Day 5 - My Favorite!

Shacharit at the Maktesh Overlook

I am not necessarily a morning minyan person, but one think I will not pass up is the morning Shacharit service at the overlook of the Maktesh, which makes getting there at 6am for sunrise worth losing even several hours of sleep!  The sun comes up over the eastern end of the crater creating magnificent hues of pastels to deep rich golds.  There is always at least one visiting gazelle family, the occasional orthodox davener, a plethora of spandex clad biker Jews laying tefillin and donning their tallit, and of course a drummer or two from the Israel Ride.  Words cannot describe the beauty and the spirituality of this very special half hour, and this year Nigel Savage of Hazon did an outstanding job of leading us in prayers of gratitude for the miracles of life and our universe.   

As the sun rose in the sky, sleepy bikers all converged on the spot and following a group photo the most magnificent descent of the trip began.  Biking down the steep, snaking road into the Maktesh is by far one of the most magnificent sights and exhilarating drops of the week.   For safety sake, we are let down one at a time and eventually all of us are biking through this unusual geological formation.  At the rest stop, we are treated to an explanation of what exactly the Maktesh is.......it is NOT a typical crater!  Hadas, our tour guide, describes the erosion which caused the crater's formation (not a meteor) over thousands and thousands of years......using a crembo to demonstrate!  Crembo are Israel's answer to a mallomar.  Graham cookie disk topped with gooey, sweet white marshmallow cream all covered in chocolate, it is the perfect texture to demonstrate the earth's crust (chocolate coating) and soft ground.  And its really delicious too!

This day on the ride is definitely my favorite, although it is also the most grueling.  The downhills are stupendous, but the uphills are daunting too.  But the highlight is riding through the Negev desert.  There is something so awesome about biking through the arid desert, rolling with the terrain, noticing the lack of vegetation in most places and the sparse vegetation where flooding occurs during the occasional rain.  We even have to put up our portable "ladies room" screen for a semblance of privacy, since the terrain and lack of vegetation offer none of their own. The vista's are amazing and put human life in perspective.  We are visitors here - wanderers in the wilderness.  Moses and his tribe wandered for 40 years.  In 2 days of biking we get a mere taste of what the harsh environment has to offer.

Our own private portable stall!

Our lunch stop is at an Ashram in the middle of the desert, and the food spread is most welcome, as are the hammocks!

After riding over 50 miles through the Negev, we are treated to a stop at Neot Smadar - an organic goat farm cafe selling delicious, COLD, REFRESHING goat's milk ice cream and iced coffee.  Yummmmm.  Shortly thereafter comes our final descent of the day - a huge 1200 ft drop down a snaking road to the Arava Valley.  The Edom Mountains of Jordan shimmer in the heat in the distance, the blooming valley opens up below, and we pump our brakes non-stop to arrive safely at the bottom of the hill.  Two miles later we are greeted at Kibbutz Ketura, home of the Arava Institute, with cold drinks (beer!), snacks, fruit, warm smiles and open arms.

It's been a long day, and I can hardly stay awake for dinner and to meet and greet the current students.  I'm not sure, but I think I left for my assigned room in the middle of a conversation and fell onto my bed.  Apparently, I slept right through a huge wind and rain storm!