Exploding Cows

Another early morning and this time off to the Golan Heights for an off road Jeep adventure tour.  Along the way, we spotted a wild boar and gazelle along the road. We were met on a kibbutz by a man named Erez who looked like a Jewish Jesus. He led us to his 30 year old defender Jeep and we all piled in. Once out the of the kibbutz, we headed to a military zone near the Syrian border to look around. Apparently Erez had special clearance to be here and we were instructed not to take photos of any tanks or personnel. He led us through the mountains, past mine field after mine field, telling us not to worry, just don't step on the grass. He told us stories about seeing cows accidentally step on land mines and explode into bits and pieces. Of course though, he explained, it mattered whether it was a tank mine or an anti personnel mine as to how many pieces it exploded into. He also told us the time he saw a wild boar step on a land mine and explode as well. (This guy was quite the character.)

Anyhow, we made sure to stay on the dirt paths and saw some decoy tanks meant to throw off the opposition. (Although, he admitted that they had been there for 50 years so probably weren't such a surprise to the Syrians anymore.)

Our first stop was at the Syrian border fence. He let us know that until about a year ago, we would not have been able to do this because of Hezbollah forces and Isis. Our next stop was an old army bunker and trenches from the Yom Kippur War. The kids were excited to explore the maze of the bunker, but even more excited to learn that it was home to porcupines. We collected a few quills and explored the grounds.

 

Erez explained a bit about the Yom Kippur war and our relationship with Syria and then we were on our way to take photos with the land mine signs. We had a great view of the Syrian border from where we were and were told that 90% of the city that we were staring at was completely abandoned due to the Syrian civil war. We were also told to look at the border line; the Israeli side is filled with greenery, farms, crops and windmills while the Syrian side is merely dust. 

 

Erez took us on a bumpy ride and straight down a cliff and we were on our way back. Once back, we met up with Shabat to head to the next stop. This was another overlook over Syria and maze of bunkers and trenches. No porcupines though this time. After exploring some more, we headed out to have lunch in a Druze Village.

There are 4 main Druze villages in the Golan Heights. Together, these villages have a population of about 25,000 Israeli Druze residents. The Druze are monotheistic but incorporate elements of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Hindu philosophy. They believe in the oneness of God and place a strong emphasis on truth, morality, and the soul’s journey. The owner of the restaurant sat down with us to tell us about sister and her plight living in Syria.

 

This man had not seen his sister in decades. In July,  over 1400 Syrian Druze were murdered with over 200,000 being displaced. There are constant threats of looting and execution so his sister has to remain in hiding. Israel is currently the only one who has come to their rescue, having launched airstrikes in defense of the Druze community, targeting government sites and military convoys. Yet, I bet 99% of you had no idea this was even happening.

We headed back to our hotel for a quick recharge and to get ready for Theo and Nate's mini bar mitzvahs. Our tour guide, Shabat, conducted a 20 min ceremony to mark the
occasion and we went off to the Tiberias waterfront to celebrate. 

As I mentioned before, this is the busiest vacation week of the year for Israelis. Everyone is traveling and apparently Tiberias and the Yam Kinneret is THE place to be. Shabat managed to convince the sunset cruise company that we were embarking on to give us a private boat instead of being with 500 screaming Israeli families. We put on a music play list and had a private dance party while sailing around the Kinneret.

 

After, we squeezed our way through thousands and thousands of Israeli vacationers to find a spot for dinner and ice cream. I have never seen so many people or so much chaos in my life. We all took a deep sigh of relief when Shabat dropped us back off at the hotel. Although, our hotel was not much better.

Side note: The kids and Evan and I had adjoining rooms across from the "Play room" and "Teen Lounge" in our hotel. This essentially meant screaming, yes I mean, screaming children all day and night running through the halls, air hockey, video games, and random kids knocking on our door looking for "Ima." This place was a family resort - booked solid. Every meal, every hallway, every pool, everything had screaming, running, rowdy crazy kids. It was a gorgeous hotel but we couldn't wait to leave.

Note to self: Never come to Israel the last week of August