Day 6

When we heard that the wakeup call this morning was at 7:30 am, everyone cheered. Compared to 6 am the day before, this was sleeping in. After we ate breakfast and got all the luggage in the bus we left Ashkalon and headed south towards a kibbutz. This kibbutz was special because back in 1945 during Israel’s War for Independence, a group of 18-21 year olds lived here and secretly operated an underground bullet-making factory. We got to climb down into the basement where the bullets were made and learned about how despite the constant danger of being caught by the British, these people made over 10,000 bullets every day to help Israel fight the war. We then left the kibbutz and stopped at a roadside market where we ate a delicious lunch of schwarma. Afterwards we traveled to a bunch of ancient ruins and underground caves where some of the Macabes used to live. We climbed through a few of the caves and looked for pieces of clay on the ground that were from pottery pieces from that time. Finally, we rode an hour south to the desert! A tribe of Bedouin people live here and this is where we are spending the night. We walked out away from the tents to the middle of the desert just as the sun was setting. We all spread out and just sat on the rocky ground, not talking, soaking in the fact that we were in the Israel desert. Then we were given a presentation by a Bedouin man and then all sat in a tent on floor mats and were served dinner. Tonight we are going to a bonfire and then all sleeping in a huge tent. Hopefully we don’t freeze.