Sunday, April 22
I was in far better spirits on this morning than I was the previous. We ate breakfast (not as disappointing this time) and boarded the bus. Ron Cantor switched with Troy and was on our bus today; he told his testimony as we drove out of Tiberias and headed north. We were going to the Hula Valley Nature Reserve, a huge tract of land that was once a disgusting, malaria filled swamp, and now is a sprawling, thriving land inhabited with thousands of species of animals and fish. It's also a great place for the bird watchers, as over 500 million migrating birds pass through this valley every year.
After the bus parked, we all walked through the park entrance and gathered at the beginning of a paved path, just past a small building that housed the gift shop. When Roman joined us and made sure our Whisperers were working, we started down the path. To the left was a river, in which many of us were spotting muskrats, turtles and fish swimming around; further on we also spotted ducks. Roman paused near another path, a long wooden walkway that lead out over a nearby body of water and would take us in a loop that would come back around; farther down were this loop path would meet the main one, was a 2-3 story wooden lookout tower.
"If anyone wants to go ahead and climb the tower to lookout, can do that now if they want." Roman said.
I and a few others, including Haley, entered the tower and climbed the stairs to the top. The top floor of the tower was built with a walkway that went in a circle so you could see for miles in every direction.
It was so beautiful, I hardly know how to describe it. Except maybe...
Have you ever seen Beauty and the Beast? Especially that scene were Belle is tired of her dull, provincial life, so she runs through a field towards a beautiful mountain view whilst singing, "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can tell, and for once it might be grand, to have someone, understand, I want so much more than they've got planned." Well, I can tell you that that song was definitely an anthem for me as I looked our at this breathtaking view. Just look at the comparison!
We descended the tower, then began walking the wooden walkway; not only did it lead us over water, but we were surrounded on both sides by tall plant life, and more than once I would hear the planks creek and would start to think of that decrepit rope bridge from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (but that's just an exaggeration though).
(Walking along the wood bridge walkway. The two people in front were a mother and daughter that were in my group, they had been on my flight coming to Israel and I soon became friends with them; they were so sweet!)
(Both sides of the walkway cleared up as the path now lead out over the lake.)
(The water is inhabited by DOZENS of catfish! I'm not the kind of person who likes fishing, but I wanted to make an exception that day.)
The groups from both buses were pretty mixed up now and I realized I was further behind than I thought, so I picked up my pace, looking out at the lake every now and then to look at the ducks that swam around peacefully (fun fact: Israel has Mallards [my favorite kind] just like we do in the States!). I met up with Mendy Knight, who told me that Jews don't eat catfish (no wonder the ones swimming around looked so big in size and number) because they're not kosher on two points: one, they're bottom feeders. Two, they don't have scales, which is an important factor in knowing if a fish is kosher or not.
The wooden boardwalk ended in the paved path back on land near the lookout tower just as Roman had said, and we started walking back.
(If you look hard at that spot on the surface of the water, you'll see a muskrat.)
(Another muskrat, right in the middle of the picture, just above the grass.)
On the way, I caught up with Troy. When he asked how I was doing I said I was great and having an amazing time! I thanked him for his kind words yesterday, when he thought I was brave for coming on my own. I also told him of the miracle God worked in helping me pay for this trip.
"That's great!" He said.
We were almost back to the entrance and gift shop, when I heard Roman talking in my ear about getting back on the bus, but first, Haley and I ducked into the gift shop to see what they had. Pastor Troy followed. We didn't find anything of interest nor did we really have time before we suddenly heard Roman say:
"...And I think a see a few of our group in the gift shop. I shall go in and get them," He said. "Here I come like the Roman army." He joked.
I started laughing. "No!" I said dramatically to Haley as he entered the gift shop and announced that the buses were loading. We went outside and walked back to the red bus.
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