Back in San Diego, For Good?

May 5, 2021May 9, 2021 / buffgecko / Leave a comment

I made my way back to San Diego and am staying with my parents for now until I find a job and place to live. How would I describe being back? Well, it’s a strange mix of feelings. The first one is just “phew” — there’s no other way to describe it. I guess it’s a mix of relief and happiness. The more I think about it, the more I realize I really was not happy in Israel. Being removed for a month has given me some time and distance to arrive at that conclusion.

I just feel comfortable here, back in the U.S. and in San Diego. Things are easier and less complicated. I don’t have to think about another God-forsaken cockroach again, among other things. It doesn’t even slip into my consciousness. I have changed, though — my habits and my tastes. I guess that comes with age and experience. I was travelling the last month and it was great. People are flying again, which was a good sign.

I took three PCR tests in 23 days:

Haifa: arranged and paid for by BWC; test taken at a hospital; painless; results in a few hours
Istanbul: arranged by my hotel and paid for by me; male nurse arrived at hotel on motorcycle and administered test; a little unsanitary (same q-tip in mouth and both nostrils) but not uncomfortable; results the next day; about $32 USD
Duitama: arranged and paid for by me; taken at a place called Comfaboy in a pseudo-medical facility; results in 20 minutes; the doctor jammed that q-tip pretty far down, most uncomfortable of the three; about $28 USD

The one in Duitama was actually an antigen test. Everything in Colombia seems to be so informal. There was no appointment, you just walk-in and tell the security guard you’re there for a PCR test. The guy tells me where to go to meet the doctor who asks me a few questions and then tells me to meet her at the next door. She sits me down, jams that 6-inch q-tip in as far as she can and says we’re done. This one went so deep it caused my eyes to water so I told her “no me gustó” and then asked her if I get a cookie or a prize? She laughed and said no.

I was then instructed to pay my bill in order to receive the results and to wait in the lobby. No problem. I did that and then went out to get some water and food. Before I left the building, I asked the guard if he wanted an “aguita” to which he said yes. I had heard this word so many times before, “quieres una aguita?” Do I want a “little water?” I don’t know what the heck that means, but I found myself actually using it without even thinking about it and I surprised myself.

So, across the street is a shop that sells empanadas — which I think is true of 50% of the street shops in Colombia. I tell the lady my predicament — that I offered the guard an “aguita” but wasn’t sure exactly what he would be expecting. She suggested an “agua panela” which is warm water with sugar cane and some lemon juice. That sounded right to me, but I figured I better take the guard a “little water” too just in case, so I also bought a tiny plastic water bottle. I finished my empanada and waddled back into Comfaboy.

I gave the guard his aguitas and he was very appreciative. I don’t think strangers doing random things like that is very common there, but it’s always nice to surprise people in a good way. Karma. Negative test, check. New smartphone, check. New glasses, check. Refreshed me, check check check. It turns out I barely made it out of Colombia, since strikes were scheduled in Bogotá for the day after my flight. Good timing!

Once back in the U.S., my first mission was to get a new cell phone plan! I haven’t had my own plan in over five years! So, what’s the first thing I did? I went to ATT! And that lasted about 10 seconds since they told me their cheapest plan was $50/month. That’s way out of my price range. I’m looking for cheap. I mean cheeaap. So, I spotted a Cricket Wireless across the street. I’d heard of them, but always thought they were some cooky company, who names themselves Cricket?

Mint Mobile | Wireless that's Easy, Online, $15 Bucks a Month

It turns out, this was a fortuitous venture on my part. The sales representative told me their cheapest plan was $30/month for 2GB of data + unlimited text/calls. Now we’re talking. I went back home and researched Cricket and they checked out pretty well. The only problem was that they didn’t support the new cell phone I had just bought. D’oh! So I looked online for the best mobile plans and the first one that popped up was Mint Mobile. Never heard of it. But…their cheapest plan was $15/month for 4GB + unlimited text/calls. Holy cow, I had hit the mother lode. I was already ready to sign up with Cricket, but now Mint Mobile was doubling their offer for half the price. Too good to be true. I signed up anyways 🙂

This is what happens when you leave the straight path and do different things. I knew nothing about SIM cards and smartphones and prepaid / postpaid plans before coming to Colombia. I just contentedly paid ATT their $40/month, figuring that’s just how things are done. Now after going through plans with Claro, Wom, Tigo, you name it, I don’t care who my mobile provider is. As long as it works and isn’t too expensive, that’s all I need. So, there you have it — Mint Mobile was in the right place at the right time. Let’s see how it plays out. If you want to try it, let me know and I will refer you — I think I get a referral bonus or something!

Once I got my cell phone situation figured out, I could do so many more things — access my banking accounts, submit a driver’s license application, update my resume, etc. I felt like I was slowly plugging myself back into society again. I have a “To-Do” list of things that I’m slowly working through. The overarching one is to find a job. This has been an interesting and eye-opening experience for me, given that it’s my first time as a free agent.

I got an e-mail last night from a recruiter for a Parking company asking me to attend a job fair today with the possibility of the following positions: Valet Attendant, Cashier, Lot Attendant, Prescreening Ambassador. Interesting, I wonder how she matched my resume with these positions seeing as I don’t have experience in any of these positions. I politely asked her if they would be interviewing for other positions as well, and did not receive a response.

On the bright side, I got another e-mail from a different recruiter which seemed more inline with my experience and what I’m looking for. I am more-or-less open to any positions right now where I’m doing work that I enjoy. I think that’s my key driver, more so than working for a company with a social mission. If I could have both, that would be ideal. But at this point, I’m looking more to get back into the game and doing work that I enjoy and hopefully am good at.

In the meantime, I’ve been relaxing, recuperating and organizing my things the last few days here. I have had my burrito and washed my car. I’ve ordered a few things from Amazon. I feel like I’m ready to get back at it again. I will miss having my freedom, but I had a nice run. Who knows, maybe some day I will be able to do something similar again. But for now, I have other plans and goals in mind.

Hard Landing in the U.S.

April 28, 2021May 5, 2021 / buffgecko / 1 Comment

I made it back to the U.S. yesterday. As the plane flew out of Colombia, a few tears came out, but I reminded myself it was not a goodbye, but more of a “see you next year.” The tears came from feeling that this is the end of one, fun chapter of my life. There were periods over the last 5-6 years where I felt truly free to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and it was a beautiful feeling — doing a cross country road trip, snowboarding for a month, working in Israel. It felt like a pure freedom to explore and it was amazing.

Now I feel like it’s time to come back to the “real world” again and get back to work. I think I can still incorporate the freedom / exploration feeling into my life, but it will have to be in a different form and within a different life model. That’s OK. I may not be quite at peace with it yet, but I feel I will be in short order. Life goes on, things change, perspectives alter, blah blah blah. I am grateful for the experiences I had and the people I met. It was hard at times, but worth it.

Coming back to the U.S. this time around, I didn’t feel much of a reverse culture shock at all. I didn’t feel anything different, really, as I made it to the Atlanta airport. It didn’t feel strange being back in the U.S. for the first time in a while. This is probably because I’ve done it several times now and maybe also because I had been back for a brief visit only 7.5 months ago.

I was actually happy to be back, it felt nice. Looking back on it, living in Israel was difficult for me. Over those 21 months, I was just focused on the day-to-day tasks that needed to be done, but I never felt comfortable there. As soon as I flew out and made it to Turkey, I felt I could finally breathe and relax. I don’t know why, but that’s how I felt. Anyways, back to the Atlanta airport. Now let me tell you how that went…

Going back to the early 1990s, Atlanta and I have a troubled history. I had more or less made my peace with the city, but that changed yesterday. I made it to the airport and had 1 hour and 15 minutes to make a connecting flight to Orlando. No problem, the connecting gates on an airline’s flights are normally close to each other, so I should be able to make it. Wrong! On all accounts.

Status by Mccraeiscook2017205 on DeviantArt

First, it must have been a 1/2 – 3/4 mile walk from the gate to the immigration control. The line wasn’t too bad, so I made it through after about 10-15 minutes. Then we had to pick up our luggage to pass it back through security / customs. No problem, I got to the carousel and picked my luggage out right away so I’m thinking to myself that I can still make it.

Next we go through some weird checkpoint where they dropped our passports into a colored transparent folder — mine was pink. We then took that folder and waited in a line to have our baggage inspected.

What the heck is this? So I sit down and wait around for 20 minutes to be called up. The inspections officer was a little rough, but whatever. Lots of questions, poking around, opening things and a total re-organizing of all my baggage. To be fair, half of my baggage was still gifts, so I did have a strange assortment of luggage with me (powders, coffee, seeds, teas, spices, chocolates). I had bought and packed these over the course of the previous months, so when he asked me what items I had in my luggage, I told him I didn’t remember exactly. I also had bought a wok and two large pans from Colombia for myself, so combined with my array of gifts, my nebulous answers to his questions, and my weird travel story (Israel, Turkey, Colombia, U.S. in the last month) this provoked lots of questions from him. Oh yeah, I also told him that I didn’t have a job, but quickly caught myself and told him I’d been looking. Not having a job seems to be a red flag for U.S. customs people.

I had a 4:30pm plane to catch and asked the officer if I’d make it. He said no problem, but if you don’t, just tell them you were hassled by the immigrations inspection. Lovely. By the time we finished and I had re-assembled everything, it was 4:21pm — not looking good at all.

I hustled down to the next section and dumped my baggage onto the carousel. Then I went to check the departure board to find my gate. I was so frazzled by this point, that I was looking for flights to Atlanta, not to Orlando. It was just a mess. I found my gate (A2) and hurried around the corner to find what fate awaited me — the terminal shuttle. Hmm…ok, maybe if it’s only a stop away I can still make it. I get on the shuttle and see that it’s the last stop and at this point I knew I was doomed. Doomed!

I got off that blasted shuttle and ran up the escalator with all my bags bobbing up and down. People actually cleared the way for me, I felt like I was in a movie. I get to the top and see that I will still have to walk / run through another at least 8-10 gates (and these are long gates) but it’s already 4:30pm. I just gave up here. I found a Delta desk and explained my situation to the lady there; she was very nice and helpful. She told me my flight had already left (with my luggage on it) but that she could re-schedule me for the next flight, which would leave in an hour. OK, that’s not too bad.

There were lots of unknowns to deal with, but at least there was a chance I could make it to Orlando at a reasonable hour and not make my family wait too long to pick me up. The lady told me my new gate was T3. What the heck is terminal T? This wasn’t listed anywhere that I remembered. After a 10-minute goose chase trying to find this mystery terminal, I found what must have been the only escalator that led to it. How did I know it was the right one? There was a small scrolling text on the top of a screen next to the escalator that said “This is now Terminal T” with an arrow pointing to the escalator. I felt like I was in a Super Mario Bros. game searching for a secret entrance that would take me to the next level. Atlanta airport, you are now officially on my “Do not fly” list.

At the time, it felt like a series of unfortunate events that were all compounding each other and leading to the subsequent mess. But if I had just known that I could hop on the next flight and my baggage would be waiting for me and everything would be OK in the end, I would have been able to relax and not worry so much. I was actually stressed — I think it was because I had never missed a flight before and didn’t know how it would work. It’s like getting detention for the first time in school and being scared because you don’t know what’s going to happen. I even told this to the Delta lady who helped re-schedule my flight and she laughed.

In the end, everything turned out fine. Once I was on the plane to Orlando, I slowly started to unwind. I was still ticked that everything had gone haywire and had to come down from an agitated state, but gradually I started to return to normal. One nice thing is that I didn’t have to wait for my baggage on the carousel when I arrived! It was already hand-picked out and just waiting in front of the baggage office for me. So beautiful! That’s the first time I’ve had my baggage waiting for me, and not the other way around.

It was a really strange re-entrance back to the U.S. It all started out normally, but ended up in lots of drama, as it sometimes does (2016, 2017, 2018, 2020). It feels good now to be back. I feel like I’ve already left Israel behind and am able to disconnect from it. I know I will look back on that experience and remember it fondly in time, but for now, it’s time to look and move forward. Sometimes I say that I “did my time” (i.e. honored my commitment) in Israel and was ready to move on. Someone mentioned to me that since I’ve been “gone” for several years, I’ll have to re-assimilate myself back into society again, kind of like when someone leaves jail and has to re-enter society again. I’m not saying I was in jail, but I feel like I will need some time to transition back into things here. I am ready for it. The first step is to find a job I like and feel good about. That sounds familiar 🙂

That One Time We Didn’t Go to Guatavita

April 19, 2021April 21, 2021 / buffgecko / 3 Comments

Colombia has a ton of pueblos and a lot of them have funny names, at least they sound funny to me: Buccaramanga (i.e. Scaramanga from James Bond), Buga (i.e. Ooga Booga), Facatativa, Barichara, Zipaquirá, Guatavita. They are all beautiful and unique in their own way and you can usually count on a well-kept city square (la plaza central) with an ornate church (la iglesia) and nice surrounding shops (tiendas). For example, in the department of Boyacá, there are over 100 cities / pueblos and you could probably visit 10 in a single day as they are not that far apart.

The other day, we went to visit a pueblo called Guatavita, which supposedly has something to do with the legend of El Dorado. To get there, we passed through a few towns / pueblos — Sogamoso, Iza, Sesquile — and made it there in a couple hours from Duitama. The scenery and green along the drive was so beautiful, it makes me not want to leave.

Anyways, we get to Lake Guatavita and try to find the entrance. We follow the “road” as far as we can, but eventually realize we probably were going the wrong way thanks to a few warning signs — 1) terrain that looked like it hadn’t been traversed in weeks, 2) we didn’t see anyone or any other cars along that path, and 3) there was a single cow just meandering along the road. On our way back, we asked the cow for directions and he gave us a strange look, like “crazy people, what are you doing here?”

We doubled back and made it to what looked to be a park entrance. It turns out you can only take a two-hour guided tour of the lake. Even this place was commercialized! Boo. We had somewhat of a schedule to keep, so we decided not to do the tour, although it would be nice to do a proper visit another time. We noodled around for a few minutes and then headed back down to the actual town of Guatavita to look around and get some lunch.

The city square of this town felt very different from the other ones I’d seen in Colombia. And the church was very distinct, it looked like it was all made of wood — very beautiful. It was one of those days where you don’t really have a hard plan so you pick a place to visit and see what you can find. It was kind of like one of my exploratory runs. It was nice.

After lunch, we headed back and stopped at a few viewpoint areas. I’d taken this road so many times before — it’s the main road from Bogotá to Duitama — so it was nice this time to actually stop and look around, which you can’t do when you’re on a bus.

Represa del Sisga (kind of like Lake Hodges)

I have another week or so in Duitama before I head back to the U.S. I’m not sure how I feel, but there is that usual sense of uncertainty since I don’t have a concrete plan for what’s next (i.e. a job, city, apartment). But I feel more normal and at peace than my previous returns — I feel more settled. I wonder how my transition back to a “normal” life will be. I kind of miss having a normal routine. I have some doubts, but we’ll see how it goes.

Playing With Fire

April 15, 2021May 15, 2021 / buffgecko / Leave a comment

I’ve been in Duitama for six days now and it’s been pretty seamless. Everything seems and feels normal to me, which is good. I’ve meet with several teachers and the program coordinators from both schools. I’ve been working with a new vendor and going through the paces of negotiating prices, understanding their processes and doing an actual purchase. It’s still a work in progress, but for the most part it’s gone pretty well.

The city itself, at first glance, seems to be doing well. It feels cleaner and there is lots of new construction and renovation, which is great. But once you start walking around and doing your daily rounds, you notice some of the not so good stuff, for example, the situation with Venezuela. Before things went south in Venezuela, you would occasionally come across a Venezolano here. But now, they are pretty much integrated into the city’s ecosystem and it feels like half of the store employees (i.e. Metro, Claro) I’ve spoken with are Venezolanos. And you also see them on the street trying to sell whatever they can (candies, trinkets). It puts a face on the crisis.

The other glaring change you take notice of is the Coronavirus situation. The hospital bed count in Duitama is not as dire as that in Bogotá, which is in an elevated state of alert, but it’s still something that’s talked about. From what I’ve seen, people seem to be wearing their masks with the same frequency as I saw back in the U.S. In other words, most people are doing it, but there are those who aren’t very careful. There is also some “hygiene theater” where people try to make it obvious they are taking protective measures.

At the bus terminal in Bogotá, you supposedly had to wash your hands before you could enter the terminal. So I got in this new line without knowing what awaited me. As I got closer, I saw there was a single makeshift sink assembled outside where people washed their hands — talk about a bottleneck when you’re rushing to catch a bus. So, Colombian innovation at its best, there was another person on the side with a bottle squirting a liquid into people’s hands. So I got a squirt of this mystery disinfectant before entering the terminal. The same thing when I entered a mall – a squirt of some mystery liquid into one hand before going in. I guess it doesn’t hurt.

Speaking of Coronavirus, I played basketball a couple days ago with some of my old “mechudos” or buddies. I was excited to play, since I hadn’t played in over a year and it would be nice to see some of the old guys. But as soon as I started talking to them, I started to feel unsettled. It turns out a couple of them had already caught the virus (and recovered) and the sense I got was that some of them still had a lax attitude towards protecting themselves, kind of like me when the virus first hit.

This was the first time I remember feeling a little paranoid with the virus. We started playing around 6:15am and it was in the low 50s, so you could see everyone’s breath as they ran around. I’ve been pretty good with the masks (after some initial resistance), but playing without masks and being in close contact with people running around, sweating, breathing hard and jumping made me very uneasy. I actually considered sitting out the second half of action. I made a conscious effort to only breath through my nose, which I’ve never done while playing sports, but I doubt that had any real effect. I also tried to keep my distance and avoid contact with people as much as possible, which is almost impossible when you’re playing basketball.

It was 2020 in a microcosm for me — wanting to enjoy normal life but also being aware that there is danger lurking around still. Having the vaccine helped put my mind a little at ease, but even that is not 100%. I felt like I let my guard down, and won’t be playing basketball with them again while I’m here. It was fun, but definitely not worth the risk, especially when a couple in the group had already been infected. The day after, I had a bad headache, which I think was unrelated, but you are super-sensitive now because you never know.

On an unrelated note, it seems every five or six years I will buy a new cell phone and knowing my antipathy towards cell phones, this is a big event. I got my first smartphone in January 2016 in Colombia. That was promptly stolen four months later, at which point I bought a new phone, a Huawei Y360, which I absolutely loved. It was compact and did everything I needed. But it’s become slow and increasingly useless — I can’t rely on Google Maps to work, lots of weird error messages, it’s still 3G only and only supports Android 4, you get the idea.

Amazon.com: Samsung Galaxy A01 Core (16GB) 5.3", 3000mAh Batería, Android 10, Dual SIM GSM desbloqueado Global 4G LTE (T-Mobile, AT&T, Metro, Straight Talk) Modelo internacional A013M/DS (64GB SD Bundle, azul)

So, I finally was pushed over the edge and decided it was time to buy a new cell phone. It took about two hours to find the one I wanted for a decent price. I ended up with a Samsung A01 Core, which is a good inch taller than my previous one, which I remember was also a good inch taller than the previous one, which also was…you can see the pattern. It came out to $300.000 COP including the screen protector and case, so around $85 USD. Not bad, considering my previous phone was $220.000 COP, about $75 USD at the time.

I’ve also reached the tipping point for a couple other things — glasses, laptop and shoes. I got a brand new set of glasses in Jan. 2016 in San Diego and now the lenses are pretty scratched up and the protective coating is peeling off, so it’s time to get a new set of lenses. The frame is still great — Ray Ban — more proof that paying more for good quality is a good idea.

My laptop has been through some abuse the past 5+ years. It was my first laptop, so while I adjusted to having one around, I dropped it a couple times and its banged up now. I replaced a few parts (CPU fan, mousepad buttons) but now the battery is shot and I feel like it’s time to just buy a new laptop. I love this little thing, so my next one will probably be another HP — great quality and engineering.

And that brings us to the last item — shoes. I haven’t bought any new clothes or anything in the past two years — I feel like I’ve been in a cocoon. Shoes are something you use every day, and the shoes I have are the cheapest quality ones I’ve ever had. As they have slowly fallen apart, I can describe in good detail how they were built — artificial leather, plastic backing, hollow soles and some weird metal bar under the in-sole. I got it for $22 at a Payless Shoestore that was going out of business. You get what you pay for 🙂 I will be buying a higher quality shoe next time.

Ciao Turkey, Hola Colombia

April 9, 2021August 8, 2021 / buffgecko / Leave a comment

I finally made it to Colombia. I didn’t realize how long a flight it was from Istanbul to Bogotá, but we were in the air for 14 hours! This time around, the plane was packed. I couldn’t sleep on the entire row like I did last year. This sounds weird, but I already miss the temporary perks of COVID air travel. It wasn’t all bad, though. Five years ago, the idea of a 10+ hour flight freaked me out. But now, no problem at all. Two meals, a couple of movies, some music, a little reading, maybe some snoozing and poof, most of the flight is taken care of.

Before I made it to Colombia, I had a couple days left in Istanbul. On Monday, I had my obligatory Bosphorous River “cruise.” Apart from the freezing and cloudy weather, it was actually really nice. Even though I can’t swim well, I like being on the water. Like most potentially dangerous things (i.e. skydiving), I just assume nothing is likely to go wrong and enjoy. Social proof.

I learned that Turkey is the only country which lies in both Asia and Europe. That’s pretty cool. There’s a Golden Gate-like bridge that takes you from one continent to the other. The following day, I took another “tour” where we actually drove across this bridge into Asia. It was nice to get out of the city and see some other areas.

I had my second PCR test at my hotel before my flight. It was given by a male nurse who came to the hotel on his motorcycle. He opened up his kit and took a saliva sample from my mouth using a swab. No problem there. Then he took that same swab and stuck it in each of my nostrils. Is this normal? I figured you normally use separate ones, but what do I know. I’m just glad he stuck it in my mouth and then my nose, not the other way around. Did you know, that you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose? But you can’t pick your friend’s nose? 🙂

My final verdict on Turkey is it’s nice. I only saw Istanbul, but I liked what I saw. Lots to see and do, it’s not too expensive and if you’re Persian you’ll at least feel semi-comfortable. I noticed a lot of the words they use we also use in Farsi like hesaab (“check” at a restaurant), tamaam (“got it” or “OK”), marhabaa (“hello”), emzaa (“sign” or “signature”), shesh o besh (“six and five” as in when you’re playing backgammon; both of my grandmas used to say this). And my personal favorite, “saandvic” (“ch” sound) which is the exact same as in Farsi. When I saw that sign above, it made me laugh.

It felt nice to be back in Colombia. I’ve said before that each time I come back here it feels different and this time felt different as well. There are the obvious changes like the ones due to COVID. But then there are other ones, like my mental state, my age and my current life direction. I started feeling a lot of emotion coming back to the place where my adventure started five years ago. I feel like I am coming full circle now, sort of. My relationship with Colombia will continue, but I feel like my adventure part of it is over now. I got mushy at times and I’m sure that will continue over the next couple weeks.

*Nothing says “Colombia” more than Guanabanas all in your face*

What I amazed myself with was how independent I’ve become here. I managed to do everything on my own pretty much: get an apartment (airbnb), get a SIM chip, find an exchange shop, get groceries and arrange my transportation. I was surprised at how easy and natural it felt. Yesterday, I even walked the streets of Bogotá to a meeting and got lunch at a random restaurant — all things I would normally do easily in Duitama, but had never done in Bogotá before. I obviously have my guard up at all times, especially since I stick out like a sore thumb, but everything was fine. I learned my “no dar papaya” (see bottom) lessons a long time ago.

Another thing I did on my own was arrange a meeting with a new potential vendor for the academic incentives. I had a meeting with them last night and it went really well. They gave me some sample materials (readers, dictionaries) and we discussed pricing and what I’m looking for. Let’s see how it turns out. It’s all a natural progression of baby steps, really. I’m a work in progress and learn best by doing. Being able to do all these things on my own is a testament of that progression.

Speaking of other changes in Colombia, they have this thing called “pico y cedula” which was put into place to limit the number of people going out during the pandemic. The idea is that if your ID number ends in an even number, you can go out or enter shops on certain days and if it ends in an odd number, you can do the same on alternating days. It’s a way to control the flow of human traffic, similar to “pico y placa” which Colombia uses sometimes to control vehicular traffic based on the last number of your license plate.

So, I completely forgot about this and tried to enter a grocery store yesterday. I busted out my passport, assuming they would just let me through since I was a foreigner. Nope, the lady was adamant and a little rude actually. She wouldn’t let me ask questions and just gave me a curt “ciao”. Where’s Stephanie Tanner when you need her?

Hmm, I got an idea. The last number of my passport is odd, I wonder what the last number of my license is. Hey, it’s even! So, the next store I went into I tried my license and bingo! They let me in. Good job Colombia 🙂 Now all I have to do is make sure I remember which stores I go into using which document, until someone figures out the ruse.

One thing that definitely had not changed was madness of taking showers in this country. I’m in a nice, what looks to be renovated apartment and I still was having issues getting a steady flow of hot water. I opened the hot knob all the way, but then it was scalding hot, so I opened the cold water a bit to even it out. Then the hot water stopped flowing and I was left shivering in the shower for a minute. I miss my old Casablanca water heater. It wasn’t fancy and didn’t give much hot water, but what it did it did reliably, so I knew what I was getting.

And speaking of Colombian architectural oddities, I earlier solved the mystery of why there were unclosable window openings — i.e. to let laundry dry. Well, the place I am staying at actually has a washer! So I used it (albeit I didn’t have any detergent, so I used some dish soap :)) True Colombian improvisation going on here. And wouldn’t you believe it, I was amazed at how quickly my clothes dried. They were ready by the next day. Thank you unexplainable window grate.

Religion in Turkey

April 4, 2021April 5, 2021 / buffgecko / Leave a comment

I’m not a very religious person and my time in Haifa just re-affirmed that for me. But I am interested in learning about religions and other peoples’ cultures. The past 21 months has been almost all-Baha’i all the time for me, so it’s nice to have a break from that environment and just let it float back down to a more lower ambient level.

In the past week, I’ve seen many holy sites for Christians, Jews and Muslims. In Jerusalem, obviously, you have the Western Wall, King David’s tomb, the room of the Last Supper and I’m sure lots of others. In Istanbul, you have the Haghia Sophia, which has gone from cathedral to mosque to museum and back to mosque. There is also Topkapi Palace which holds the ancient relics of the prophets Abraham, Mohammad and Joseph and also King David.

So I finally went on a tour! I signed up for the Small Group Tour: Essential Istanbul tour and it was a really small group. So small that I was the only person in it! It was just me and my tour guide for the entire day. It felt kind of weird at first, but after a while we found our rhythm and it was fine. She was actually very nice and we just sort of spent the day together, chatted and visited places kind of like we were old friends or on a first date — sort of a mix of the two.

Seeing the Prophet Mohammad’s cloak and beard in Topkapi Palace brought this person to life for me. Seeing something that purportedly belonged to Abraham from over 2000 years ago was beyond surreal. Seeing the keys to the Kaaba, the holiest site for Muslims was pretty cool. I had no idea any of these items were in Istanbul.

This bronze sculpture is made of the melted armor of the Persian army in the real “300”. Way to go guys, here’s your legacy.

My tour guide also told me all the history of Turkey and filled in a lot of the gaps for me. I learned that the Ottoman Empire ruled Turkey from the 1200s to the early 1900s. I learned about Turkey’s attitude towards Islam, which was very interesting. It turns out in Turkey, people do not differentiate much between who is Sunni and who is Shi’i. It is more of an accepting culture. Men and women also don’t need to be separated in the mosques, which seems very progressive.

I knew that when Muslims pray, they must prostrate themselves in the direction of Mecca, the holy land. But let’s say you’re new in town and are trying out a new mosque. How do you know which way to point? Easy! Look at the minarets. The minaret will have one door which points to Mecca, so you just need to align yourself with the door. Now if your neighborhood mosque doesn’t have a minaret, then I think the carpet pattern will give you some direction, at least that’s what I gathered from my tour guide.

The Haghia Sophia was sublime. You have to take your shoes off and women must wear scarves. But other than that, you could walk around freely inside, except for the areas for praying. You could take pictures too. The dome was massive and so ornate. You are just left in awe. There are mosques all around the city, but they have seemed very docile and inert so far. The perception of Islam, at least in the U.S., is that it’s a fundamentalist religion rooted in violence (jihad) and extremism. But I think if you talk to any sincere Muslim, they will explain away these misconceptions. Being in a Muslim country has helped me learn more about the culture and their beliefs.

Going back to the idea of Turkey’s relaxed public attitude towards Islam, inside the Hagia Sophia, you still see several remnants of its Christian lineage. There are crosses still visible and other Biblical depictions as well. And another interesting tidbit my guide explained is that the people here are relaxed towards the daily call to prayer. Muslims are suppose to pray five times a day, but at least in Turkey, that doesn’t mean you have to stop, drop, and pray. If you miss a session, you’re allowed to make it up later at your convenience. I like this. No pretense, no forcing people to be a certain way.

I had no real plan today other than to walk around and explore. I scheduled my PCR test for tomorrow. I need to get one 96 hours before my flight to Colombia. I had originally planned to leave some time to go to the airport and back for my PCR test, but it turns out my hotel can organize one for me. Cool! It costs 240 Turkish Lira (about $30 USD). Oh yeah, it looks like the guy at the front desk will be the one administering the test. Can you picture that happening in the U.S.?

I walked down to some more palaces and mosques, just meandering around. I found my way across a bridge and made it to the same areas as my tour yesterday. Except this time, I found what I could only describe as what felt like Istanbul’s version of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, with a middle eastern flair. So much stimuli, so many baqlava shops, it was just a fun time walking around and seeing the sights. This really is a fun, happening, relaxed city. I feel it has much more to offer, but what I’ve seen so far I really like. And did I mention that everything is cheap? I like cheap.

Farsi Restaurant — reminds me of “bowl thing“

It would have been nice to travel with someone, it makes it less monotonous, but it didn’t happen this time. After Colombia, my passport will be almost full — there will only be space for one more international trip. That is impressive, especially considering I had no desire to travel when I was younger. This is something the MBA program at USD brought out in me. Thanks Danielle!

Soft Landing in Istanbul

April 3, 2021April 3, 2021 / buffgecko / 3 Comments

I left Israel early this morning. My service is complete. What have I felt the last couple weeks? Mostly a mixture of relief, relaxation, and some nostalgia especially the last few days as I said goodbye to everyone. I’ve done this a few times now, so it’s not as difficult as the first time, when I left my job in 2016, which was really hard. At that time, I had this sense of “why am I doing this?” even though I knew exactly why.

*One last walk up to my apartment building*

Anyways, I got to the airport about 5:30am and prepared my stack of forms to present to the authorities. I have never had to fill out and bring so many forms with me before. Here’s what I had:

Exit form required by Israeli government
Entrance form required by Turkish government
Negative PCR test required to board plane
Greenpass issued by Israeli government stating I have been vaccinated
Security screening pass which more or less testifies I am not a bad guy and should be treated nicely in security
Visa to enter Turkey

The first four are related to COVID. Even the lady at the check-in counter was confused and had to ask me a few times for different forms. It was mind-boggling to say the least. I got to the security checkpoint, ready to bust out my security screening pass, but it was not even needed. I zipped right through the screening, not even a question about who I am, what I’m doing, where I’m going, what I had for lunch. Maybe the pass did the trick, who knows.

I get to my gate and check my boarding pass, which does not indicate which boarding group I’m in. So, armed with one of the best tools a person can have — ignorant bliss — I hopped in line, hoping for the best. I asked the guy behind me, just in case, and he said that anyone could board whenever they wanted. I chatted with him a little more (his name was Ahmad) and found out that he lives in Israel and goes to university in Istanbul. How fortuitous.

I start asking him questions about how to get to the city, where to get a SIM card and where to exchange cash. He told me that I could do all those things in the city and that he was going in the same direction as I was and he offered to share a taxi. So, I said sure why not. Somewhere along the taxi ride as we were chatting, I realized I just landed in a country I’ve never been in, got into a taxi with someone I’d just met, didn’t even get a SIM card or exchange any cash, and was just going on trust. This is the moment where I both amazed and scared myself at the same time. I didn’t even know this guy, but we chatted a bit in the airport and I had a good feeling about him.

Anyways, it all turned out well for the most part. I thought my new friend had paid the taxi for both of our rides (his stop was earlier than mine), but I either misunderstood or was taken for a ride literally by the taxi driver when he wanted another 40 lira from me. Mind you, this is only $5, but I still didn’t have a good feeling about the driver. He had all the power to take advantage of me, so I don’t know if he did or not. Another person on the street came to my “aid” as the taxi driver and I were having a minor debate. This “helpful” guy translated and the taxi driver got his money. Then the guy told me that my hotel was actually a 25 minute walk away and that he could take me. Right…so you’re a taxi driver too, huh? That’s when I knew the jig was up.

He had already taken one of my bags and loaded it into his car. When someone targets me and gets pushy, my radar immediately goes up and I try to step back from the situation, which is exactly what I did. I held up one finger and wagged it a little, saying “no” and he got the point. I sat down to regroup and figure out what to do — I had no internet but I did have one hand-drawn map from Google Maps that I sketched out the previous night. I knew I wasn’t far from my hotel, I just had to figure out how the heck to find it. I love my maps.

*Taksim Square, Istanbul – the circle in the bottom right is “Taksim Squar*e” and my hotel is the star on the left

I sit down and try to get my bearings. There is a girl next to me, so I ask her if she speaks English and she replies “No”. To which I then reply with a smile, “but you just said no”. Now this is where I had another Chris Tucker – Jackie Chan moment. The next thing she says to me is in Farsi, “man Irani hastam” — meaning “I am Persian”. BOONGGG! It is true, Persians are good at detecting other Persians.

After that shock wore off, I said “great me too” in Farsi! What luck. So I showed her my map and she said she didn’t know, but took me over to her family and asked her dad to help me out. So, they helped point me in the right direction. I found a currency exchange shop and was able to exchange some cash which put me a little more at ease. I was still disoriented, but found a street I recognized from my map. I also found a cellular shop there too, so I hopped in to get some info on the SIM cards.

I didn’t buy anything yet, but before I left I asked them if they knew where I could find my hotel. I showed them my map and they just laughed at me. You guys can laugh all you want, this thing saved me today. Eventually they pointed me down the right road. I told them I’d find my hotel, get some food, then come back to their shop and buy a SIM card, which I did.

I finally find my hotel, which wasn’t far at all. I make it inside and show the hotel person my map and he also laughs and asks why I didn’t just call him. Heh, funny guy. He is from Kurdistan. I think he’s the first Kurd I’ve met. It’s interesting, people from all over the world seem to either live here or be here right now. A lot of Persians too. For some reason I feel like I could easily be in Iran, even though I’ve never been there before. I can read the signs and more or less make out what they say, which is nice. If this is the closest I ever come to being in Iran, good enough for me.

Another thing I’ve learned is that I absolutely stand out here, big time. I have my Steelers hat, jeans, puffy blue jacket, glasses, and my papers in my hand. If I make the slightest bit of eye contact with a shop or restaurant owner, they engage me. In many cases, eye contact is not even required. The first interaction is often “Where you from?” to which I always answer “California”. As soon as they ask this question, I already know they don’t care and are just trying to reel me in. So I play the game a little and have some fun when I can.

One guy outside of his super market asked me “where you from?” followed by “what are you looking for?” I told him I’m from California and I want some bananas. He replied, “but we don’t have bananas”. So I said, “what kind of market doesn’t have bananas?” to which he repeated himself. So I said, “darn”, snapped my fingers and kept moving. He laughed. It’s good to have fun with people sometimes. They know it’s a numbers game and I doubt they take it personally, so might as well keep it light and make it entertaining.

This city has already made an impression on me. It blows Israel out of the water. Way more fun and interesting. The people seem friendlier and more relaxed. The sights, colors, sounds; the baqlava shops, bakeries, tea & spice shops. The food is awesome! Such variety and soooo cheap. You get double the food for half the price of Israel, which was absurdly expensive. The super-markets are dirt cheap too, so that feels great. About a third of the price of what you’d pay in Israel. I’ve had a couple delicious meals already, and they were only $8 or so including tip.

I’m staying near Taksim Square, which must be the heart of the city. There’s a big mosque right by it and there are some loud prayers being broadcast it seems on the hour. Get this, my hotel is only $25/night. I love Turkey. I had a tiny, and I mean TINY studio in Jerusalem for two nights and it cost almost $70/night.

I have an all-day tour of the city today, a 2-hour Bosphorous River “cruise” tomorrow afternoon and a couple free days. It looks like these two tours will actually happen, whereas the two I had planned in Israel were cancelled. I can finally officially be a tourist.

*In between currencies (Israeli shequel – top, Turkish Lira – middle, US Dollar – bottom)*

Jerusalem

March 31, 2021April 3, 2021 / buffgecko / 1 Comment

Before I left Haifa for the final time, I finally did some traveling in Israel. I had to cut out Eilat / Petra, but that still left Jerusalem on the itinerary. So I packed a backpack for the two-night trip. Getting there was surprisingly easy — take a bus to the train station and take a train to Jerusalem. So simple. The trains run on time, glide on the tracks, are easy to navigate and drop you at convenient locations.

I got off at the main Jerusalem station and pulled out one of my — you guessed it — home made maps drawn out on paper. This was more or less to give me an idea of where to go, since I could use my phone if needed to try to look it up on Google Maps. Unfortunately, my phone is slow and old, so I can’t always rely on it to get me where I want to. Besides, I much rather prefer to find it on my own — getting lost in the short term helps you situate yourself in the long-term, so that’s never a major concern for me.

I thought I knew where I was going but quickly got discombobulated. I kept following my instincts — I knew I had to go southeast, downhill and get to a main street. So those were my mental parameters. I was lost enough that I had to use my phone to help, which eventually got me moving in the right direction. I found the street I needed to get to and then proceeded to get some lunch, since I was still early for check-in.

I needed food — no surprise there — so I asked a couple people next to me where I could find some. They suggested some big market area, so I popped up and started making my way there. It turns out that it was Passover that day. Go figure, I was in Jerusalem on Passover, which is one of the major Jewish holidays. I asked a lady on the street for help to find this market and she helped me navigate. She was actually from New York but was living in Israel for a long time and gave me a history lesson.

She warned me that on Passover, you aren’t allowed to cook bread long enough so that it rises. It’s left in a somewhat doughy state. So I got some food which the guy tried to wrap in a tortilla-like bread, which fell apart in his hands. This lady wasn’t lying. I tried my doughy, messy tortilla meal and it was actually pretty good with the partially cooked bread. It had a very distinct taste.

After that, I made it back to my studio, put down my stuff and then headed back out again to stroll around. I made it to some huge fortress / castle and walked around a little. I had found my way to old city Jerusalem. It was pretty amazing, but I wouldn’t realize how amazing until the following day.

JFC…nice. I thought it was Jewish Fried Chicken at first.

The old city has different quarters — Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian. I saw King David’s tomb, the room of Jesus’s Last Supper, the Western Wall, the city of David, and a bunch of other stuff. The place is so huge and would take a good week to view everything slowly and in detail. It’s also amazingly well-preserved and maintained.

I still have no idea of the significance of the Western Wall, but there were a lot of people there — not overcrowded, but still a good mass. I made my way to the wall and touched it. And felt nothing. No epiphany, no charge, just a wall. But the others around me — Jews, Muslims, Christians — were all fervently praying and entrenched in their words. I also made my way into some inner sanctum / praying area of the Western Wall filled with only Jews who were doing different kinds of praying. I felt something in there, oddly enough — I couldn’t describe what, but I felt something. I sat still with my backpack in my hands among the Jews and just observed them. No one bothered me and I didn’t bother anyone either. I think what I felt was their sense of belief and steadfastness. It was very interesting to observe their rituals.

I also got to walk around the city, which had a large wall built around it. It seems like all ancient cities were fortified with huge walls which modern day people can now walk on top of. In the City of David, I somehow managed to make my way into a tunnel / underground passage that passes along the inside of the Western Wall and eventually takes you outside of it too. It was pretty surreal and a little scary at times. The passageway was well underground and narrow at times. I was the only one in there, so I was slightly nervous as I made my way deeper into the channels. But soon enough I started to sense I was going in the right direction and I ended up right at the base of the Western Wall. It was pretty cool.

Craziest undulating rooftop I’ve ever seen

Another thing I experienced were the sharks of Jerusalem — i.e. the gift shop vendors. Each shop I walked past or made any eye contact with resulted in me being accosted by aggressive vendors. I entered the first shop I walked by and right away, this guy jumped on me. He would suggest an item and then either wrap it up for me or ask how many I wanted to buy before I could even make a comment. It was outlandish behavior you wouldn’t believe unless you experienced it for yourself. This guy then took me to his partner who asked me what credit card I had and asked to see it. So I showed it to him and then he got up to go charge something on it. At that point I just snatched it out of his hand and he got mad. He got mad at me! Can you believe that? I gave him another chance…but eventually it reached the point where I couldn’t take any more of his behavior so I just left. It was really, really bad, but unfortunately, not an uncommon experience.

I even had one guy who I spent a good twenty minutes talking with about life, women, religion, whatever popped into this crazy guy’s head to keep me in his store. Eventually, I decided I didn’t want to spend the 30 NIS for a custom t-shirt and he knew it too. So, as I was walking out he dropped the price to 25 and continued to drop it to 20, 10, 5 and then 0. As he was doing this countdown, I felt bad, but I couldn’t help but laugh…the guy was a nut, but a funny one at that.

Anyways, after a few wheelings and dealings, I found one last shop near the end of the day. Before entering, I was already armed with the knowledge that these shopkeepers are desperate for business, so I could lowball them and possibly get away with a decent deal. So, I remembered my negotiations training from Barkacs — SOS:

– Self: I didn’t really want to buy anything, but if I did, I didn’t want to spend more than $20
– Other: The other guy is desperate to sell, so he will be flexible (even if he pretends otherwise)
– Situation: We will never see each other again, so no need to worry about a future relationship; i.e. he can say whatever he wants or act in whatever fashion he wants without any worry (as can I)

So, I lowballed the guy on an offer and eventually made off with a decent grab. I could have probably gotten an even better price, considering how many times he kept trying to pull me back into his store, but it’s exhausting playing this game all day long. It wears you out to the point where you sort of give up at the end.

Just walking around and seeing the new city mixed with the old city was really cool. You need to see Jerusalem in person, it is definitely worth it. Even if you’re not religious, it is something definitely to be experienced. And it now bears a personal significance for me. Sometime in the middle of the day, I heard the unmistakable burble of a supercar’s engine. We’re in the middle east, land of opulence, so I figured it was a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. I took a peek and was rewarded with my first ever glance at the new C8. It was white, not the best color, but you couldn’t miss it. It’s funny, I only noticed it because of the exhaust / engine sound, and thought it was a supercar. To me that means that Chevrolet did something right.

2020 Chevrolet Corvette Looks Slick Wearing Vossen Wheels — *I’ll take one in red, please*

Let the Fun Begin

March 24, 2021January 9, 2024 / buffgecko / Leave a comment

I had my last day in the office earlier this week on Sunday and I’ve been slowly cleaning up my and packing my stuff since. Living in a one-bedroom apartment has its advantages — it’s easy to clean! I can’t believe I’ve been here almost 21 months — here, meaning in this apartment, in Israel, in this environment, in this situation. I still remember exactly how it felt the first few moments after I had entered my apartment. It was a shock, and it hadn’t completely set in at that moment, and looking back now, I realize I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Anyways, I only have a week or so left before I set off for my travels, so I’ve been excited. Until…this morning…when I got the following e-mail from Tourist Israel:

“Due to the situation, the border with Jordan is still closed, and therefore we won’t be able to run your Petra tour.”

Great. The one thing I was looking forward to seeing even before I got here and was really really looking forward to seeing as I start wrapping up is now gone. Poop. Oh well. This cancellation set off a chain of events — cancelling hotels, re-scheduling PCR tests, trying to move up my flight to Istanbul, arranging a ride to the airport. Each of these came with a certain level of frustration, some more than others. Let’s start in order of easiest to most annoying:

Easiest – Cancel my hotel: Airbnb you are beautiful. Two clicks, full refund, response from the manager, done.
Not too bad – New PCR test: I called the health services office here and they are checking into it. I need to do it 24 hours before my flight and they are only taking appointments before 12pm.
Frustrating – Get a ride to the airport: I tried to book a train ticket to the airport from Haifa but the website said there were no tickets available. For any day! I called them and for some reason the train station at the airport is not in service, but I could take the train to another station and take a bus to the airport. I’m not taking that chance, so as of now, I’m trying to get a ride with someone, but will probably need to spend half the day at the airport since my flight is at 8pm.
Wow – Change my flight: Speaking of which, why is my flight at 8pm? That’s because I was expecting to take a bus ride from Eilat to Jerusalem to the airport on my flight day, so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to make it there, even though it meant arriving in Istanbul around 10:30pm. So I checked online to see if the 2:20pm flight I had wanted way back in January was still available. Nope, full. I called the airline to see if they could switch me to the 8:30am flight, which wasn’t too terrible. That would be a $150 fare difference because there were no more Economy class seats. So what did I do? I stewed. What a sequence of events that led me to this not-ideal itinerary. First-world problem, just relax.

Update: There was a happy ending (for now, anyways)! I checked my e-mail and my flight to Istanbul was cancelled altogether…which meant a free re-booking, woohoo! So I ended up getting that 8:30am flight. Let’s just see if it sticks now.

I normally have this “everything will work itself out” attitude when planning for things, and there was nothing different here. Things may still “work out”, but I’m starting to feel the first pains of travelling and making plans with Mr. Corona still hanging around.

Aside from spending the majority of the day trying to figure out a new travel plan, I was also doing some cleaning and tidying up. My main suitcase is coming together and it is mostly composed of gifts — I’d say 60-75% filled with gifts. Mind-boggling. I also learned from my last trip out of Ben Gurion airport to not pack anything in my carry-on, aside from clothes. Let’s see them come up with some reason that my t-shirt sets off their sensors. I’m pretty amazed at how little stuff I have — I remember I packed light and I’m also leaving pretty light as well. Once all the gifts are gone, I’ll just stuff my carry-on bag into my suitcase and I’ll be hands-free!

Given that I have to clean up my apartment for a final inspection, I knew that meant I must soon say goodbye to my beloved Roachy. He has done a valiant job protecting me since September. I can’t believe it’s been that long already! I had mixed feelings, the first of which was a slight twinge of sadness / nostalgia, which believe me, passed very quickly. The second feeling was, “Do I really have to do this again?” OK, one last time.

*Roachy before being sent off “by air mail” — i.e. tossed out the window*

So, I said my good bye and opened a window. I then employed my cockroach broom one final time and swept up Roachy into the scooper. As soon as I did this and he was in my control, I gently aimed him out the window and he floated down to the ground. It looked like he actually was floating, kind of like a leaf falling. As soon as I did this, I remembered what I was doing and those feelings of “blecch” returned right away. I did my spider dance and put my tools away. It was over. No more cockroaches. I have only a few days left here, so let’s hope it stays that way.

*Mural of the Baha’i Gardens painted on a school wall*

My Brain is Mush

March 14, 2021March 19, 2021 / buffgecko / 4 Comments

My cognitive ability has severely degraded. I can’t focus well anymore or do any critical thinking. Forget programming. It’s starting to concern me. I hope that it is just burn out and tension and it will go away after some rest and being able to de-compress. I feel like I may have depression — some of the signs are there — but I’m hoping that these symptoms start to dissipate once I get back to the U.S.

I’ve put the job search to the side for now…just focusing on getting my affairs in order as I have about two weeks before I leave Haifa. Everyone here has received both shots of the Coronavirus vaccine, so we’re cleared to go back to the office now — something I absolutely dread. I’m beyond happy to stay at home. Kind of funny since it was the exact opposite feeling one year ago. Almost exactly a year to the day they sent us home we’re now welcome back to the office — along with the new normal level of hygiene.

Yesterday I went to this place called Caesarea. You would never believe a place like this existed until you visit it. Imagine walking through structures and buildings that were built around the time of Christ. Caesarea, as in Emperor Augustus Caesar, was a Roman city built by King Herod, ruler of Judea, in the first century B.C. — as in Before Christ was born! It was a walled city with the largest harbor on the eastern Mediterranean coast.

The ruins remained relatively well intact and it is gorgeous. Right by the water, blue skies and picturesque scenery — like the kind you see in postcards. It felt like walking along La Jolla Cove on a perfect June day, but 10 times nicer and more exotic. And the most amazing part, for me anyways, is that you could walk in, out, around, under, over, and on top of almost all of the ruins. There were some areas cordoned off, but everything else was walkable and touchable. I couldn’t believe it.

Imagine walking into the same structures that the Romans used 2000 years ago. Picture stepping on tile mosaics that still have their color and designs as they were used possibly millennia ago. You could pick up a broken off tile and pocket it as a souvenir if you so dared. Imagine going to the public bath and sitting on a marble bench of what resembled a jacuzzi and chatting away with your fellow semi-naked chubby toga-clad Roman friend on a Saturday morning. I’m just expressing the image I had in my head at that time.

I could have spent the entire day there just exploring. I was there for a good five hours and still didn’t see everything. It only cost 39 NIS (~$12 USD). I took over 80 photos, easily the most of any place I’ve visited here. I finally got to be a tourist and it felt really nice. Just to get away from this apartment, the city and do something different and fun. Israel really has a lot of history, it’s amazing.

There was this one shop we walked into where this guy had antique artifacts and coins and the like. The artifacts were excavated mugs, perfume bottles, cups and things going back to the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C. And the shop owner would just open up the case and let us hold these items. It felt like Indiana Jones the first time he held the Holy Grail. And the coins, you would never believe without seeing them with your own eyes. Caeasar, Hadrian, Caligula, Nero, all the Roman emperors — he had coins from all of them. Even Alexander the Great. I looked at one of them, I can’t remember which one, and asked the guy how much it cost. He said $1260! To which I gasped and to which he said, “These are the real items. If you want something cheap, you can get it from China.” What can you do but laugh. Israelis are definitely no nonsense / don’t hold back folk. You get used to it.

It was a wonderful experience. I love exploring and poking my head through crevices and seeing where they lead. Israel is full of caves and there were these underground short tunnels / passageways all over the place. So I crawled in and out of several of those. There was also an ancient aqueduct we came across. It was really magical. The whole time I couldn’t believe that we could touch everything. Everything!

One thing I definitely did not expect to come across and definitely did not want to touch was the Bat Cave. Have you ever seen Ace Venture 2: When Nature Calls? Yep, that’s the one…the guy who talks with his butt — Jim Carrey, my favorite actor. The movie is predicated around this rare resource called guano — aka bat poop. Now, I’d never come across bat poop in my life. I’ve seen the odd bat here and there, but never heard one either. Well, all of this changed in the course of a few minutes.

There was this series of tall, long tunnels built with archways. In one of them, there was a group of children with their parents staring up at the ceiling. So I go check it out — social proof in action here — and I start hearing squawking. Then I start hearing some flapping and some commotion. I look up and the ceiling is moving and wriggling. It’s hundreds and hundreds of bats hanging upside down from the ceiling. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. The ceiling was literally moving, or so it seemed. These weren’t big bats, maybe 6″ tall, but there were easily three hundred or so all packed in the ceiling and along the walls.

After a minute of staring up at them dumbfounded, I came to my senses and thought of…well, guano. So, naturally, I looked down at the ground and it was pretty covered in bat poop. Every couple seconds, you could see a guano missile shooting down from the ceiling. It was something definitely unique. If you ever go to Caesarea, be sure to check out the Bat Cave. If you visit Israel, Caesarea, Akka and Haifa are definitely must visits. You can even do a tour of all three in the same day I think.