jerusalem

The Boys' Jerusalem Top Ten (in no particular order...)

10. Food: Dad votes for the falafel/hummus/pita combination, though it's not particularly diabetic-friendly. Andy and Matt vote for the transplanted New York Jewish deli (Tzaddik's) that served them a hamburger and fries that tasted like home.

9. Drink: Dad votes for the Arabic coffee that you can eat with a spoon, and Matt and Andy vote for the fresh squeezed straight-up pomegranite (sp?) juice.

8. Our home away from home - The Jerusalem 3 Arches YMCA (thank you, cousin David!) - We decided that it is the perfect Drape family place (Andy says it's his favorite hotel in the world...): not too fancy, with a real gym (for soccering and b-ball), a fitness center and a pool, with a big buffet breakfast included (think all-you-can-eat eggs, cheese, sausage and bread products galore for the smaller two Drape boys).

7. Temple Mount (in 10 minutes or less...): The 10 minutes or less is due to the fact that our 1-year-old Lonely Planet guidebook forgot to tell us that the Temple Mount (home to the Dome of the Rock - site of the first two temples, Abraham's supposed sacrifice spot for Isaac, Mohammed's ascension...) is closed on Saturdays (because of Israeli control of the entrance), and they had the afternoon closing time one hour off.... So we did the whirlwind tour.

6. The Western (Wailing) Wall: complex and fascinating... living remnant (retaining wall) of the actual Temple. We prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, and our dear brother, Frederick Robinson's healing. We had to cover our heads (think paper yamulkes) and Mother had to head to the separate women's section.

5. The Old City overall, with the most fun getting caught up in the post Friday noon Muslim prayer crush through the very narrow streets of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

4. Mount of Olives (Gethsemane and views over to the Old City): We walked around the edges of the garden area, with 200o year-old olive trees that were witnesses to Jesus' praying and arrest - pretty amazing. We then hiked up the steep hill for great views across the Kidron Valley into the Old City.

3. Mt. Zion and the Upper Room: While the building around it is newish (thanks to the 11th century Crusaders) we stood in the room where Jesus broke bread with the disciples at the Last Supper, and where the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost. We read those passages in the room itself.

2. Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: We walked through the 14 stations of the cross that commemorate Jesus' final steps to crucifixion. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is traditionally held as the site of his crucifixion and burial. The monumental architecture that the various churches have constructed over these sites (Constantine commissioned the church in 326) are very impressive, but strike us a little contrary to much of what Christ had to say.

1. The Garden Tomb as alternative to the Church of the HS: Outside of the Old City there is a tomb site that is held by some to be the real crucifixion (Golgotha) and burial site. It is a very different place from the ornate and complex machinations of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, simple and quiet. As one Catholic priest is reported to have said, "If the Garden Tomb is not the true site of the Lord's death and resurrection, it should have been."

So, there you have it. Certainly words and pictures again can't do this place justice. This evening (after Shabbat ends and the buses start running again), we're heading off to Nazareth and more Holy Land adventures. We'll keep you posted!

Christmas in Bethlehem!

by Chrissie, with help...

After enjoying our 26 hour visit to Amman, Jordan, we hit the road again. It was December 24, and we wanted to be in Bethlehem for Christmas. Here's how we got there: 1) Taxi from Amman Marriott to the King Hussein / Allanby Bridge. 2) Big bus across the actual bridge, to the Israeli border entrance. 3) After standing in line for over an hour, as we were stuck behind a large tour group, a small bus to downtown Jerusalem (Damascus Gate). 4) Large bus to Bethlehem, from the Arab Bus Station, via the "old" security checkpoint, where our bus was boarded by an Israeli soldier who checked the ID of anyone who looked Arab. 5) Taxi to our hotel, the Jacir Palace.

In case you don't know your Holy Land history, Bethlehem is not in Israel. It is part of the West Bank, which is Palestine. Ironically, it is only 5 miles from Jerusalem, which IS part of Israel. In case you can't remember this, Israel has graciously erected an 8-meter high wall separating the two. If you are a tourist, like us, you are free to move between Israel and Palestine. If you are Palestinian, you must stay on your side of the wall. Needless to say, this is very difficult for the Palestinians.

We had a wonderful 2 days in Bethlehem. We wandered the city streets, which were full of soldiers. They were very friendly, and a bit bored. We think they were there to protect us? From what, we're not sure. We visited Manger Square, which is the heart of Bethlehem. It is bordered at one end by a big mosque, and at the other by the Church of the Nativity. On the 24th, there was a choir performance in the square all evening. We hung around, ate roasted corn and cotton candy, and soaked up the scene - soldiers on the roofs of the buildings, children selling packs of gum, tourist groups wearing matching yellow caps, vendors wishing us a Merry Christmas and hoping that we will purchase something in their shops. The church holds midnight mass, but we had been traveling all day, and turned into pumpkins at about 7:00. Oh, and Matt pulled out a loose tooth in the midst of the mayhem.

We went back to Manger Square on the 25th, and enjoyed the scene again - Italian Christians singing and dancing in the square, more roasted corn and children selling gum, and hordes of tourists visiting the Church. Inside the Church of the Nativity, if you are willing to wait in line, you can go into a cave and see a 14-pointed star which marks the place where Jesus was born. (Leave it to the Christians to erect a giant church over this humble site!) We didn't wait in line, but we did see the star. Let's just say it involved Chris lying to a priest. We'll leave it at that.

We've been saying for weeks, "It will be so amazing to be in Bethlehem on Christmas!" Now we can't decide if it's the best time, or the worst possible time to visit Bethlehem. So many people, so little worship. But maybe that's how it was when Jesus was born - lots of activity, but nobody really paying attention to him.

On the morning of the 26th, we had breakfast with some local Palestinian Christians, who are friends of our cousin, David Austin. It was powerful to hear their stories. One of the women is the captain of the Palestinian National Soccer Team. Some of their players live in the West Bank, and some in Gaza. In order to practice together, they must leave the country, as there is no way to travel between the two parts of Palestine. We asked how we could pray for them, and they said pray for Peace, Health, and Freedom. Will do!

At this moment (11am on the 27th) we are in an internet cafe in the Old City of Jerusalem. We'll write more about this amazing city after we've explored it a little more!

es ist ja kalt!

So we have gone through quite a transition over the last 48 hours, leaving sweltering Dar es Salaam Friday night at 9:00 - sweating our way through the airport, looking for some slight air movement - arriving in Zurich @ 6:00am and heading quickly to our Frankfurt connection that eventually took us here, to Amman, Jordan. In the process, we were able to adjust our long layover so that we spent 12 hours in Frankfurt, instead of 12 hours in Zurich. Chrissie's cousin, Steve Austin, and his family - Lana, Matthias and Levi - have just moved close by (Steve has a new job as the assistant principal of a Department of Defense K-8 school outside Frankfurt). In a hilarious rush of activity (they've only been in Germany 6 days!), we spent the day with them, wandering the Christmans market in the old town section of Frankfurt - shivering in the 20 degree - foggy - snowy weather! It was quite an adjustment for our tired bodies, that had been used to 90 degrees, but it was so wonderful to hang out with Steve, Lana, Matt and Levi (and eat brats and other German goodies)! It was also a more tangibly Christmas feel for us, so it has helped usher us into the season.

One unfortunate part of our adventure is that the switch of flights from Zurich to Frankfurt seems to have been too much for our luggage, so we have spent the day without it. We are trusting that it will arrive before tomorrow morning (when we head for Bethlehem), and we are also ready to change clothes - since we're wearing what we left Dar es Salaam in 50 hours ago. Fortunately, Chrissie had the presence of mind to have everyone pack an extra pair of socks and undies in our day packs, so that's nice....

Our flight to Amman was delayed out of Frankfurt, so we ended up arriving here at 6:00am this morning, without much sleep. After a little 3-hour nap, we ate a big buffet breakfast, then headed out on a little downtown Amman touring. It's a beatiful city, full of deeply hospitable, gracious and friendly people. We had a wonderful time wandering the ancient Roman ruins here in town, as well as the narrow streets and bustling markets. There was a choir here in the hotel, singing Christmas carols earlier this evening (which has sinced transitioned into more traditional Arab music), and we even saw Santa! Tomorrow morning we'll head out early for Bethlehem, and are looking forward to celebrating a midnight Christmas-eve service at the Church of the Nativity.

We'll keep you posted!

the trek!

It will be hard to capture the amazing experience of our time trekking through the Crater Highlands of northern Tanzania, either in words or pictures, but we'll certainly try to give you a taste of the experience. We got back to Dar es Salaam last night, and today is our day to blog, do laundry and regroup-repack before we head out to the Middle East tonight.

Trek Day 1:

Our guides (King, the driving guide, and Shabaan, the trekking guide) picked us up at 8:00am Saturday morning in Arusha, and we set out. After a quick stop to pick up Daniel, our cook for the week, we were off to drive through the Ngorongoro Crater (to see lots of animals). The adventure along the way was getting a hole in the radiator, which required a change of vehicle/driver, so we left King to get the truck fixed and head back to town (we were already two hours out). The time in the Crater was incredible, and we saw lots of big animals. Here are just a few (three male lions eating/wrestling over a very dead wildebeast; a cheetah stalking a warthog; some zebras hanging out with the wildebeast).

After a few hours in the Crater, we drove off to our first night's camp at Nainokanoka Village, where we had a delicious dinner, after a nice 4K hike up to the rim of Olmati Crater. It was cold enough at dinner that we donned our fleece coats (which made us happy that the first week in London wouldn't be the only time we wore them on the trip).

Trek Day 2:

Our second day was a glorious 25 kilometer trek across amazing landscape - climbing from about 7500 feet up to 9500 feet elevation - through Maasai villages and herds of zebra, Thompson and Grant gazelle, wildebeast and plenty of Maasai cows, goats and donkeys. Shabaan was a wonderful and patient guide for us, and we had many wonderful conversations along the journey (he, Andy and Matt were quite the talkative crew). We were joined by many folks along the way, who wanted to check out the crazy mzungu (white folk) who were walking through. Daniel, our cook, came behind with two Maasai who brought donkeys to transport all the camping gear, water and food. We camped that night on the rim of Empakai Crater, and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of our donkeys grazing, and the 1000s of flamingoes honking and winging their way back to Lake Natron for the night.

Trek Day 3:

After breakfast, we started off by hiking down to Empakai Lake, at the bottom of the crater (the pink things are flamingoes at the water's edge), a short 4km hike, but about a 12oo foot loss (and then gain) of elevation, to see the lake and flamingoes. After returning to the crater rim, we travelled about 15km on day 3, over rolling terrain, dropping back down to about 6500 feet by the end of the day. Throughout the day we had evolving views of Ol Doinyo Lengai (Mountain of God) - which normally could have been part of our trek, except that it's currently active (see ash spewing in the picture!) Maria walked with us quite a while, and her persistence paid off, as we bought a number of her beautiful beadwork necklaces and bracelets. Daniel traded for the guinea fowl pictured that became dinner for us on Day 4.

This was also the day our guide finally confessed that they had never had a trekker younger than 11 (Matt is 9). When they saw our family, they made back-up plans for how they'd get Matt through the Highlands on the back of a donkey. Matt ended up doing the best of all of us, sometimes literally skipping as we plodded along.

Trek Day 4:

Our final day of walking was mostly down hill, but steep enough that it was a strenuous 12K or so. We lost about 4000 feet of elevation over the course of the day, and camped about 10K from Lake Natron - the major breeding ground of the flamingoes we had seen at Empakaai. Before dinner we hiked up to a waterfall and took a very refreshing and necessary dip, as the thundering water pounded us with little bits of sand and washed away the 60km of dust and dirt.

Trek Day 5:

The final day was mostly in the vehicle, as we drove down to Lake Natron and wandered a bit, seeing the flamingoes again. We then had a 6 hour drive back to Arusha, through Maasai land where we saw more animals (a giraffe!) and craters. Four of the hours were along some seriously challenging dirt roads. We were thankful for King's (he rejoined us at the end of our trip) driving skill in navigating the adventures without flipping us all.

Trip casualties: Chrissie "walked" away with four big blisters on her feet, Chris has an achy back, and Andy has some sores on his face from sun, wind, and sand. Matt, as per above, is still skipping.

We spent yesterday, day 6, back in Arusha recouping and getting a little laundry done (we would have gotten more done, but the power kept going out), and then came back here to Dar es Salaam last night around 8pm.

Overall the trek was an other-wordly experience of wonderful connection with our hosts - Shabaan, our Maasai porters Isack and Katango, as well as the many Maasai that greeted us along the way - amazing food thanks to Daniel, and absolutely incredible terrain, scenery and wildlife. While it will be hard to leave Africa, given our amazing last 6 weeks here, the time has been deeply satisfying with a great diversity of experiences. We know that theme will continue, as we head off to a Christmas-time in the middle east!

The team, back row left to right... Shabaan-the-guide, Daniel-the-cook, Katango-the-porter, Chrissie-the-mother, Chris-the-dad, Isack-the-other-porter, with Matt and Andy in front, with King-the-driver-guide taking the picture....

a day in the life, zanzibar style

We're back from our 3-day adventure on the intriguing isle of Zanzibar, a fascinating mix of African and Arab cultures in a beautiful (though extreeeeeemly hot and humid this time of year) setting. Here's a simple recap of what a day was like, as we wiled away the hours at Paradise Beach Bungalows on the east coast of the island, in Paje.

6am - The boys (3) are up, after what was not the most restful night's sleep (though the ever-optimistic Matt announced that he felt well-rested after our sweaty night under, then not under, the mosquito netting).

7am - A family walk along the beach - HOT already (that equitorial sun is serious business for our northwest skin).

8am - Breakfast! Delicious fruit (watermelon, pineapple, bananas), coffee, juice, eggs and homemade rolls....

9am - Books in the shade, imagining a faint breeze. We watch the local folks come out to begin gathering seaweed as the tide starts to go out. There are little seaweed farms that appear as the water recedes.

10am - A walk out as the tide continues to go out (which takes some time, since it goes out about a mile on this very shallow coast).

11am - More books (with a little napping) in the shade. The resident monkey at Paradise (Matt and Andy were convinced he was constantly preparing to mount an attack against us) wanders onto our table to sip my coffee.

12noon - More low-tide walking, though we never made it all the way out to the reef. Now it is even hotter than HOT. Saw a little angel fish, a little ray, many sea urchins (don't step on them!) and a gazillion (perhaps a brazilian) hermit crabs.

1pm - Delicious lunch of spaghetti, grilled fish and Japanese noodle soup (the host of Paradise is a Japanese woman).

2pm - Watched one of the resident dogs (of which there are almost as many as the resident cats, though the dogs chase the monkey, while the monkey chases the cats) sleep on the beach in the shade of a palm tree - moving every few minutes to keep up with the shade.

3pm - Bought a coconut for about 50 cents from the old man walking the beach selling them - he cracked it right there for us and we had a little coconut milk and meat snack - hmmmm! Andy and I went for a little baking-hot run on the beach, which was to be followed by a refreshing dip in the ocean. However, the super-heated shore from the long low tide had super-heated the water, which by then was well over 90 degrees. So much for refreshing dip, but we dipped nonetheless.

4pm - Still more books in the shade, and more breeze than the morning.

5pm - Card games (gin, crazy 8s, war...) in the shade. Chrissie took an intermittent shower, as the water came and went.

6pm - Bought a couple of bracelets from the Maasai who work at the bungalows as security. They walk the paths with their big sticks, and make jewelry at rest-times. Passed some time by trying to remember any jokes we could.

7pm - Dinner! Prawns, traditional Swahili stew, chicken, ocra w/tuna (fresh), spinach/egg soup... all accompanied by a local one-man band.

8pm - More crazy 8s in the room, under the fan that just didn't move as much air as we would like. Followed that up with a slathering of bug spray (jungle juice, for those REI fans out there), for what we hoped would be a more restful (and it was) night's sleep.

9pm - sleep....

So there you have a day in Paradise. This evening we're off to Arusha (by Mt. Kilimanjaro), and tomorrow morning we head out on our big trek through the Crater Highlands. We'll be back in a week, and will update you then.