Maagan Michael, Israel

I'm now finishing up five months on the kibbutz Maagan Michael, so I figured I'd write a little about what kibbutzes and this place are all about.

From Maagan Michael

A kibbutz is a collective community, or commune. The idea is that everything is shared. Everybody gets free housing, food, health care, and education and is guaranteed employment. However all the money you make goes to the kibbutz, and everyone gets paid the same, depending on the size of your family. It's voluntary, and you have to apply to become a member. They're generally small, with Maagan Michael being the largest at 1400 people. Maagan Michael today is very different from how it was back in the day. In 1949 when Maagan Michael was founded, the kibbutz was a tool for survival and people lived without electricity or running water. There was nothing in terms of modern convenience. Now this place has a feel of a beach vacation resort. Back then they were carving out a new way of living in a brand new country. Now they enjoy a chill, stable life where everything is taken care of. Back then the focus was self-sacrifice for the community and the country, while today it seems that the focus is on living a good life as an individual or family, with the kibbutz system as a means for achieving that through shared work. The ideology is gone, but they've got a good life with the system they have, so they keep it going.

From Maagan Michael

The first kibbutz was founded in what is now Israel and was then part of the Ottoman Empire in 1909. Conditions were really tough, so some people decided that it would be easier to survive if they formed communities where everybody worked together and shared everything. By the 1960's kibbutzes had a higher standard of living then the rest of the country. In the 1980's the kibbutzes in Israel had a crisis and by now many of them have been privatized, and are no longer communes. Maagan Michael is the richest kibbutz in Israel, and has maintained many of the attributes of kibbutzes such as a shared dining room and shared education. Most of Maagan Michael's wealth comes from Plasson, a plastics factory on the kibbutz, which has sales of $100 million a year. The CEO gets paid the same as any other worker.

I came here to do a program called "Ulpan" where I spend five months here working and learning Hebrew. I work half time at the petting zoo and half time with at an after school clubhouse with 10-11 year old kids. At the zoo, I feed all the animals and clean up, which usually involves large amounts of animal shit. But it's awesome. My job with the kids involves playing with them and doing different activities. I'm really gonna miss the kids. There are about 90 people on the program from about 26 countries.

Some pics from the petting zoo:

From Maagan Michael

From

Part of my job is being a chef:

From

My mom came to visit!

From Maagan Michael

From Maagan Michael

From Maagan Michael

It's weird that in two weeks I'll be done here, because I've really gotten used to the place. I wouldn't want to live here - I need to live in a city. But it has definitely been a very interesting chapter in my life.

Understanding Israeli Society

If I were a professional journalist this is the article I would have written about visiting Israel. It is dead on.

Nir is Far blog update

As you may have noticed, I got way behind on my blog. Big shout out to those people who insisted that I start back up (especially John). I've now gone back and written entries for everywhere that I have been. If you want to catch up from where I left off, start with Cairo and work your way from there.

I've been catching up at the hostel in Cordoba, Argentina and all the people here think that I'm an Internet-addicted loser who doesn't go outside. Tomorrow is my last day in Cordoba so I'll try to take advantage.

I'm flying from Sao Paulo to Washington, DC on May 13th for the official end of my trip.

Thanks for reading guys and keep the comments coming :)

Bariloche, Argentina

I make it to Bariloche right in time for Passover. The 30-some hour bus from El Chalten arrives at 6 a.m. the morning of the Passover Seder. I walk over the Chabad house and go through the necessary security paperwork so that I can attend the Seder that night.

From Bariloche, Argentina

The Seder itself is insane. There are 500+ Israeli backpackers crammed into a gym. The wine and matza are flowing. And every Israeli seems to someone how know everyone else from South America, the army, high school, etc. Even my cousin Adi in Israel said she knew people at that Seder. The whole Israeli backpacker in South America is a blog entry in itself that hopefully I’ll get to.

From Bariloche, Argentina

Next stop – Cordoba, Argentina

El Chalten, Argentina

El Chalten is the so-called trekking capital of Argentina. Check out some pics:

From El Chalten, Argentina

From El Chalten, Argentina

It was also when I finally left the Noah’s Ark crew. I went off by myself on a bus to Bariloche, Argentina.

El Calefate, Argentina

The main attraction in El Calefate is the Perito Moreno Glacier. The cool thing about it is that it melts before your eyes and you can see (and hear) huge pieces of the glacier break off and fall into a lake below, causing a huge crash and large waves. Coolest glacier ever.

From El Calefate, Argentina

From El Calefate, Argentina

The American guy, Israeli girls, an Irish guy, and I all CouchSurf at a guy’s house in El Calefate. We buy groceries and the Israeli girls cook up a mean Shakshuka. It was very entertaining listening to the Argentinean guys attempt to pronounce it as the gobbled it down. Very cool CouchSurfing cultural exchange.

From El Calefate, Argentina

Torres Del Paine, Chile

Our adventure begins! We take only what we need to survive and we’re off to Torres del Paine. We arrive right before dark and set up our tents before it start to pour. We had joked that as “Noah’s Ark” we might have to have wild sex orgies to repopulate the earth. Well no sex orgies yet, but torrential rain – check.

The next day we’re off to see Grey Glacier. All in all it’s a 10 hour or so hike. We see awesome views of the glacier.

From Torres del Paine, Chile

We camp that night. The next morning we lose the Italians to a leaky tent and bad weather. But we pick up an Israeli girl whose friends decided to bail. Because of the bad weather all we do is carry our bags to the next campsite and set up our tents.

The next day the weather is bad so everyone decides to take it easy. However this means that we’d miss the beautiful “French Valley”. For some (insane) reason I decide to press on ahead. I get to the base camp at the bottom of the French Valley and it’s pouring down rain. Everyone is huddling in a shelter and quietly munching away at lunch. It’s cold and no one really talks. I catch up with the German girls who were the only other two you decided to tackle the French Valley. One of them has a really bad knee and had to walk with it straight like it is some wooden pirate leg. Hardcore.

I arrive at the “Mirador” which is supposed to have the beautiful view of the French Valley. More like Mirador of Infinite Fog overlooking the Valley of Death. I have a good laugh at myself and just as I head back I run into the German girls. They made the difficult climb even with the bad knee, but I’m too cold to hang out and I head back.

From Torres del Paine, Chile

I get back to camp completely soaked, but in the end I still have a fun day

From Torres del Paine, Chile

That night we have really, really crazy winds. Every few minutes someone would run into the restaurant on the camp grounds and yell that another tent had flown off and we all run to help them secure it. One guy from Wyoming loses his tent completely only to find it the next morning in a tree:

From Torres del Paine, Chile

The only way we are able to secure our tents is with comically large rocks:

From Torres del Paine, Chile

The next day we have a very long walk ahead of us. We consider only doing part of it but in the end we hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres so that we could wake up early the next morning and see the “Torres” at sunrise.

On the way we picked up supplies at the beautiful Hostelaria. It’s a luxury hotel where rooms begin at $267 USD a night (VERY expensive for us poor backpackers). We hang out in the lobby but feel very uncomfortable being around normal people who are wearing fresh clothes and don’t smell bad. The clean bathrooms are an unexpected luxury.

Unfortunately the German girls do not hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres because of the bad knee. Once we reach camp (in the dark as usual) we run into two friends who we had met along the way and we all had dinner together. Afterwards we huddle in the snow drinking tea but soon go to sleep so we can get up at 5am to catch the sunrise.

The next morning we get up at 5am in the dark and race up the mountain. When we arrive at the top we are shocked to see the German girls there. They greet us with (a very heavily accented) “You’re Late!” Turns out they had gotten up at 3am from the lower camp and hiked the whole thing in the dark. Crazy. We cuddle up in our sleeping bags and watch the sunset come up over the Torres. Definitely an amazing experience.

From Torres del Paine, Chile

In the end we hiked about 70 km. We get back to Puerto Natales and say goodbye to the English girls who have a ferry to catch and the German girls who have to move on. It’s the sad beginning to the breakup of “Noah’s Ark” :(

From Torres del Paine, Chile

Puerto Natales, Chile

Puerto Natales is the pit stop on the way to Torres Del Paine. On the way here we meet two German girls and two Italian guys on the bus. So now we’re ten:

- two English girls
- two Israeli girls
- two American guys
- two German girls
- two Italian guys

We christen ourselves “Noah’s Ark” (we’re two of everything) and celebrate with a dinner that involved cheap Chilean wine, big burgers, and mussels that resemble small human hearts – yum!

From Torres del Paine, Chile

From Torres del Paine, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

There nothing in this town but penguins and shopping. Since I’d already seen penguins, it was time for shopping. We head to the duty free area called Zona Franca and get tons of winter clothes – it’s freaking freezing here. It’s weird to think that a week earlier I was sweating on the beaches of Brazil. Now we’re stocking up on gloves, hats, thermals underwear, a tent, etc. It’s also really hard to do the conversion to figure out how much anything costs here - 10,000 Chilean pesos is about $17 USD. Ok, fine it’s not that hard – nerd.

Ushuaia, Argentina

I fly from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Buenos Aires and arrive at Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the World. Most people come here to take cruises to Antarctica. I considered visiting my 7th continent but reconsidered after finding out that standby beds are $4000.

I meet two English girls and an American guy in the dorm of my hostel that are interested in doing some trekking on Torres del Paine, Chile. It's one of the most famous treks in South America. I don't think I'm hardcore enough to do it on my own so I'm happy to join them.

From Ushuaia, Argentina

From Ushuaia, Argentina

From Ushuaia, Argentina

The next day I check out some penguins, seals, and other wildlife. Check out this amazing video: One penguin tries to steal a rock away from another penguin for his nest but gets busted. Hilarious!



I also go hiking to a glacier. Afterwards I go to exchange a bus ticket to Punta Arenas, Chile which is on the way to Torres del Paine. The line is REALLY long so I ask the two girls next in line if I can squeeze in a quick question about changing my ticket. Turns out they are Israeli and trying to get to the same place. We talk to the bus lady together and find out that all the buses are full. I tell the girls that I saw a sign my hostel about a private bus to Punta Arenas so we leave and head to my hostel. At my hostel they book us all for Punta Arenas. Now there's 6 of us - two English girls, two Israeli girls, and two American guys.

The next morning we head off to Puentas Arenas...

Ilha Grande and Paraty, Brazil

Ilha Grande and Paraty are two beautiful beach towns in Brazil.

The most interesting thing in Paraty is the natural waterfall rockslide. Moss grows on the rock so you can slide down the rock. The locals do it standing up which is just crazy. It is a little dangerous. One girl broke her tooth and another girl cut up her face pretty badly and walked around Paraty with a bandage for the rest of the time. One time I crashed head-first into a friend and was feeling my neck for a few days. But completely worth it! Check it out:



For Ilha Grande, check out the pictures:

From Isla Grande, Brazil

From Isla Grande, Brazil

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

For Carnival, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves :)

From Carnival at Rio de Janeiro

From Carnival at Rio de Janeiro

From Carnival at Rio de Janeiro

From Carnival at Rio de Janeiro

You can also check out the rest of the Carnival pictures.

Carnival in Rio tomorrow

I will be in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow for Carnival! I know that I've been really bad about keep up on the blog, but I plan to get back into it for Carnival. I'll also try to go back and write some stuff about Egypt, Israel, and Jordan.

Pics are uploading now so you can see what I've been up to before you hear about it.

Salvador and Morro de São Paulo, Brazil

Salvador is considered Brazil’s cultural capital. It’s up in the north so it has a much more tropical feel. The population is mostly black, and even Brazilians from São Paulo can look like gringos here. The music here is more African and the Carnival here is knows as the craziest and wildest of Brazil.

I check out some of the Carnival bands in the pre-Carnival shows and take a Samba class.

From Salvador, Brazil

Afterwards I head to Morro de São Paulo – a beach town two hours away by catamaran.

The most striking thing about Morro de São Paulo for me was that over 50% of the people there are Israeli. The locals reflexively answer in Hebrew even if you don’t say you’re Israeli. Israeli snacks are available everyone and the Internet café keyboards are in Hebrew. It’s my first brush with the Israeli South American backpacking phenomenon.

From Morro Sao Paulo, Brazil

I meet two Israelis that plant seeds about Patagonia in my head. But I’ll have to head there soon before the Patagonian winter sets in…

São Paulo, Brazil

My first stop in South America is São Paulo, Brazil. It’s an overwhelming city. At around 20 million inhabitants it’s one of the largest cities in the world. Just the ride from the airport takes a couple hours.

São Paulo is Brazil’s working city. Even in the heat, you see people in suits and business clothes everywhere. The people are beautiful. I have amazing sushi and the nightlife is fantastic.

From Sao Paulo, Brazil

From Sao Paulo, Brazil

From Sao Paulo, Brazil

However, São Paulo is a city of two worlds. There is a lot of poverty in the favelas in the city. In São Paulo, it seems like ever house is behind a wall of some kind. It’s the kind of city where you drive everywhere because of distance and safety. However even cars aren’t safe. Running red lights at night is encouraged to prevent carjackings. In fact, São Paulo has more helipads than any other city in the world. The super rich avoid the traffic and crime by flying over the city.

My next stop is Salvador in the north!

Israel

For the beginning of my Israel trip I spend a lot of time with my family. I don’t get to come to Israel often so it’s nice to catch up. I meet my 2nd cousins Tom and Daniel for the first time!

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

From the moment I arrive in Israel, the war in Gaza was flaring. Most of the time I stay in Tel-Aviv, but there are missiles falling in Israel only 20 minutes south of where I am. I always feel safe, but the tension is in the air. When there is news that a solder has been killed, everyone listens just in case they recognize the name. The war is on TV 24/7. Generally the opinion of most Israelis I talked to is that Israel has no choice when it comes to the war in Gaza. Israel withdrew unilaterally a few years ago and the response was thousands of missiles launched from Gaza into Israel. I meet lots of people from the right and left who debate how effective the war would be. But very few people are against it outright.

My cousins tell me about a pro-Palestinian protest happening in Tel-Aviv. This is a pretty big deal because it’s the first time that Palestinian flags are being included in a Tel-Aviv protest. They go to participate in the counter-protest and I come along. The counter-protest was lead by the right wing Likud party – which made me a little uncomfortable. There was no middle ground there.

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

I meet some cool CouchSurfers in Israel that go hiking every weekend in a cool place. I come along a few times. I never realized how many beautiful places there in Israel to explore.

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

While CouchSurfing in Haifa, my host mentions that someone in her building was doing a Masters in Computer Science at the prestigious Technion in Haifa. I have been considering doing a Masters for a while now. I discuss the issue with him and he invites me to join him at the Technion the next day. I end up applying for fall of 2009.

Thanks to CouchSurfing, I travel all over Israel – Yodfat in the North, Eilat, Sde Boker, and Beersheva.

Petra

While in Eilat, Israel, I decide to take a day trip to Petra, Jordan with a German CouchSurfer. We look at organized day trips but they are a little expensive so we go on our own.

We take a cab to the Israeli / Jordan border. There we cross by foot through a barbed wire no-mans land with mines on either side. Then after my friend gets hit on by the border guards, we take a taxi to Aqaba – a nearby city. From there we take a bus to Petra. Luckily we find a Jeep driver who agrees to drive us back to the border in the afternoon.

Petra is an amazing 2000 year old city carved out of beautiful rock.

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

From Israel and Petra, Jordan

Afterwards we catch our ride back to the border right before it closes. The Israelis are really suspicious of us crossing over at the last minute and search my bag for 15 minutes. There are no taxis on the other side so we hitchhike back to Eilat.