Ancient Caves

This weekend we decided to take a day trip to Scott's collegues house near Be'er Sheba, an area which gets a fraction of Hamas's rockets fired in from Gaza.  We needed to get away from the crazy Pesach city life where the mobs Israeli out on vacation were stressing me out!  After spending two hours outside our apartment in Neve Tsedek, all of us (Pali, Makai and I) would return home needing to nap from all the stress and stimulation from this week.  Scott just stayed home and worked. 

Back to our weekend...   We had a great time with Doda (aunite) Dana (Dah-nah) and her husband Shaha.  They took us on a hike to explore caves in the area.  When we made it to the caves, the first word out of Makai's mouth was "moon."   I thought he was trying to say "more" since Dana was helping him jump from rock to rock.  He kept saying "moon".  When I asked "Makai, where's the moon," this is what he pointed too.

Top of the cave.  People repel down and climb back up.

Makai and Doda jumping from rock to rock.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doda Dana.  Makai's best buddy.

The caves are what is left of an ancient quarry dating 2 to 3000 years ago.  The rocks are limestone and therefore easy to work with and useful as a building material.  The people at the time would dig a hole at the surface (what Makai calls moon) and then work their way down in a spiral, cutting out huge blocks to be used on surface.  What's left are these huge cathedral like caves.

We then were then invited to Dana's house for a salami and cheese lunch.  She lives in a small farming village, and we tasted the first peaches of the season.  Makai took to Doda Dana quite well and cried if he thought we were going to leave.  If only she lived closer, she could be our babysitter!