Yam L'Yam

On Sunday morning we left for Yam l' Yam (literally meaning Sea to Sea). This three day hiking trip was crazy, but a lot of fun. We hiked from the Mediterannean Sea to the Kinneret with 38 Habo Australians, South Africans, and New Zealanders. I guess it would make more sense to call it Yam l'Bus l'Yam since we took a bus from the campsite to where we would begin the hike each morning. Some people were frustrated that we weren't doing the full, complete hike, but I didn't mind. I still think hiking from the Mediterranean to the Kinneret is quite an accomplishment and I had a great experience even though we couldn't shower for 3 days or use a proper toilet.

It was really awesome meeting the other English speaking members of Habonim Dror who were on shnat (their equivalent of workshop). My hiking group was mixed between my workshop kvutza, the other workshop kvutza and Habo Australians. Other groups had New Zealanders and South Africans, but at the end of each hiking day we got to be with everyone. 

On our first day of hiking, everyone met up at the Mediterannean for a brief tekes (ceremony), where we filled up a bottle with water from the sea. We then got on the bus to take us to our starting hiking location. They didn't tell us that the hike would include walking through several streams, so my hiking shoes got soaking wet and didn't dry until Monday. Midway through the day, my friend Sarah Kravinsky and I had to go to the bathroom, and so we found this decrepit, old stone building built into the mountain with a little opening that acted as a doorway. for the rest of the hiking trip we took great pride in ourselves for being so good at finding peeing locations. We hiked until about 5 in the afternoon and then went to our campsite and pitched tents. Sara B, Liat, Lindsey and I all pitched our tent, just to realize that we were missing the poles that were supposed to hold our tent in place. We then went back to get another tent, which then had "broken poles" labelled on the side of the tent bag, so we had to get ANOTHER tent. Luckily the third tent was intact and we were able to move our stuff into the tent (finally!!). Habonim Dror North America (plus our one Brit and one Dutchie) were in charge of doing dinner toranut. Some of us served the food, some of us wiped down the tables after dinner, and some of us cleaned the pots and pans. Dinner was this watery carrot and potato soup which wasn't very good at all, and then burgers which were good. I helped clean the dishes after dinner was over. The campsite we were at had only one  water spicket, so washing all the pans and pots was pretty difficult, especially because it was already dark out by then. The Australians then ran a tochnit erev (night activity) for us, but I was super exhausted and decided to just go to bed since we had wake up at 6 the next morning. 

On Monday, we hiked up Mount Meron. We couldn't go to the very top because there is a military base situated there, but it was pretty cool anyways. After hiking was over for the day, we went to a campsite, but this time it was situated way high up and was freezing cold. I wore my leggings, sweatpants, t shirt, chultza tnua, and sweatshirt and was still cold. Our tent was on a slope and so I kept on curling into a tiny ball at the bottom of my tent in my sleep. The next morning I woke up in so much pain, but it quickly went away when I started hiking again. We climbed down mount meron and then up a smaller mountain where the bus was waiting for us. We then went to the Kinneret and swam with everyone! It was so annoying putting in my contacts every morning before hiking, not showering for 3 days, not using proper toilets, not getting enough sleep, sleeping on rocks, and eating too many carbs to count, but swimming in the Kinneret at the end made up for it. I felt so dirty but having accomplished yam l' yam with the rest of workshop and the Aussies, New Zealanders, and South Africans felt amazing. 

Now it's our weekend and I am looking forward to traveling this weekend with some friends!