Camping by the Red Sea...
After returning from Egypt I was left with one more month in Israel and in my Kibbutz...
So, it was time to do a few more things before heading north to Europe and the UK...

One thing I wanted to do was to visit the Red Sea...

I heard about a place called Nuweibaa...which at that time was still part of Israel in the Sinai, just a few kilometres south from Eilat...
From Tel-Aviv, I took a bus to Eilat, which is a highly touristic spot in the 'Gulf of Aqaba or Gulf of Eilat' in Israel so I didn't want to stay there at all, so as soon as I got to Eilat I took a bus to Nuweibaa.

That gulf is a very interesting spot, Its coastline is divided among four countries; Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. You can literally stand on the beach and look at all 4 countries from that spot.

I heard about that place on the beach through a friend of mine at my kibbutz. He said he'd been there and that many backpackers went there to spend some time camping on the beach for free and that it was amazing!

He said..."All you need to bring is your sleeping bag and you can crash right on the beach for free".
So, I thought...that sounds like me!

Once again I left most of my gear in the kibbutz and headed for the beach for 4 days, once again I had no idea what to expect...and when I got there ...he was right!

It was an amazing place and there were lots of backpackers from everywhere, most of them were also volunteers from different kibbutzim...

There was only a small shop run by a Kibbutz nearby and there seemed to be some 'public toilets'...
There were probably 5 palm trees and nothing else...

On one side of the beach it was the Red Sea, and behind us on the beach the desert...
Temperatures there got really high, 40+ Degrees Celsius!
So... it was really really HOT!

I met some of the guys there and right away we hit it off. As soon as I was all set on a spot on the beach I left my gear with some of the guys and went in for a dip in the beautiful warmish tranquil waters of this unusual place...

Later that day I headed over to the shop to buy a sandwich and a drink and other bits and pieces, that's mostly what I ate every day... then, when it was time to use the loo...so I went to the public toilets and I walked in and...
​OMG...are these the only loos? ...I asked some of the guys standing nearby... they said, "Yup"...

They were the 'squatting type' of loos and they were as filthy as hell, it seemed like nobody had aimed right and there was simply no clean spot to even place your feet on!

So, from that moment onward I refrained from using the loo at all, and do any 'number ones' in the sea... fish do it there anyway...
Not sure how I managed to hold it in but...I did manage... (Mind over matter I guess)
However, I wasn't going to let that ruin my stay...
​
I spent most of my days going in and out of the water, swimming and snorkelling and sunbathing a lot...

Every night we sat by a bonfire under the stars and there was always someone playing a guitar... just like in one of those scenes you only see in movies...
There was a certain 'unreal peacefulness' about the whole place and floating in the air amongst the people there...absolutely magical...

I slept, like everyone else, in my sleeping bag alongside a bunch of them...it was quite a sight to see on the beach...
There were hundreds of people in their own sleeping bags, all in one line...one after the other like Dominos as if it was an organized thing, but it wasn't. I guess everyone was just doing what the others were doing...

Every night I'd put all my belongings inside my sleeping bag while sleeping and I was using my recently purchased 'Onitsuka Tiger Sneakers' as a pillow wrapped in a towel...
Unfortunately, on my last night there I must've moved away from my sneakers while sleeping and someone stole them!
Bugger! Not my new sneakers! I had just bought them in Athens...never mind...

Well, now I was shoeless...and had to buy a pair of plastic sandals at the shop to have something to wear...

After those 4 days went by I headed back home to my kibbutz...
I was really looking forward to being back 'home', having a good meal, and taking a shower, hadn't done that in 4 days, and.... going to the loo!!!

I remember clearly walking into my kibbutz and seeing some of my friends, they were asking me...
"How did it go?" Did you have a good time?
I kept walking fast and said...Yup, it was awesome, I said, I'll tell you all about it later, got to do something first...and I locked myself in the clean conventional loo for a wee while!

It is hard to believe that of all the things in the world all I wanted at that moment more than anything else was a *clean loo...
(*We do take clean toilets for granted, and from that trip onwards, I've always paid attention to the availability and cleanliness of public toilets everywhere I go and, here in New Zealand, they excel at it!)

When I told my friends about my adventure, some wanted to get out there camping too and most of them had a good laugh about my loo ordeal...others just felt sorry for me...

The next day I went back to work in the chicken-house with Julio...my Argentinian boss...
He was so happy to see me and so was I...
He and his wife Fanny were good hard-working people and they treated me well...

I was quite aware that my days in my kibbutz were coming to an end and the time for me to carry on with my journey was approaching fast...I somehow didn't want it to end...and deep inside I didn't really want to leave my kibbutz...
​
You've heard me refer to my kibbutz as 'Home' and it totally was...
​It was my very first 'home away from home' and I had developed new friendships with people who didn't care about your background, social status, money, education, religious interests or anything else...they simply took you in at 'face value'...and I reciprocated with the same respect towards everyone else...

My experience in my kibbutz was simply unimaginable and taught me more than the work skills I learned... It taught me how to value people and life in an entirely different way and it triggered an insatiable desire to continue living in such a world...

During my stay on my kibbutz I forged some great friendships, and some of them I would go on to visit in their own towns after leaving...

I also picked up a couple of new habits in my kibbutz, some good ones and others not so much...

I started smoking cigarettes there, not sure if I did it because everyone else was doing so or because they were given to us for free in the kibbutz, as long as they were the 'Noblesse' brand (Israeli brand). we could get about 7 packs a week...
I also began drinking beer and wine on Friday nights after Shabbat dinner when we were partying in the bomb shelter and, the occasional beer during the week after work...
Not sure why either, again it may have been due to the people around me...and as they say...'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'...
I didn't use to do any of the above before I left Mexico... (I gave them up in Israel...6 years later)

A couple of the good habits that I picked up were reading and writing...

Yup, my first, non-school-text-book I ever read was in my kibbutz, and it was in English!
There was a wonderful library in my kibbutz and we could go in and grab whatever books we wanted to read and I got into it...primarily novels...
That was something that I would never do back in Mexico...and then...
I also started writing...

I started doing some journaling or keeping a diary (my journals are pictured below)...
I started writing every day what had taken place each day and how I was feeling about things...

Reading through some of my diaries now I realise that I was also a constant writer of letters, to my parents and to some of my friends back home in Mexico... and some of them wrote back...

In those days there was no internet or anything like that, so one of those things that I used to look forward to was getting a letter from anyone, especially from mum and dad...
Dad was always short of words but would write at the bottom of each long letter my mum would write, like a footnote, he'd write a couple of lines like "Glad all's going well, take good care, my son, Dad"... that was enough 'man to man talk'...I'd say... we never did quite have any long conversations... not a thing between us I guess...

I remember when someone would collect the mail for all volunteers and bring them to the dining room at dinnertime and call out to those who had got something... It was like waiting for your lottery number to be called out...I used to love hearing... Hector, you've got mail! or Hector, you got a letter!

Through those letters, I had deeper conversations with everyone...
I frankly don't think I'd ever communicated that much with my parents in particular...
Before I left Mexico I guess I was just a teenage boy...communicating with them with short words and not saying or disclosing much...typical teenager I guess...

Somehow, the distance and taking the time to choose my words before writing gave me the courage to open up more and be more relaxed about it...

I was definitely growing up...
Towards my last days in my kibbutz I promised a few people I'd go visit them, Arthur, my roommate from  Holland, said... "Yeah, come and stay a while" and others said similar things... and I said, I'll be there...and I was....(More on that on future stories)...

It was definitely a very sad day when I left my kibbutz Neve-Eitan ...
However, just before leaving in my Kibbutz, I did say to my *Kibbutznik friends (*the Israeli members) and to my Argentinian boss, Julio
I'll be back...I promise... (which I did 4 years later in 1985, more on that on future posts)

After leaving the kibbutz I headed back to Tel-Aviv to catch a plane back to Athens...and from there fly up to Holland and the UK, where my European adventure started...
​
Shalom Israel, L'hitraot לְהִתְרָאוֹת
I've learnt so much from you...

My trip to Egypt by road...
An unbelievable and nearly deadly experience...

One of those things that you 'must do' if you are in the Middle East is to visit Egypt, and while I was living in my Kibbutz in Israel I was able to take a few days off to head over to Egypt.

One of the good things about that was that I could leave most of my gear in my room and travel light!

Well, this trip was, in just about every way, quite unique and unpredictable.

As usual, for this trip, I was following other people's tips and guidance from a 'Let's Go Egypt' book...
To begin with, after arriving in Tel-Aviv I got on a bus with a friend of mine from Mexico and we headed towards Gaza...
Yes, in those days the Gaza Strip was part of Israel, it was actually a gained/occupied territory after the '6 day war' of *1967.
(*Israel captured and occupied the Golan Heights, the West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula)...

I was oblivious to all this history, as I had never read anything about it and back then there was no internet or google to look up information fast...
After we got there we had to locate the place where we could catch a 'Collective TAXI' to take us to the Suez Canal...

There were a few 'modified like a limo' Mercedes Benz taxis, all lined up at the sort of 'taxi terminal'.
Each one could carry up to 10 budget-travelers, primarily backpackers, to the Suez Canal. 

We were all packed in like sardines...
2 people could travel in the front seat next to the driver and there were 2 rows of seats, more like benches at the back which could fit 4 passengers in each one, it was a bit of a squeeze but we fitted in just fine...
All our backpacks were sitting on the roof-rack and were tied up with some kind of bungy rope, they seemed quite secure up there.
Anyway, after paying our fees we got on our way, not quite sure exactly how many hours it took to get to the Suez Canal but I guess it was roughly 4 to 5 hours...

The drive was pretty much through a well-built road with the desert on both sides!!
There was nothing by the road apart from sand dunes and a few rock formations. So it was definitely not an intriguing view, maybe at first we were like...."wow... check out this road"....but after an hour of the same, most of us were sleeping...
The driver had his Arab music blaring on the radio and he seemed to know his way around...

As soon as we got to the Suez Canal we saw a few people gathered by a Ferry terminal...so we went there and got our tickets to get across, it was a quick ride...

Now, I must mention that up until that point we were travelling on Israeli territory, still in Asia, and by crossing the Canal we were entering Egypt and...Africa!
(I was stepping onto another continent...so, thus far on this trip, I had just walked on Europe, Asia and Africa! I even did a bit of a dance after crossing, I couldn't believe where I was!...)

Note: This backpackers' road trip, through this road, does not exist anymore, as The Gaza Strip and the Sinai have now been returned to the Palestinians and Egypt. (The Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982 and The Gaza Strip to Palestine in 2005)

After crossing the Canal we went through 'border control' and then...guess what? 
We had to take a similar 'Collective TAXI' ride into Cairo, which only took a couple of hours...not too bad..

I had no idea what to expect of Cairo, all I could imagine was an ancient city, like from the pharaohs time, like Tutankhamun, with majestic temples, pyramids and the Nile, the largest river in Africa and, to some, the largest in the world, I guess I was being a bit naïve, but I am sure that what I saw right from our arrival was completely beyond my imagination...

It was like a slap on the face...
After the tranquility of the desert and the Suez Canal to a massive metropolis full of people (20+ million), There were cars everywhere and the noise was coming at us like... how to describe this... It was like waking up, after a peaceful sound sleep, in the middle of the night in the middle of a nightclub where everybody was moving frantically, dancing, jumping, talking, yelling and... and, for no apparent reason...they were blowing their car horns non-stop...
It was like stepping out of a peaceful dream and rushing into a nightmare … I'd say...

This reminded me somehow of my beloved Mexico City, which is also a bustling gigantic metropolis, and made me think of the unaware tourists when they arrive in Mexico City not knowing what to expect and how they too...must get a slap on the face at first sight...
​
The traffic in Cairo was twice as bad as in Mexico City, in my opinion, I even began thinking how well organised the traffic was in my home town, in comparison...at least back in 1981...

Anyhow, after seeing this, I truly just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and travel south down to Aswan...

However, we had to do the 'MUST DO' in Cairo first, and that was to pay a visit to the remarkable 'Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx'...which date back to the 26th century BC...

I didn't know what to expect...but somehow I had envisioned the Pyramids to be sitting in the middle of the desert...out there looking like an unworldly mystical sight...just as you see them in the pictures or postcards or history books...

No one warns you about the actual reality and that you could be in for a true and sad disappointment...
Don't get me wrong...The monuments are, just as you have pictured them and as remarkable and captivating as you imagine them to be...

It is the location of this site that has a bit of a cringe factor...

The day we arrived we got a room in a budget guest house/hotel, we spent the night there and we got ready to go to the pyramids, nice and early in the morning...
We asked the hotel staff how to get there... I truly was expecting it'd be like an hour or 2 out of the city on a special 'tour bus'...
But they said, "Take the 'local bus 355' from downtown and you'll be there in 25-40 minutes depending on the traffic"...cool I said, that's a bit odd I thought, but it was going to be a quick and inexpensive ride for sure...

Well, it did take us over an hour but not because of the distance, it is only about 25 km from the city.. but we primarily sat on traffic for quite some time...

It was a plain local bus, overcrowded and we were standing most of the way, the bus made a lot of stops, just like any other local bus would, picking up and dropping off people along the way through the busy city streets...we stayed close to the driver and asked him to let us know when to get off....and then after a long and tedious ride... all of a sudden...he said... "There they are! You get off here"... 
He was pointing at …'The Pyramids!'
What?! It can't be, I thought...
I hunched over to see through the bus window and...he was right!

There they were, right there across the road!
We got off the bus and walked across...

We walked up a pretty busy street, there were people everywhere, tourists and merchants alike and several vendors started approaching us... "Want to get a guided tour? Want to get a camel ride? Where are you from?"
We kept walking towards the entrance...

​I remember seeing a couple of kids playing 'pretend football' (soccer) with a Coke can (instead of a ball) right there on the street as we were walking up to the majestic Giza Pyramids...

I wasn't sure what to make of this initial experience thus far... All I knew was that it wasn't what I had imagined...
We paid our entrance fee and walked in towards the pyramids...they are absolutely breathtaking and one cannot help but be in awe...

I remember just standing there looking at these majestic man made structures...and just like everyone else, I started wondering...How did they build them?...
I think there are many theories about their construction but I think there's still some mystery around them...

I wish I'd had a smartphone back then, I would've taken a thousand pictures of that place, unfortunately, they didn't exist. I had in my hand a practical 110mm Kodak camera, and with a small budget I didn't want to risk taking too many pictures, and whatever few pictures I took there came out blurry and they are not that great, a bit sad but no problem...
Regardless of that, those images will remain in my mind for the rest of my life...

We even got on a camel and had a wee walk around and got our picture...a classic tourist moment...

We also went inside one of the pyramids, though exciting as it may sound it isn't really, as you need to go into a narrow tunnel to get into the tomb, once we were in the big tomb chamber we were able to stretch and look around...all that was on the walls was graffiti from previous visitors, I couldn't believe my eyes... there was nothing else historical inside or on the walls... 'sigh' …
What?! Yup...never mind...

I climbed out of that place and revelled for a moment in the minor thrill of being in a king’s giant tomb.

After that unsavoury experience inside the tomb, we went to check out the Sphinx, which was getting some restoration work done and was in some parts covered by scaffolding...nonetheless a quite impressive gigantic sculpture/monument.
We wrapped up our day in Giza and headed back to our hotel and got ready to travel down to Aswan...
We spent the next day in Cairo and went to the national museum for the day and then decided to take an overnight train, as it is a 12-hour ride to Aswan, so we figured it'd be a night's accommodation taken care of...

We got on our 2nd class car and sat in a long seat/bench for about 3-4 people...
We sat next to a couple of Egyptians, who after a while on the train took out some cheese, it looked like feta cheese, which was wrapped in newspaper... they had some Arab flatbread with them and started eating... and immediately they offered us some of their food, they said "take take" with a big smile on their faces, and we certainly did, we were quite hungry by then, somehow we started a conversation and they started teaching us how to count in Arabic, this went on for hours and it was quite a fantastic experience...
That experience right there made our entire trip worthwhile!…
​
I don't remember exactly when but we must've fallen asleep at some stage...

I woke up just before arriving at Aswan and it was a magnificent sight....
On one side of the railway, it was the desert and on the other side it was lush green pastures... we could see this contrast just as the train was dashing towards Aswan...all the greenery was simply lining the amazing Nile river...which was glowing in a bright blue colour...

After getting there, we got settled in a guest house and had something to eat at the markets...then we headed towards the waterfront to get on a felucca to go over to the other side of the river to see some of the sights there, it was without a doubt a fantastic experience crossing the river at a slow pace on that wonderful felucca for just a few dollars...

​The old fellow that was sailing it was quite friendly and slightly toothless...which showed only when he smiled...
Being on that felucca over the Nile river was also a true highlight of that trip...It was an...'I can't believe I'm here moment'...

We returned to the guest house at the end of the day and we were going to plan the rest of our visit there and then go up to Luxor, however, my Mexican friend started experiencing a tremendous rash all over his body and was feverish, and he started feeling quite ill...

So we decided to cut our trip short and head back to Israel pronto!
We simply backtracked the same way we got there, I don't even remember the train ride or anything else, we just wanted to get back 'home' to our respective Kibbutz, as we had medical cover by the kibbutz organization insurance and they would be able to help my friend right away...

One thing I do remember though is that after crossing back through the Suez Canal we got on another 'Collective TAXI' and we headed back towards the Gaza Strip...and this was a bit of a terrifying experience...

The desert road was practically empty and I was unaware that there had been a sandstorm the day before... 

The driver was speeding and had his Arab music going real loud, most of the passengers were sleeping and I just happened to wake up halfway to Gaza, for whatever reason...

I was admiring the amazing sand dunes until I saw that some of them were covering most of the road and the driver would need to drive through the bit of road that wasn't covered, he was not slowing down, he just kept on speeding, and then as we were heading towards another dune I was watching it with some fear, as we could not see if there were any other cars coming towards us and then... it happened!

A car appeared out of nowhere from the other side, another Taxi, driving over the same bit of road we were on and we nearly collided head-on, they both swerved fortunately in opposite directions and both cars ended up in the sand on top of a dune!!
We must've missed each other by a few inches but I was sure, for a second, that that was going to be it...

Fortunately, no one was injured and some didn't even realise what had happened as they were sleeping...
The driver laughed it off and we helped him get the car back on the road...
I must add that those taxis had no safety standards whatsoever, no seat belts or anything else...

WOW, what a real near-miss head-on collision...
That might've been the end of my adventure and probably my life as well, right there in the middle of the Sinai desert and no one around...I get the shivers just to look back...

After that incident, I don't think anybody slept any longer...
Back in Tel-Aviv, we took a bus back to our respective Kibbutz... and fortunately they were able to look after my friend and he recovered after a few days...he had contracted some infection when working on the 'date trees' in his Kibbutz but the symptoms, the rash, the high temperature and all that, didn't show until a few days later...

Well, that was an adventure and a half...
One day I shall return to Egypt and finalise my trip there, so much to see and learn...

Shukran, Egypt...
It was indeed, an unforgettable experience...

Walking on Holy Land...Jerusalem, Israel...

While I was living in my Kibbutz I was given a few days off after each month, it was part of the deal so that all volunteers could get a chance to travel a bit and explore the country and all its magical historical places...

So, at the first chance I had I took a bus to the historical city of Jerusalem...one of the oldest cities in the world (3500 BC). It is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

There is something highly captivating and mysterious about this place that is hard to describe...

I'm obviously talking about the 'Old city'...which is by now completely surrounded by a modern city...

As soon as I arrived there I was in awe...
It is truly breathtaking...and as you approach the gate you get a sense that you are about to step into the past, nearly like in a 'time tunnel' episode...and, all of a sudden, you are transported into thousands of years back!...

I walked in slowly through the 'Damascus Gate' (Shechem Gate) at the north side of the city...taking my time, breathing it all in...letting all my senses realise I was walking on 'Holy Land'...
​
The streets in the old city are quite narrow and in the market area, the walls are cluttered, left and right, from wall to wall, with goods, merchants and shops of all kinds of stuff...

Many of them, inevitably, are meant for the tourists with all kinds of souvenirs, but once you get past that you see all the local merchants with goods, produce and foods that the locals buy...and right within that area I found a small 'guest house' where I could spend the night, not exactly a youth hostel, but it was similar in price …probably about $5 for the night...

The fact that it was right in the 'old city', it was much more than a place to crash in, I was in fact, about to spend a night in the 'holiest of holiest cities' for many Jews, Christians and Muslims alike...

The sounds and noises from within the city were not of cars or any other motorised vehicle, it was only from the chatter of the vendors and the shoppers and of people carting things in and out of the old city...

After I got there I got myself settled and started wandering around the streets, looking at all the things they sell and started interacting with some of the local vendors who have a very loud and voiceful way of marketing their goods.

"Shalom Shalom" they said..."Come in, have a look inside" in a commanding voice, loudly and quite shamelessly, some looked at me and said things like..."You!.. where are you from? " What you want? Want to get a nice souvenir?"...I'd keep walking ignoring them...
You may even interpret that as being rude or impolite or something like that at first, but after a while, you realise that...that's the way they are...
Then another one asked again loudly  "Where are you from?!"… Mexico, I gave in...
"Oh...Mexico!" He said, "I have a friend who lives there, come in, I'll give you good price my friend!"

I was looking at a beautiful "Passport holder bag", one that you could hang around your neck and wear it inside your t-shirt when you wanted to keep it out of sight... and he said...

"Look, this one is beautiful, give you a good price...10 shekel!" What?!..I said, thinking it was too much...I said no, thank you...then he said, "ok, ok, give me 8 shekel and we got a deal" …no, thank you I said again... then he said, "What are you doing to me? I have a family to feed, you know? ok, ok, only because you are my friend, I'll let you have it for 5 shekel, deal?"...Deal! I said, and promptly he took my 5 shekel note and smiled, we shook hands, and he said..."thank you my friend" putting the item in a plastic bag for me...and I left feeling pleased with my first purchase...
I had just bought myself my first piece of merchandise in one of the oldest cities in the world!...

I was quite excited about the whole experience...it was more than just about buying the bag, it was about having haggled with one of the merchants and having connected with someone within those walls, just like you would have thousands of years back...

Soon after that, I found a small place to grab something to eat, an Arab/Palestinian looking fellow had a little stand that sold 'falafel' and I went to get myself one of those...they looked so delicious...

I watched him patiently and curiously while he prepared it...
He opened up the fresh pita bread, the nicest pita bread I've ever had, and he put some hummus in it and 3 large falafel balls, then he added a bit of salad, some tahini sauce and he asked..."You like spicy?"...Yup a bit , not too much, I said...He nodded and added some kind of spicy salsa... and he said, "2 shekel", no haggling there...
I paid and grabbed a bite of that falafel....wow...it was out of this world!

The following day I had a wander around the 'old city' and went to the holiest spots for each religion...

I went to the 'Dome of the Rock' (Islam) and onto the 'Western wall/Wailing wall' (Judaism) and went to the '*Holy Sepulchre' church, walked through the 'Via Dolorosa' (Christianity), and then just outside the gates I went up to the 'Mount of Olives', where you can also have a magnificent view of the 'Old City of Jerusalem'.
*The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is identified as the place of both, the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

That day I gathered a lot of information about all the sites, and quite frankly, I'd never looked into any of those religions too deeply and...I ended up with more questions than answers...

Nonetheless, it was without a doubt, an unforgettable and unique experience that you could never have anywhere else in the world... All 3 main religious sites sitting within the walls of this old magnificent city, a small and divided city, that sits in just under 1 square kilometre... 

Jerusalem has been one of the most controversial and fought over places on earth for thousands of years...
What will its future be? Who knows...

Whatever it may be...
It'll never lose its strong religious roots and unmatched mystical charm and magic...
Shalom, and long live Jerusalem!

My Kibbutz Experience - Part 2
"Our social life in my kibbutz revolved around the 'Dining Room' and other interesting places..."

Somehow, just like in many homes all over the world, the Kibbutz family life and social life revolve around the 'dining room', where families gather to eat and talk about the happenings of the day and many other things.

At least in my case, that's the way it was back home where I grew up in Mexico, although not in the main dining room, which was only used for special occasions, but in the smaller dining area/breakfast table by the kitchen. That was the place where we'd eat all our meals, did our homework, talk about our day and, were told what chores to do and also... where we were told off when not behaving...that was mom's domain!

The 'communal dining room' in my kibbutz was a similar thing...
Apart from having our meals there, our jobs were assigned there, and working rosters and any other announcements were placed on a noticeboard at the entrance. It was the place where we could meet all the members and celebrate whatever festivities were taking place...
It was a massive room (see picture above) that could house about 300 seated people to have a meal at one time.

I was assigned several jobs, right there!..
After working in the cotton fields I went to work in the fish-ponds, catching fish at 3 o'clock in the morning in the freezing water! Not necessarily 'my cup of tea', I'd say...I also did about 3 days in the night-shift, from 10 pm to 6 am at the fibre-glass factory (most boring job ever!) and then I spent most of the rest of my working time in the chicken-house, gathering thousands of eggs daily and putting them up in cartons!...
They simply put me there because the manager of the chicken-house was Argentinian and needed someone who spoke Spanish...THAT'S ME! I can help, I said...
Julio, was his name, (top right picture) an interesting fellow, who rode his pushbike to work and who gave us beer for our coffee break...Cool guy! ... most of the jobs were something I had never imagined I'd ever do in my life​...

However...Life in the kibbutz was more than just work...

We also had some social activities after working hours...
As volunteers, we had our own 'hang-outs'.
One of the Volunteers' houses was used as our 'common room' where we could go to after work and 'watch a bit of telly while having a cuppa', (learned to say that there from my English friends).
We'd only turned the TV on if there was something in English and cool to watch, like "Fawlty Towers' …that program was my introduction to 'English sense of humour.'

There was also a "record player' so we could play some of the vinyl records that were there... (yup, vinyl LP records, not even CDs and no internet or Netflix back then).

I remember clearly one of the girls' favourite songs was one by Eric Clapton 'Let it grow'...
At first, I was taken aback a bit when I saw the girls singing along...and dancing and swaying to the tune...but after a couple of times of seeing that...I was singing along too!!... "Let it grow, let it grow, let it blossom, let it flow..."(music clip below)

We also had a sort of disco/nightclub inside our kibbutz...it was inside a 'bomb shelter'!
Yup, a BOMB SHELTER!
There were several bomb shelters scattered all over the living grounds of the kibbutz in case of an attack...most of them were kept clean, prepared for any incident, and... closed!

We, the volunteers, had one to ourselves, to party in!
Yes! Every Friday night, after 'Shabbat Dinner' we all went home for a bit, and soon after that we'd head down to the 'bomb shelter'...
I remember the first time they told me about it, I thought they were kidding...
A "bomb shelter"? I said...Really? what for? ...and they looked up at the sky...

It was a spacious room a few meters underground, there was a narrow entrance, above ground that led you down the stairs, it was a very dark room with colour lights like in a disco/nightclub....it was about 70 square meters (a rough guess, about 7mt by 10mt)…there were some chairs and a couple of old sofas by the walls and a couple of small tables and... there was a tiny room, I guess what may have been at some stage a toilet, it was used as a DJ room, they had a record player and some other music equipment in there.

There were a couple of large loudspeakers at each end of the room and the sound wasn't bad at all.

There was usually a young 'kibbutznik' (a kibbutz member) in charge of the place, who was also the DJ and he played the records we'd request or what he felt like.

It wasn't disco music at all but... we'd dance to music by Led Zeppelin, Janice Joplin, Dire Straits, Bob Marley, and some others. I had never thought it was possible to dance to some of that music, especially Led Zeppelin but... I recall clearly that we'd all go nuts and danced like crazy when they played 'Black Dog' by Led Zeppelin...that was really something! (music clip below).
We'd all bring down a few beers and danced and talked till late at night...we had Saturday off...

I was also introduced there to the unfamiliar concept of 'dancing by yourself'!

When I was a teenager in Mexico, prior to my trip, I was sold on the idea that in order to dance you'd need a girl to dance with, and if you didn't get a girl to dance with you were not to dance at all! You'd just sit or stand there watching others dance...
I even remember the embarrassing moments of asking girls to dance, only to be rejected by a mere "not now thank you" or "maybe later"...

Well, in my kibbutz I learned from my European friends, that if you heard a tune that resonated with you …you just got up and danced no matter what, and ... everybody did exactly that!
So liberating and it felt so right! Then others would join you and, all of a sudden, there were a few more people dancing all over the place, jumping and making all kinds of unorthodox movements which they called dancing...
I'm sure I'd never seen that before in my life and at first, I thought....'Bunch of weirdos'! ...
But then, before I knew it, I was doing exactly the same and it felt so good... there goes the saying...
"Dance like nobody is watching..."

Every Friday night, was somehow different and we'd sometimes come out of the shelter to find my roommate Arthur, out there sitting on the grass, with some people singing along to the tunes he was playing on his guitar (he wasn't much of a dancer)…so, we'd go along and join them and start singing with them, or in my case 'sort of singing', as I barely knew any song, let alone the lyrics! 

Things were changing in me...
I was beginning to understand that paradigms can be broken...like the one of 'not being able to dance without a girl'....
Breaking that paradigm meant much more than just that...
I was beginning to understand that there was a different world out there...outside of the social system I grew up in...and that there would be a lot of paradigms that were about to be broken in my life's journey...

I was beginning to realize that this adventure was much more than just a trip...
It was the beginning of an entire journey that was to transform my entire life...and, I understood that many more unplanned experiences were just ahead...

While I was in Israel, I did not only stay in my kibbutz, I also visited some unreal and beautiful historical places...more about this on my next story...

In the meantime...
​Play the "black dog" song below and... 
"Dance like nobody is watching"!
"Hey hey, mama said the way you move...Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove"

My Kibbutz Experience - Part 1
(Note: I've decided to break down this story into several parts as there's so much to tell...)

Where to begin?...
Well, if you read my previous story you may recall that on arrival at my Kibbutz, I was allocated a room and I had the room to myself and no roommate yet, right?...

Well, things started to change and evolve quite rapidly from that afternoon onwards... 
Firstly, I met up with Dudda, the volunteers' leader, in the dining room and she started showing me around...she explained what time the meals were, and showed me the way to go about things...

Then we went to the laundry room, well, not exactly a room, it was a massive industrial size laundry, like in a hotel or resort, as they wash everyone's clothes there, everything must be labeled with your name and in laundry bags, except sheets and towels.
I was given the opportunity to select a few working clothes there, they were used clothes but recently washed and impeccably folded...from trousers to shirts, t-shirts, shorts, socks, a couple of jumpers, a hat, and a winter jacket, I was even given working shoes and wellingtons! (gumboots)

I was definitely ready to go to work but... what work?

Well, I got back to my room to drop off my clothes and I headed back to the dining room to meet with the guy that allocated the different jobs to the volunteers and others..
We met and he said... "Shalom, Hector, welcome to Neve-Eitan, I understand you are all set and that you are ready to start working, right?"
Yup, sure am!
"Well, we are currently working on our 'cotton fields' and we need a hand, you think you can help us there for a couple of days?"
Sure!...I had no idea what I was saying "sure" to, but I was sure I was going to find out all about it the next day...
Then he said, "perfect, we'll meet at the 'fields office' at 5:30 am, we'll have a coffee and then we'll head out there." He explained where the 'fields office' was and he said "I'll see you there, make sure you are on time!"
No problem, I had also been given an alarm clock, of course!

I went back to my room and started seeing people walking around, they were getting back from work and there were other volunteers heading back to their homes, and I seem to recall meeting a couple of girls first... and they said... "Hey, you are new, right? Welcome! where are you from?"...
One was Josie...a tall redhead girl from Holland, and the other a blond girl, Anna, a bit shorter than Josie, from Sweden....
They were returning from their jobs...and they said, “see you at the dining room for our evening meal at around 7 pm...ok?”
They were wearing their working clothes and were all smiles...so obviously they seemed to be enjoying themselves...
I had still no idea what to expect but things were beginning to evolve...

I got myself to the dining room and there were already some people there sitting already and there was a queue forming at the food self-service bar, so I followed them and started getting some food they had there... 

Got some bread, a glass of fresh cold milk, a bit of salad and some ham-like slices, (made of chicken) and made myself a sandwich...I made my way to the volunteer's table, which was quite obvious to find... sat down and everyone started greeting me, "Hi, where are you from? How long are you staying?" and the rest of it...

There were several guys and girls primarily from Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
I asked...is this all there's to eat? 
"For our evening meal yes",  they said, "but don't worry, our main meal is at around 2-3 pm, where you can have a big meal! Cool, I said, just like in Mexico!

I headed back to my room to get some sleep and get ready for my first day at work....
I got up even before the alarm went off, I guess I was anxious to see what was going to happen, and probably had very little sleep.
It was still dark when I started walking towards the 'fields office' and when I got there I was welcomed and was told to make myself a cup of coffee....
There was some kind of coffee in a jar and the water urn was boiling, so I put some of that coffee in my cup, poured some water and added a bit of sugar, gave it a quick stir, and had my first sip... 
What the...?... it was all grainy and I felt like I was drinking sand...What is this?! …I asked...
They were all watching me, smiling, as if it was a rookie prank.... and said..."That is Turkish coffee, you are supposed to let it settle at the bottom of your cup before you drink it, you've never had that before?"
Nope!
"Well, welcome to the morning coffee at the 'fields office'!"
​We all laughed and all of a sudden we were all in high spirits!

At 6 am we headed out to the cotton fields, we all jumped on the back of a 'flatbed trailer' which was being pulled by a tractor and rode to the first cotton field...the sun was just rising and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day and a unique first experience....

We moved several irrigation pipes and did some other stuff moving things around, we had a smoko /coffee break and had some fruit and at around 11 am then at around 2:30 pm we headed back to the dining room... my first 8 hours of work, done!

Everyone was there! There was a great smell coming from the kitchen and we immediately queued up to get our meal, they had vegetable soup, rice, steamed vegetables, and some meatballs with gravy...now, that's what I'm talking about!...a good meal indeed!

We were finished with work as we had started early so I headed back home... I was a bit scratched all over my arms, I'd never walked through a cotton field before and those plants are quite prickly! I looked like I had been in a fight with a crazy cat!...
I was, nonetheless, quite happy with my first workday at my kibbutz...that wasn't bad at all...

And then...I had no idea there was a surprise waiting for me in my room...my roommate had arrived!
I walked in and there he was, sitting on his bed playing his guitar!

I was surprised to see him there, I  introduced myself and he said, “Hi, I'm Arthur, I'm from Holland”
Cool, I said, Welcome to Neve -Eitan!
I asked him the same questions I was asked...How long are you here for? and all that, he said...shrugging his shoulders "I don't know... we'll see how it goes" …he was kind of quiet and humble...

He was a shortish guy with Indonesian background, he wore glasses and spoke perfect English...
and then the obvious question...so you play the guitar, do you? Yeah, he said, is that ok?
Sure is! what kind of music? I asked and he said...“Country-Rock mainly, like Neil Young, Eagles, Crosby Still, and Nash and all that...”
Frankly speaking, I'd never really heard much of that type of music apart from the famed “Hotel California” by 'The Eagles' which was sometimes played on the radio in Mexico...

I had no idea I was not only going to have a roommate but it was also going to be my introduction to that 'Country Rock' music world which, since then, I've loved...

He had a beautiful acoustic guitar and he had laid it in its case when I came in so I looked at it and said, what a cool guitar, why don't you play something?....and he said, "sure thing".

He grabbed his guitar and started. singing... "I wanna live, I wanna give, I've been a miner for a heart of gold"... It was like I was just listening to 'Neil Young' himself...sitting right in my room... (Watch a snippet of  Neil Young's Heart of Gold, live concert 1971, below)

Wow! Arthur that was awesome... I said...
He smiled...
That was to be the beginning of a great friendship that would evolve from then on...

I took a shower and changed and we went to the dining room for our evening meal like 'good ol' buddies' where I introduced him to the gang...
​
Hey guys, this is Arthur...
​"Shalom Arthur, welcome to Neve-Eitan," they said...