Day 18: The Jilaboun
And now a guest blog from camper Ari Margolies: I have been fortunate enough to be blessed with a healthy body and a working pair of legs but also burdened with slightly more lethargy and apathy then a physically fit teenage male should be expected to have. This has kept me, a self proclaimed "indoor person," fairly idle when it comes to physically arduous activities. Up until yesterday the thought never dawned on me that I would ever have an appreciation for the grisly outdoors. The fear of getting impaled on a sharp rock, slipping and falling off a cliff, or being bit by an obscure flying insect whose venom the world has yet to determine how to inoculate had usually kept me inside rather then outside, and were all key reasons hiking up the jiliboon in the Golan was a rather tough decision to make.
A little over half the group decided to makes the perilous journey up the mountain while the rest elected to leisurely sleep in and enjoy the relative safety and air conditioning of the hotel rooms. I decided to join the more adventurous group. We disembarked at seven thirty and arrived around an hour later. The views were gorgeous the hike was fulfilling and the Despite the sharp rocks and constant threat of falling to an untimely death we all made it safe and sound. At the end we were greeted with a waterfall. The catharsis of jumping, sweaty hot and exhausted, into a freezing cold oasis
was incredible.
Through this experience I, and Im sure others, have gained an appreciation for the incredible experiences the holy land has to offer and at least some assurance that the unexplored world outside our houses and hotel rooms is not as dangerous or scary as it looks.

