O little town of Bethlehem

Eight days, and 125 km, after walking into a farmer’s field near the northern West Bank town of Faqu’a, we arrived in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is built atop a large hill. In fact, I sense that Mary and Joseph would have had a difficult time navigating the hilly region between Jericho and Bethlehem.

We made our final push to Bethlehem, an arduous 13 km trek uphill, from the Mar Saba Monastery. Perched on the side of a cliff in the Judean desert, the monastery was founded in 439 and is one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world.

Each day presented its own set of challenges. After the first day, in which we covered 20 km and walked up and down three large hills, I wondered how my feet were going to carry me the rest of the way. The third day to Nablus was especially taxing, as we slogged up a mountain in the searing heat. Our overnight stay in an impoverished village, near Auja, was challenging for a host of reasons. The basic house we stayed in was made of mud brick, and the only electricity powered four small light bulbs throughout the home. The toilet had a crack in it, so when you flushed it, water shot out the side, and when I pulled the cover in my small bed over me, I couldn’t help but wonder when it was last washed. The screens on the windows had long since been torn away. This meant an army of mosquitoes feasted on us all night long. I figured that I may have needed a blood transfusion, considering the amount of blood that was drained from my body. At one point, I put my jacket over my head to shield me from the unrelenting barrage. None of us got much sleep. Morning came as a relief.

But for every challenge, there was a corresponding reward. Seeing a country on foot, as few people have, was a one-of-a-kind experience. The Palestinian countryside is rich in beauty. From thriving farmland and bucolic hills in the north, to the stark beauty of the desert in the south, there were lots of Wow! moments. Like walking through Wadi Auja, where the canyon walls towered hundreds of feet above. We navigated around large boulders on the valley floor, and then found ourselves walking along a path that was only a foot or so wide, along the top of the gorge, which required a focussed mind so as not to slip. And just when fatigue and the warm afternoon sun were wearing us down, we stumbled upon a spring that was gushing clear, cool water from the ground. There was also the trek through Wadi Qelt, a Grand Canyon like scene that led to the St. George Monastery. It was here in the peaceful surroundings of the monastery that we waited for the rain to let up. And then a short time ago, I watched a full moon set over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem’s Manger Square.

If the landscape is beautiful, then so too are the people. Despite the challenges that Palestinians face, and they are many, we were welcomed with bright smiles and big hellos, wherever we went.