My Pilgrimage: June 16

Well, we made it to Jerusalem.  Today was the day we really earned our “pilgrim” stripes.

It started as the regular dig day (5:15 MP, 5:30 taxi to dig, etc.)  We were only going to work until second breakfast at 10:00 so that we could get to Jerusalem before the craziness of after dark Ramadan (HA!).  I started for a few minutes where I had been digging yesterday, until they asked for a volunteer to work in the cistern since our fearless leader had to depart back to the States this morning for a wedding.  Since no one else wanted to, I figured I’d give it a shot.

I thought to get down there it would be relatively easy (a ladder or something).  I was wrong.  “Just step along these walls, down to that ledge, step over to that ledge, then brace yourself down to the dig site.”  Oh, and never mind that on either side is a fall to death (or so it seemed to me).  Well, I got down there ok, so I went for it.  This is where they keep finding lots of cool stuff, so I wanted to be part of it.  After a few minutes I found a fairly big pottery handle (the size of my hand).  When I said something to the other guy, who has been digging down there all week, he said, “eh, we’ve found a lot bigger.”  Well phooie on you.  I was down there for a good hour, finding a lot of small pieces of glass and pottery handles and whatnot, when I needed to get out for some water and dump my excess dirt (and to get away from his terrible music).  Now came the fun part.

I hoisted myself up to the first ledge, and then I basically froze.  I couldn’t figure out how to cross the gap to the other ledge without falling to my death.  “It’s easy, just stand up and walk over.”  Yeah, right.  After I struggled for what seemed at least 10 minutes, my “partner” decided to help me get out.  Somehow he scrambled up around me, I got pushed myself to the other ledge, and he helped me to stand up and get the heck out of there.  With tail between my legs, I told the archeologist that I was done down there.

Our dig site

My original dig site

My “reward” was to take over a hole someone else had been working in but who had stayed at the hotel today because his back was hurting (he’s 60 years old).  I had to help square it off and level it off (it was in pretty bad shape, literally, bad shape, as in not even close to straight lines).  To prove myself, or something, I did about as much work in the remaining 90 minutes as he had in four days (that’s an exaggeration, but not much).  They charitably called for us to finish up around 9:30.  We said goodbyes, were given t-shirts, and took a group picture (wearing our sweaty clothes, with our nice and tight t-shirts over them).  We had our second breakfast, and were ready to go for the van to pick us up at 10:30.

Except the van wasn’t there.  This was the same driver who had taken us from Nazareth to Tiberias, and had skipped our third stop because he wasn’t listening.  He didn’t listen again, and was at the hotel to pick us up.  A phone call and 15 minutes later, and we were ready to go.  Quick showers at the hotel, last minute packing, in the van around 11:30.

It was about a 3 hour drive through the West Bank to Jerusalem.  Along the way, there were many discussions about how we were going to get to our rooms at Ecce Homo, which is a convent in the Muslim Quarter.  We knew the gates were closed to traffic due to Friday Ramadan.  We found out that all the roads anywhere close were closed as well.  Through some negotiating, and lots of frustrating turn arounds, we finally made it to Notre Dame Jerusalem Hotel (just outside the gates) around 3:00.  This hotel is run by the same people as run Magdala (Legionnaires), so they were kind enough to let us rest up as we waited out the crowds.

One mojito later, we were antsy to get going.  We had discussed different plans, including leaving our luggage and coming in taxis at 11:00 tonight to pick them up, but eventually settled on “let’s all drag our luggage the half mile to Ecce Homo.”  Easy on paper and the map, much harder when trying to negotiate crowded Jerusalem streets.

It only took us a half hour to get here.  But the fun wasn’t finished yet!  The lady who was supposed to meet us at the front desk had walked away just before we got there and was nowhere to be found!  So we each tried to find out way to our rooms, only to realize that the rooms were laid out by someone the opposite of an engineer.  Rooms in the 100s are on the second floor, 20s-50s on the third floor, 70s on some other unknown floor, oh and if you want to find your rooms on the second floor, you have to walk through five corridors to get there.  Easy peasy! 

View from our balcony, you can see the Dome of the Rock.  Also, this minaret is very loud during the call for prayer.

But now I’m ready to head down for Mass before dinner, and hopefully sleep on these wooden slab beds.  In the middle of crazy Ramadan town.  But I’m not upset at all J

Ok, so that was what I’m calling “angry blogging.”  I’ve since gone to Mass and had dinner.  I’m a little calmer now, and more ok with everything.  I should just be happy that we all made it safe and we’re in Jerusalem for a couple of more days.  Tomorrow I believe we will be at the Mount of Olives and the Via de la Rosa.  It should be good.