Following an almost superfluous chofesh which began June,
the group reconvened in Tel Aviv before boarding a bus to the far north of
Israel where we were to begin our journey from ‘sea to sea,’ beginning with the
Kinneret. Our first and undeniably not last hike of the week was a water hike
which entailed wading through various water levels in an inlet which led into
the Kinneret, our opening first ‘yam.’ It was perhaps the most enjoyable hike
of the week as we were cooled thanks to some chilly water temperatures,
allowing us to all but cancel out the hypo-30 degree weather which taunted and
terrorised us for the rest of the week. However it seemed as though yam le yam
had not truly begun as we stopped at a shopping centre on the way to our first
camp site. Some poor decisions were made there as Adi, Grant, Toby, Robbie and
myself decided to indulge in a burger offered for the too good to be true price
of 10 shekels, and it was indeed just that as our stomachs took a beating that
night. We arrived at our campsite in the afternoon and began settling into our
cold ant-filled beds at a reasonably early hour, aware of the upcoming days of “struggle”
which our guide had promised us. We were supplied a reasonably delicious dinner
of burger patties and pasta which as surprisingly tasty, and much better for our stomachs then our 10 shek burgers...
The next day we began bright and early at 6AM and headed off
on the first leg of our five day hike across Israel heading towards the Mediterranean
Sea. The first day was as the guides warned us, the hardest, we hiked 15Km the
vast majority uphill with multiple people struggling through, our only casualty
Emma with a sprained wrist however she valiantly continued to the end and
completed yam le yam. The day really took its toll on most, many carrying quite
heavy backpacks throughout the entirety of the trek, including food preparation
equipment and supplies as well as their own personal needs. We were separated
into three groups of 7 for cooking, in which we had to carry all of our necessary
supplies such as stoves, foodstuffs, and cups, bowls and cutlery amongst other
things. We tended to indulge upon the same things daily for lunch and
breakfast, whilst dinner was prepared for us by the staff, something we were
quite thankful for after a long day of hiking. Breakfast consisted generally of
cereal sans milk as well as porridge cooked from semolina, and sometimes an
apple. Lunch stereotypically featured smoked tuna, rice, vegetables and canned
tuna salad. We managed to cook ably for ourselves and thankfully no one got
anywhere near a state of malnutrition.
It only got easier after that first day of hiking which
included the literal climbing of rocks for a portion, from the second day
onwards we conquered mostly flat and downhill tracks, something most where very
thankful for. Our guide Henry was very helpful and friendly whilst navigating
us to our campsites and teaching us various lessons about nature along the way
such as collecting water from plants. Speaking of nature, there was much talk
about our lack of bathrooms and as such we had no choice but to ‘take care of
business’ in the great outdoors, something which whilst not all that pleasant soon
became second nature (excuse the pun). Although the state of some people’s
bowels soon caused them to be unable to complete the entirety of our journey, I
shan’t name names for obvious reasons. The nights were often cold and
ant-infested, with one particular incident springing to mind as Zoe woke up on
our third morning covered in ants and spiders after accidentally bedding down
on top of an ant colony, needless to say she was unimpressed however she
handled the situation much better than expected.
The third day continued along the lines of the second, a
majority flat or downhill trail in which we continued crossing the nation,
completing roughly 15Km in the day. Sleep continued to be hard to come by in
the nights, and our state of hygiene continued to deteriorate with a distinct lack
of bathrooms and showers. The final day differed as we switched from foot to
bike and completed our journey, we biked down to the Mediterranean, and as it
entered sight a cheer went up from the group. We completed our journey with
only roughly 10 injuries and as a much closer group than when we began it. We
had an unbelievably cleansing swim in the final sea and a nice falafel lunch
and soon we boarded the bus to Tel Aviv for our final free weekend. I consider
Yam le Yam just about my favourite week of the program so far, we are truly in
the run-in to the end now. As I write this we are inside the final three weeks
of a program which feels like it began yesterday, an unbelievably scary
thought.
Another awesome week down, 17 days to look forward to!
Jake
