rossinegypt-blog-blog

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Your blog is very striking! Wish you the best for your exciting travels!v

Thanks!  The travels have ended (for now) but thanks to everyone for following!

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I lov u. I lov yor beard and glases. Do u want to talk wun day we can cuz i wud like to talk 2 u one day. Y=Ur brian is amazin n hot. One day we shud talk cuz i want 2.

Donnie just admit it was you who wrote this.

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The Old City in East Jerusalem.  It's a walled city with shops and cafes inside.  Mostly crappy tourist souvenirs and overpriced cafes.

#jerusalem #old city #damascus gate

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Animal friends on the farm.  The pigeons live in a VW microbus.

#palestine #tent of nations

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A view of the Israeli settlement on the neighboring hill.  These settlements have been declared a violation of international law by basically everyone except for the Israeli government (even the US thinks the settlements are illegal).

Here's how the situation was explained to me by some volunteers who had been with the farm for quite some time:

Basically, the Israelis find sneaky ways to take away land in the West Bank from it's Palestinian owners.  The farm were I was working was basically surrounded by settlements on all of the nearby hills.  The Israeli government has actually repeatedly tired to take the farm away from its Palestinian owners using a variety of legal tactics.

It can be quite complicated.  Apparently, 100 years ago or so, it was not common for people in Palestine to register legal ownership of their land.  This is primarily because registering costed money, and people generally seemed to respect other peoples land, whether or not it was legally registered.

However, the family who owns Tent of Nations bought the land in 1916 and they *did* choose to register the land, with all three authorities that had control of the land at the time: the Turkish, the Jordanians, and the British.

Since the land was purchased under the laws of three different countries, the Israelis looked at the laws of all three countries to try to find a way to take the land away.  Apparently some clause from Turkish law said that the land could be taken away if it was not cultivated for three years.  In the 1990s, the Israelis tried to invoke this clause, but the family who owns the farm hired a lawyer, and the case is currently in legal limbo.

#palestine #tent of nations #israel #settlements

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Another view of the cistern I was working on, from above.  It looks dark and scary down there, but it's not too bad.

#palestine #tent of nations

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Another view from the third mountain.  Overlooking a huge valley.

#petra #jordan

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On top of the third mountain, "the Monastery".  This building was never actually a monastery.  It was built by the early inhabitants for to worship whatever gods they happened to believe in.  At some point it was used by Christians as a worship space, which is where it gets it name from.

#petra #jordan #monastery

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The view from the second mountain, known as the High Place of Sacrifice.  It is believed that the top of this mountain was used by the ancient inhabitants for sacrifices.  And the trail to the top is lined with various tombs.

#petra #jordan #high place of sacrifice

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You could hike for days at Petra and not see everything.  But I hiked an entire day, and managed to make it to the top of three mountains.

Here is the view from the top of the first mountain I hiked.  On top there's a fortress built by the Christian invaders during the crusades.

#petra #jordan #citadel

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Some cool building in Petra.  I have no idea what it is.

#petra #jodan

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And then suddenly, you turn a corner, the canyon opens up into a huge clearing, and you see this huge beautiful building (the Treasury) carved into the rocks.  This is the kind of awe-inspiring experience that renders you incapable of expressing yourself with any words other than "holy shit".

#petra #jordan #the treasury

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Hiking into Petra, you follow this tall narrow canyon for about a half hour...

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Chilling at the beach in Dahab, hanging out with this cool/crazy Austian woman I met who had just spent 3 weeks touring around Iran.  An extremely sketchy Saudi dude came up to us and invited us to come into his van to smoke some hash, but we declined.  Stranger danger.

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Posting some old stuff.

The Blue Hole in Dahab, a popular but dangerous diving spot.  I did some pretty nice snorkeling here.  Those mountains you see across the water are in Saudi Arabia.

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Yes, it was Tent of Nations!  It’s such a beautiful place, and the people there are awesome.  They’re doing really cool work!  Here’s a link for anyone who wants to read more about it.

Finally made it to Palestine

Volunteering on a farm in the West Bank outside of Bethlehem for a few days.  Headed to Jerusalem tomorrow and then Tel Aviv.  No photos for a while, because the internet here is quite slow.  Just wanted to let y’all know I’m still alive.

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At the farm I was helping to dig a huge cistern (~20 m^3) by hand.  It was a really tedious process, but I'm just glad the huge hole didn't cave in while I was down there.

#palestine #tent of nations