Scorpion Sting

In the morning, we awoke on the beach. It was 5am. Straight away we set out biking and covered a lot of ground, about 45 km. Around 9am we stopped for breakfast and then rode another 10km before it got too hot. We found a bridge and stayed underneath it for 3 to 4 hours, writing, sleeping and talking.
After the sun cooled a bit, we began again and biked until just after dark. At dinnertime we stopped at a gas station to find some food. There was a small cage attached to it so we parked our bikes, sat down and ordered a varitey platter of vegetables.
Food in Israel and probably the Middle East in general is incredibly delicious. It is also a very populist thing. One could spend close to one hundred dollars on a meal of fine French cuisine at a fancy restaurant and it would not rival the taste of a bountiful platter found in a gas station cafe in Israel.
We were in a mixed area of the country, half Arab, half Jew and I could not tell which ethnicity our server belonged to. He saw our bikes, our dirty clothes and tired bodies and asked us about our travels. We told him our intentions of biking through Israel and then heading down into the West Bank.
"I have an uncle in Bethlehem," he said. "There is a problem, a conflict of course but it is very complex." Straight to the point I asked, "How do you think it should be solved?"
"I would say to them, come to my house, to my village. See my family and the way I live. Then I come to your house and see how you live. Then we will understand. We have this one land. We need to share. There is too much fighting, not understanding, we do not talk to each other. That is what we need-to talk to each other."
I smiled at that and told him I agreed. Evan and I accepted an espresso from him and then were off again after shaking his hand.
That evening we rode until after dark. Evan thought we should stop sooner but I pressed him to continue. In my mind, I had a goal plotted out on the map that I wanted to reach before camping and we were still about 6km shy of it. I wish now that I had listened to him and stopped.
When it got too dark to ride any further, we got out our flashlights and walked our bikes forward looking for a good place to camp. We must have walked nearly 2km like this. On both sides of the trail it appeared in the dark to be nothing but rocky desert with scrubby growth on the ground. Finally I decided to park the bikes. I took a flashlight and headed up the hill to the east, hoping to find a suitable spot to camp.
To my surprise, about 300 yards off the road I found a fenced-in square lined with trees. The gate tothe fence was opened and I discerned raised graves on the ground. I ran back to tell Evan the good news and we both walked the bikes up and found a nice spot to lay down inside. Evan said it was a Jewish custom to wash your hands before leaving a cemetery and that there must be running water somewhere near the entrance. Evan found the fountain quickly and we filled up our water bottles. Next we spread out the tarp, unrolled the sleeping bags and triend to get some sleep. We planned to leave at 5am so I set an alarm.
It was one of the worst nights of sleep in my life. We woke up ervery half hour or so and 5am came much too early. In the morning, Evan noticed a bite near his ankle and said that his foot felt numb. I couldn't tell if it was a spider or a scorpion bite but it definitely did not look good. I asked him if he could continue riding or not and he said he'd give it a try. We really had no ther choice at this point.
About 3 hours later, Evan was exhausted. His foot had swollen slightly and he felt light-headed. I felt his forehead, he may have had a fever but it was impossible to tell in this heat. Evan told me that he could not bike any further and would just hitchhike into Nazareth with his bike on a truck. He impressed upon me his confidence in this venture and told me that I should continue biking on. I said okay and left him on the side of the road, then continued down the mountain. I had at this point, only one full water bottle left. Guy's map indicated that there was a store and gasd station about 4km away. When I got there however, it was closed down. The next station was through a large field and at least 18km away. It was getting hot in the day at this time but I thought that I could make it.
I started out on the trail though the field. In the valley it was much hotter than in the mountains. I slowly drank the rest of my water and just hoped that the store would be near. It seemed to never come. Turn after turn would only reveal more dusty trail. Finally, the heat began to get the better of me, I was exhausted, hot and my throat was parched. The Israeli military was practicing fly-bys in the sky with loud jets and I seriously considered starting an alert fire on the ground of some sort. I kept riding but felt seriously fatigued. I was seeing traces of light, flashes in my vision and I thought I might just pass out. It was 11am.
A small trail off the main trail I was riding on appeared to the left and there was a line of trees at the end of it. I thought it would at least offer some shade so I rode towards it. I couldn't believe what I found on the other side of the trees. Miraculously, through the trees was a Jewish cemetery. I remembered what Evan had told me the night before and just as it is customary, there was water piped into a fountain from a nearby stream/ The pipes were made of black rubber and the water was hot but I drank two liters of it none-the-less. It was so refreshing. I drank and drank, filled up my water bottles, took a quick rest then rode further northeast. There was a town less than 9km away.
Before I got to the town I found a place where cows feed. I decided to sleep for a few hours and wait for the heat to dissipate. Around2 or 3 o'clock I left and arrived in town, bout some food then headed up the mountain for Nazareth 14km away.
In Nazareth, I found the Fauzi Azar Inn, where David lives. He was away for a few days but Evan had made it there before me. He had indeed been able to catch a lift with his bicycle. His foot however, had not gotten better. Evan slept all day and night while I explored the city, taking pictures.
In the morning I awoke early to write. Evan woke up around 8am and his foot was still swollen. He couldn't walk on it properly. The people at the Inn decided it was best for him to go to the hospital. Plans for him will most likely need to be altered. We are not certain what he will do yet except for spending a few days in Nazareth to visit a doctor and recuperate. It is likely that he will take a bus to Jerusalem and wait for me to bike there by myself.
As for me, I am biking to the Golan Heights soon and then into the West Bank. I will meet him in Jerusalem in 5 days or so at his grandmother's house. David should be joining us there.
It has been quite an adventure so far. I continue the conversations with people, obtaining perspectives and sharing stories. At the moment, these are being collected separately. Evan will post the conversation with Yotam in a separate blog when he is up to it. Until next time, Shalom, Saleem, Peace. Michael