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Tuesday, September 6 - Karagol Lake with Shani and Daniel
We woke up at 4:00 AM. It was very dark. I told Benny that I was very impressed by the simple way of life. People were poor here, but they seemed to be very resourceful. Every piece of flat land turns to a rice field, corn, beans, tomato, cucumber, melon, pepper, fruit trees. Old wooden boxes turn into fire wood. Homes have the minimum necessity. Benny said that I romantecise and that there is a price to pay. As long as you are healthy it is fine, but what happen when you need a doctor, dentist? What about education? They all smoke, how long do they live? People probably die from lack of medical care.
I say that in spite of the poverty, nobody is hungry, there are no homeless and nobody seems to lock their doors. The people seems stressless, nobody is in a hurry, they have time, they seems very kind people, also kind to one another.
We ate breakfast at 7:00am on the balcony. We made sandwiches for lunch. Brief talk to Mendi and Debbie from Israel. We were taking a taxi to Nazara. The dirt road was very bumpy, rocks, water.
We finally stopped and the driver pointed up the mountain and said ‘Nazara’.
We saw few wooden constructions, was that Nazara? Where do we go? And the driver pointed up and left.
There were no signs. No clear paths. Nobody around. I was following Benny and Benny was following the marks that the mules left. That must be the path. Whenever I saw a pile of manure I was excited! We were on the right path. Magnificent view everywhere: mountain picks. Water rushing from every direction. The road was very steep and muddy and we have to walk from rock to rock. The hike is strenous. Purple flowers, yellow flowers.
On the way we passed Yayla or summer home where the villagers stay for the summer. They stay at the mountains during the summer to tend their cows and sheep and grow the crops.
Along the way we ate rasberries and blue berries. As I am huffing and puffing to climb the mountains, we were passed by an older woman, a boy and a girl, three cows and six sheep who were going up the mountain. They did not have hiking shoes and they did not seem to mind the rocks or the mud, they just kept walking in very fast pace. They were holding special knifes to cut the grass. They dry the high grass to feed the animal in the winter. Later we saw two women who were watching the cows in the meadow while they were knitting. We also encountered an old man with a very large basket on his back. The Yayla are built from whatever material is available in the mountains: stone, logs, mud. The stairs are made from a carved log.
The hike was long and difficult. From far we saw Rafi and Shani who took the wrong way. They walked toward us and we continued to the top together. More blueberries and rasberries. We stopped to catch our breath and marvelled the view. Water falls, snow on top of the mountains. Benny and Rafi were walking fast, Shani and I took our time.
Which way was up? Shani said to go straight up, Rafi said to go around. We were the only people on this enormous mountain. We were looking for the road signs that previous travellers left. They are called cairn or Rujum in Hebrew-Arabic? It is a pile of rocks to mark the way. I could barely walk and I heard Benny saying “its here”. We still had quite a way to go and my legs did not want to go. We got to the top. We were at 2800 meter and we saw Karagol Lake. Around the lake, jugged picks , six fingers. Snow, the tips of our fingers froze. We sat for lunch. Shani and Rafi had a gazia and they made tea and coffee. So good!
Time to go back, the taxi was coming at 3:30 to pick us up. Shani and Rafi would walk to Barhal and they stayed behind to make more Rujum to help future travellers. The way back was difficult, I slipped on small rocks we crossed rivers and mud. My knees were trembling. Where was the path? We lost the path, we were in the middle of turnip field, be careful not to fall into an irrigation ditch. I wanted to sit and rest but Benny was rushing me because the driver was probably waiting for us. We still had a long way to get down. Benny spotted the taxi down below. Benny whistled to the driver. How would I make it all the way down? We were 45 minutes late.
Back at Karahal Pension. Hot tea. We were safe at home.
Shani and Rafi arrived after 7:30, they were very tired and said that walking back from Nazara was too much. At dinner time the place was full of new guests. An organized tour from England, most people were from New Zealand.
Stuffed pepper for dinner. Ahmed brought a second serving for everyone. I was retiring to the room, Benny stayed with Rafi, Shani, Debbie, Mendi, Daniel and his girlfriend and enjoyed the conversation.
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