Day 21: Border patrol!

I got up early like I do on Saturdays, and I ate a good breakfast. I took three pieces of fruit and headed out into the desert. I started heading south and west, but for some odd reason I kept being drawn to the west. Well, if you have to go you have to go.

After just a few minutes walk I came upon these ruins. It is tough to tell when the structure was built. There is a pool for collecting water about ten minutes away that was constructed in the Byzantium days. So maybe because the chinking is mud, straw and stones. It is still fun to imagine that the building is from back in the day and wonder what ghosts are lurking about or what treasures are buried just under the corner. I left that for another day and moved on.

The desert was gorgeous this morning. But then I've never woken up or gone to sleep thinking this place is just ugly. It is dirty, to be sure, but that is the nature of the desert, I think.

It was really cloudy this morning. When it is like this the humidity is so high that I think I'm back in Florida. Avi said that on some days in July and August that there is fog that lasts until about nine in the morning. Crazy.

At some point I was driven further west. I cannot imagine what it was, but as the border loomed nearer I became bolder. So I set out for the border. I aimed for a spot on the fence between two towers, you know, just like in the "Lord of the Rings" series, because I figured I'd be harder to spot. When I was a hundred yards from the fence I was stoked because I thought I'd get to touch it today. Imagine my surprise, or not so surprise, when I heard a truck coming. So I had to walk faster but appear to not run because I really didn't want to get shot at or run down or scare the people that I knew were coming.

After crossing a hard-top road I get within about sixty feet of the boarder. The truck rounds the corner and blares its sirens--as if I could not see them. But they probably don't get to use it so much, so what the heck. They wave me over, and I'm all smiles and hello I'm a stupid tourist. The leader, who wasn't very amused asked if I spoke English and I said yes. He asked me questions like where are you from and what are you doing. Then he said that I couldn't be there and had to leave. I smiled and said sorry and okay and headed back towards Ezuz. I'll call this a victory and say that my quest for the border has been fulfilled. I'm not so sure I'll get off so lucky next time, if the stories fromt he Arazunis are true!

An aside here. As Val knows I'm a sucker for a Mediterranean, curly haired girl. Well Avi said that the only people guarding the boarder were women. So I really wasn't anxious about the truck that was coming, but when the three dudes in the truck called me over I was surely disappointed!


They turned the truck around and parked on the side of the road until I was a long way away from the boarder.

 The walk back was just as beautiful as the walk there, even though my route was much different. I thought that Ezuz sat on the highest hill around, but I'm finding out that is not the case. This is the second time that I've looked down into Ezuz. I thought to myself that the village would be tough to defend, but then I did find fighting positions along the hill I was on. I found a nice can opener and a bunch of ammunition that was left laying about. I took the can opener.