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10/11/2008
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Hootie In Israel Part 1
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Hootie In Israel - Part 2
Darcy, Jay and Mislav in the holy land
Words and Photos ~ Jay Hoots
Did you miss part
I? Click here.
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We went to the Wailing Wall and then walked the path that Jesus carried his cross
up to be crucified, visiting a crazy huge church that had a mini building inside
it that housed Christ after his death. The church is said to be built on the
land that Jesus was crucified on and there is crypts and prayer chambers all
over.
The Wailing Wall.
The
Art in the Church is fabulous and to be able to touch pillars that are 2000
years old is nothing short of amazing.
The graffiti in Israel is really sweet.
A full day resulted in some sweet local cuisine. We all did some interviews
for the show and called it for the night. I am continuing to prep and
modify my presentation. Man I can’t believe the telephone and communication
here. Debate is everything and ‘over exploring’ conversation is
the mainstay. Man it drives me crazy, however I am just a rider and I am just
following my lead. Chaim our
guide (pronounced HYME) has some very dry humour but is awesome and though
Cory is frustrated with him I am learning SO much from him and am fascinated
by his style of communication. This trip would not be as safe and well rounded
without him.
Every once and awhile even Cory from Ride Guide gets frustrated.
We are a good team, Cory/Darcy/Mislav and myself. We work tough through the
day get LOTS done and call it early, which allows me to work into the night.
No partying just gettin 'r done…
November 12, Tuesday
Woke up super early and finished up details on my presentation. Yahoo it’s
done! Notes and all. Sunrise was beautiful and I have now caught up on world
news. Apparently yesterday just 15 minutes from us there was unrest between
Hamas and Fatah in Gazza and people were killed and injured! **news
clip** We never even knew. Chaim picked us up and we went to Mt. Olive in
order to site visit and get some filming done. It was very busy and just
kept getting crazier. Tourists were so rude I can’t believe it.
Getting some work done for Ride Guide on Mt. Olive.
And then acting like tourists.
We then went to the west side of Jerusalem and met 2 trail builders
who created a trial named Ora. The trail was a combination of
walking path and bike specific features built on shelves that were created
2000 years ago for agriculture that wiggled its way through several neighbourhoods
at a sweet down hill pace.
Hootie enjoying some Israeli downhilling
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Darcy getting her dh on..
The local guys ripped it and we all sessioned the trail in different sections
all to get to the bottom and do another series of interviews.
The builders of the Ora trail awaiting their turn in front
of the camera.
We went to the mall to grab some chow and after going thru a metal detector
we sat for some great eats and some desert. We busted it back to the
Kibbutz in time to see the sun set the whole way down! DANG!
The sunset from a Kibbutz
After the sun set we busted it to Tel Aviv where we checked
into the Sheridan on the beach. What a view! Everyone was beat but this was
my night to do mountain bike presentations, one on the social, economic impact
of mountain biking and another on bike parks. Mislav was stoked and joined
me and we were shuttled off to a brand new cycling facility in the heart of
Tel Aviv.
The National Cycling Centre
A packed house.
The presentation house was full, standing room only! People from clubs,
organizations, private ventures and avid riders came out to learn about how
they can grow their sport. So cool.
Hoots hogging the mic.
After question period we hooked up with Nimi (remember from Dead Sea) and
Dan Dan Israel’s World Cup DH ripper and went to a local pub chilling
with the staff and living it up local styles. It was a very late night
and Mislav was convinced that we needed to get up ‘stunner’early
and swim in the Mediterranean Sea so I made a 6am wakeup call and crashed hard.
November 13, Wednesday
After waking up before the sun even came up I shook the cobwebs and grabbed my
camera to snap a shot of the sun coming up over Tel Aviv.
The sun coming up over Tel Aviv
I woke Mislav and we did ‘the stunned’ early swim straight down from
the view of our balcony. DANG, that will last in my memories, very cool!
Our beach at sunrise.
We met everyone for an amazing breakfast at the hotel and then packed up everything
and split for the Caramel Valley to hook up with Warren.
Warren.
Nimi.
Nimi's MTB Limo
Boaz
These guys above(Warren, Nimi, Boaz) are awesome and their commitment to mountain
biking is fierce. They are terrific well rounded riders who have a mountain bike
school and put on bike festivals (including the Volvo challenge) not to mention
build trail and advocate for the sport. We shuttled to the top and after 20 minutes
of shooting some sponsor stuff we all hit the trail ready to rip! When we got
about 100 meters into the trail Mislav lost control (rode into a rock) and slid
into a tree which put him into a branch that pierced through his arm muscle and
then scratched him under his eye.
Nimi took Mislav straight to the hospital and Boaz, Darcy, Cory and I made the ‘full
pull’ filming the trail while f15 fighter jets flew overhead. Once finished
the trail we all went to Warren’s home and met his family who hosted the
most incredible dinner I have ever seen!
The food spread was amazing and the conversation and time spent with great people
really reinforced my positive feelings for Israel. Sweet traditional toasting!
Mislav had some great opportunity for liquid pain relief.
We all made the journey back near Tel Aviv with Nimi in his
super truck! After some much needed roadside oil and water we made it
to the Hoo-Ha bike hotel which is an incredible rider hostel offering internet,
mechanic tools, lockable storage and outstanding kitchen and pool side amenities.
I was impressed with the Hoo-Ha but blown away by how comfortable the bed was!
The Hooha Hotel.
Once settled I took the opportunity to jump in with Nimi for some nightlife
checking out some more local places. I met another Mountain goat and
we went with his dog to the local pub and chatted late into the night.
November 14, Thursday
A lazy morning on our day off was well warranted and once the cobwebs were shaken
out we jumped in the van with Chaim and made our way to Nazareth for some more
history and a couple of hours to cruise thru the open market haggling prices
and getting situated for some Christmas presents!
Nazareth.
Street prayer.
A church in Nazareth.
We made some great friends in a couple of shops, some that could speak English
and others knew none.
Coffee Doode.
We made the very long drive east of Tel Aviv to the Optima hotel where
we promptly made our way for dinner to an amazing restaurant with food so good
it made me crazy!!! We kicked it on relax mode and took it loose and easy
as Darcy and Mislav had a 5am flight and we all needed to sort photo’s
and just get organized to travel the next day.
Sundown in Tel Aviv.
November 15, Friday
A gentle haze settled over the morning sun tricking me into thinking that it
may rain and yet again defeating my tanning purpose. Our meeting time is
8:45am but I have decided to wake at 6.30am in order to try and catch my vitamin
D before going home to Vancouver to rain and storms. As it happens, the
cloud will stay and not allow my turning to burning J Chaim got us to the
airport in good time and we met up with representatives from Israel Tourism who
helped us get through layer on layer of security in order to get on the plane,
WOW!
Ben Gurion Airport in Telaviv
Air Canada computers went down and it was difficult to get
tickets but thankfully Cory and I got great seats, the waitress loved to
pour wine and the seats were powered with AC. The flight from Tel Aviv
to Tdot was 13 hours long YIKES! Because of the morning mess up I have missed
my connector flight, in fact so have thousands of other passengers so it
looks like I have a 4 hour wait for the last plane to Vancouver. A
quick 5 hour jaunt and I hit Vancouver at 1am and by the time I got home
it was 2:30pm, just in time to repack for my 9am flight to Edmonton.
When people find out I have been to Israel, more often than
not I am asked at how safe it is. Geez even the Israelis wonder what the
rest of the world thinks about personal safety. What I find amazing is that
I would not have picked Israel to be on my top ten ride or vacation list
for probably just that reason, personal safety. Yet, I truly have had the
time of my life and a few cannonball days simply are not enough. No matter
where we ate the food rocked! People were friendly, very accommodating and
my dollar went a long way for being in such a advanced industrialized nation.
Bike shops are current with technology and it was easy to go to the shop
for repairs and parts even with my ‘prototype’ bike. The riding
scene is in it’s adolescence but growing rapidly and there is a lot
of accessible trail and terrain to fill even the most demanding itinery of
riding. Coolest of all is no matter where you go you are submersed in 3000
year old culture, architecture and of course stunning views, it is a feeling
I can’t write but long to return to.
Shalom
Jay Hoots
Who wants to go to Israel? What if Hootie is your guide? Here's
the place.
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