As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know. ~D. Rumsfeld

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

My weekend in Eilat

at Rosh Ha-Shana...

I arrived at the two-star hotel which I liked so much more than the most luxurious hotels I have ever stayed in during my life and .. was notified by phone that due to me suffering from high blood pressure I wasn't allowed to dive with the dolphins. That sank me into a deep sadness straight away but I wasn't going to let my trip down south being spoiled by it. And so... while walking the boulevard later on (wasn't going to sit in my hotel-room - that just wasn't an option) - I 'bumped' into a 'cruise' (that's how it's called in Israel if you float on a boat for more than 10 minutes) boat. Since I hadn't anything else to do anyway, I bought a ticket and joined the 'cruise'. It was 2 and a half hours in which I felt a pure sense of 'victory' (that I had been able to travel alone and enjoy it and not end up in a mental hospital like my ex said he would let me end up - like I wrote about in a former post) - stars on the water, water as blue as blue can be, me sitting at the bow -with behind me only children -in a kind of Jacuzzi - who were sprinkling me wet while their parents sat like real 'grown-ups' at tables on the upper deck. I found I was as free as a child again. We passed Aqaba and the border with Egypt. Photos hereunder will show the huge flag Jordan has put up there and an Egyptian soldier sitting in a watch-out shed overlooking all activities....

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Before leaving Tel-Aviv's Sde Dov I noticed the Hercules I had seen many times hovering above my head before the defense attack on Gaza last year:
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It always made a huge impression on me those days -while standing on my mezah and believing it was something like a B-52

After a totally unwinding 2-and-a-half hours on the waters of the Red Sea (not being responsible for any of the children on the boat who were having fun - and thus enjoying every bit of the stupidness they involved themselves in) - I saw a few things that caught my attention on the boulevard - a parakeet who was very obviously 'well trained' in one of the bastot selling whatever and a baby-turtle-dove near a palm tree. Later a boy came around and asked if the baby-dove was mine. When I answered negatively he tried to harass it upon which I didn't care if he were child or whatever - but threatening him told him that if he'd touch it I would..... After that he left the dove alone... I swear I would have hit him if he'd tried to hurt the poor bird:
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I arrived at the hotel and met with my new friend - whom I never saw before I ever booked the hotel (and who's responsible for the fuck up regarding my diving and swimming with dolphins: but I forgive her). That evening we went out pubbing with the 'natives' - it was fun. It always is fun to meet new fun people... No photos though.

The next day I went to the Dolphin Reef where a free entrance ticket was awaiting me (besides the fact that every employee there knew who I was due to the fuck-up that happened leaving me deprived of exercising the thing I descended to Eilat for). - First I felt very sad seeing the 'new' divers entering the waters while I should have been amongst them but later on I synergized into my own little world with the dolphins who were coming very close to me (and not only me) - so it was OK. I swam at the Reef Beach (had to make use of my especially for the occasion bought swimming suit) - and then decided to move on: to the Mitzpeh Tat-Yameeh. Everything is done by taxies btw.
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A Bulbul I saw eating a piece of bread off a chair (here they already fly away if you even as much as look at them)

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Two Blue Fish who seemed to know they were safe from predators (like fishermen) - in the reserve waters surrounding the Mitzpeh

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An Anaconda head sticking out of the water after I frightened him a bit -but from behind a glass partition obviously, hahahaha

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Fish surrounding me in the tat-yami observation (underwater) building

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I'm touching a crocodile :D Can you believe it? No, of course not. I didn't but liked the impression as if I did.

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The Dolphins, of course. They can't be held responsible for the frustration of me being prevented from meeting on eye-2-eye sight. They were adorable. And yet... somehow... I can't get rid of the feeling they've succumbed to being part of the 'show' as actors as the whole of that reef was set up: making money. What's in there for them? I don't know -

I heard about 'crocodile tears' ( in every language) - but this is crocodile love. I was so surprised to see them hug up with each other. I thought people could learn from them. Predators and yet.. so lovable to each other?
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That evening we (my new Eilati friend and me) spent drinking Martini and just 'hanging out'. It was nice. Real nice.

Last day in Eilat. I had missed the thing I booked this trip for but had a great time despite that. So what to do on this last day? I thought camel riding was a thing 'tourist' did and why shouldn't I if I were a 'tourist in Eilat'? I never imagined the true relaxing emotions a camel could push through your body until I tried riding one. It was really, really, really: one of the most relaxing moments in my life. How can one be wrong about impressions or from what others say and I read?
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This is Diana
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and me...Thank you, Diana. You are not only a most remarkable animal but also one of the biggest surprises I ever met..

I then went on to fulfill a wish I also had: to feel the exhilaration of 'flying' over the water in a jet-ski (having not been successful in lodging a hike from those jet-skiing -and smiling at me- before my mezah in the Nemaal in T.A.) - and yes, YES!!! It actually is just as exhilerating as I thought I would be and.. MORE! The cute young boy being destined to be my 'guide' told me to drive into territorial waters - separating Israel from Jordan and it was grandeur. The person hiring those jet-skies had told me I didn't have to pay if I didn't think the experience was absolutely fantastic. Well, I paid. I would have paid him even twice the amount he rented his jet-ski to me for: it was what I expected it to be and so, so MUCH more...
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Some more photos of my miniscule little holiday (while everybody in the pub I visited with my new Eilati friend kissed my hand - in a medieval manner, such as in showing love AND respect, to me (to me???) - on my last night there..


Fly away (as I imagine myself while Chi Coltrane (click there( sings 'Eliyah' one of these days)
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The scurry little (but NOT really all that 'little') turtle made everybody to understand: 'don't enter my personal space because I will bite you'
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The peacocks who were really in synergy with me at the Camel Farm - until a group of Russians (I really don't them, what can I do?) came along:
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My biggest 'present' was that everybody in Eilat who I have met those days either kissed me or embraced me - I really needed this in order to feel a human being again. After all those years of having believed my 'me' depended on someone I now despise so very much...

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