I'm planning to meet up with Romy, a friend from Scottsdale, who is on her Birthright Trip. Also, I think I may change my itinerary and have two days in Switzerland! I'll keep you posted. Sorry about the lack of photos- technical difficulties.

Stay Classy!