To Jerusalem

You never know, when you get up in the morning, what the day will bring. You hope that the day will be uneventful, and this day should have been that way. We left the kibbutz and headed south toward Jerusalem. We saw a lot of Biblical sites. We took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, and had lunch in Tiberias, overlooking the water. We had fish, which they caught next to the restaurant and served without scaling them. Head, eyes and all. It was pretty gross. I didn't eat fish for years after, and just recently have started eating it again. And, looking out on the water, one could see gas and oil floating on the water, so it wasn't the most appetizing place. We left there, and went to Samaria. It was a place that we could go, because our Armenian guide could take us there. Most tours with Jewish guides couldn't go to Samaria, as it was a racial thing. As the sun was setting on us, we got to Jerusalem. It was a very beautiful place with the sunlight on The Dome of the Rock that was not far from our hotel. We were staying in a hotel in the Arab sector of Jerusalem about two blocks from the old city. Very close to Herod's Gate. Across the street from the hotel were small shops, including a drug store and several souvenir shops. One thing that several of the women wanted on our trip was Mother of Pearl items. After supper, we went out across the narrow street to a shop just down from our hotel and found Sam, Omar and Sam. Two brothers and a cousin who ran this souvenir shop. They invited us to walk around the area near our hotel that night. Sandra, Talula and Judy said yes, but Sha was tired and was going back to the hotel. After the Arab boys closed up their shop for the night, we went walking. Each girl had a guy to walk with, and I was alone walking behind them. Sandra and one of the boys was just in front of me. During our walk, Sandra had her arm around the boy's waist and waved at me behind the boy's back. I thought it was a signal to get lost, so I did. I found out later that she was just waving as if to say hello. So, I dropped further and further back, until I truly got lost. I found myself in a very poor neighborhood of houses and barking dogs. I had no idea where I was, and it was almost midnight. I found some Jewish clerics walking along the road and asked them where my hotel was, but they would not respond. I finally found a cab and paid him a dollar to take me back to the hotel, which actually was only around the corner from where I was. When I got back to the hotel, Mr. Vivian was furious. Where had I been? Why was I not with the girls? They had gotten back about 30 minutes before me. I just told him that I had gotten lost, which was true, but he was mad at me for not staying with the girls. We were not to go out alone. He didn't know about Sam, Omar and Sam. He would find out the next day. We would all find out the next day.