Haifa

I arrived at Haifa's Carmel station, I frantically hurried out of the station to head to the pre-determined meeting place with Jacob. A restaurant with the name of Camel which was near Dado beach. From the distance, I saw Jacob who smiled back at me when he saw me approaching. It was always nice to see a familiar face in a sea of unknown faces. Jacob had a car so we decided to drop my things at his place first before heading back out to the beach to swim and catch the sunset. I haven't been able to get into the water all this time because of fear that my bag would be stolen but I was stoked that I could swim and see the sunset while in the water this time around. Haifa was really beautiful compared to Tel Aviv, it had the best of both worlds of nature. The city was built on Mount Carmel so it had the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. It had a very different vibe compared to Tel Aviv, the streets were much cleaner and everything seemed more laidback. Jacob took me to the Baha'i Gardens, one of Haifa's main highlights and a Unesco World Heritage site. It was unfortunately closed today and I couldn't join any tours but Jacob took me to a spot that offered an amazing view of the gardens as it cascaded down to the main church with its golden dome, from there it was a straight line all the way to the ocean and the horizon. Jacob drove us to his apartment and we ran into his boyfriend, Charlie, who was driving out the opposite direction. He made a comment that I had nice glasses which was a first for me, it was certainly welcome. Jacob made a comment that I was true to my word since back when he was staying with me in Tokyo, I told him that I would visit Israel and here I am indeed. Jacob's house belonged to his departed mother, it was an amazing home with beautiful paintings and very upper-class. I was delighted to even be sleeping at their couch which could transform into a bed. To be honest, it was one of the best accomodations I have had the whole trip. They had a splendid bathroom that even hotels couldn't come close to. I wish I could spend more days here but I only had one night so I was going to make the most out of it. After dropping my things, we went back to the car and started to head back downwards towards the beach. Dado beach had these amazing umbrella shaped wooden stands that really attracted my photography senses. The waves here were pretty fun, they were strong with its pushing and pulling so it made for an energetic time. The sunset today was another epic one, just day after day of fantastic views. Jacob and I talked about my theories that Israel could have really been the land of milk and honey as according to the sacred texts as compared to its neighbors, Jordan and Egypt, I felt that Israel had a lot going on in terms of bountiful nature. There were also a lot of jellyfish stinging us and after the sun had set, we went back to the apartment to take a shower.

I was finally able to meet Charlie face to face, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. They were taking me to one of their favorite pizza places and on our way there, we saw some wild boars on the street which apparently was something normal since the town was built on the mountain. I started talking with Charlie about spirituality in general as well as Buddhism and Hinduism's fundamental beliefs while walking on the way to the pizza restaurant. We had to wait before getting seated and while waiting, the owner of another pizza parlor opposite to the one we wanted to go to started to talk to us. The disrepancy was quite obvious and a bit sad as one side had full seats while the other was absolutely empty. In the end, we went with our original choice and the pizza here was indeed delicious and very gourmet. We caught up on a lot of things, I found out they were traveling to Colombia as well and it was going to be Charlie's first time out of the country. Jacob was reminiscent of Japan, just like Rozi and Elad. It was really funny how I hosted both of them and they were also able to meet each other in Tokyo without me being a middleman. Once we got back to the apartment, I was so ready to hit the sack. The night was cool and it was perfectly peaceful.Read more