# 24 - In The Shadow of young dates trees in flower
Jules in front of his treasure: 700 kilos of mejoul dates.
It's been almost a month since we landed in Israel, and we have not told anything to you about it yet! These few weeks have once again been of great intensity and especially rich in discoveries for us who did not know much about the culture of this country. Let’s go back to our arrival in Israel.
It's full of joy and hope that we land in Tel Aviv, after a 24-hour-trip from Mongolia. Our plan is simple and consistent with what we have done since the beginning: to flee the capital as fast as possible and get to a date farm which we managed to get in touch with.
Unfortunately, our arrival did not go as planned. First, a terrible tiredness takes hold of us. The shock with Mongolia is too strong, and we simultaneously feel it. The shift schedule is important, but it is mainly the temperature, food and even the atmosphere of a seaside city like Tel Aviv that break too roughly with what we were used to in Mongolia.
Getting out of town to find a quieter environment would perhaps make us get better easily, but Turkish Airlines does not leave us a choice: if we want to get our luggage back we will have to stay in Tel Aviv ... for an indefinite period.
Fortunately, we can count on Dario, a high school friend of Tristan, who hosts us in his home and allows us to gradually get back our strengths without having to look for a new roof every night. During five days, we gradually regain strength and then, once our luggage arrives, we leave Tel Aviv.
The place where we go is a moshav, a sort of living community, quite common in Israeli campaigns, but not having a socialist organization like for kibboutzs. From the heights of this small village of about fifty families, we see the surrounding desert and Jordan, located only a few kilometers away.
The moshav in the middle of the desert
Greeted by Ran, an Israeli with a radiant smile that nothing seems to disturb, we discover a few days later than expected our future workplace. After living in the vastness of the Mongolian steppe, we discover another kind of desert, rocky and extremely arid. The warmth touches on some days 50 ° C, and the wind is then a cause of additional suffering.
5pm and still 52°C
It is however difficult not to feel happy in such a peaceful moshav, which has a very welcoming pool and where we find especially 6 young volunteers seeking for the same experience as us. We will share the daily life here with two Argentines, a Scottish, a Swiss, an American and a French.
The task to which we dedicate ourselves is a new one for the Travelling Farmers: we had never had to deal with dates yet. Not much consumed in Europe, this fruit is nevertheless incredibly rich in sugar and fiber. After almost a year working in fields and eating new fruits every month, dates won the prize of the best of them. Better than a Redbull and a Chocolate Bar combined!
The day after our arrival we are assigned a tedious but essential task: sorting dates harvested the day before. The wet ones must be separated from those dried dates, and we should especially set apart the Rolls of dates: the "Superfresh." Weighing more than 27 grams, of dark color with yellowish hues, the Superfresh is the most valued kind of dates and the most expensive. It's every time with stars in their eyes that Eyal - who deals with Ran a date farm of the moshav - talks about "his" Superfresh. He even explains that this is because he eats two of them every morning that he never gets sick.
In music and with good mood we work from 6 am to 1 pm, accompanied by one of many Thais that come here to find a job, enjoy an attractive salary and send a large part of it to their families in Thailand. At the slightest blow of fatigue, we bite into this divine fruit and soon feel our energy reappear.
The following days we are confronted to the other main activity: picking up dates.
Our first surprise comes from the location of the date palm field where we work. Indeed, these are located in the "no man's land" between Israel and Jordan - between the respective borders of the two countries. It is between the electrified barbed wires - that we cross every morning - that are majestically aligned rows of date palms.
Despite the context, these beautiful plantations in the light of dawn make us think of an Oriental vision of paradise.
When the work is done, Tristan doesn"t close the door of an office, but the gate of a border
And here are the dates trees !
Each date palm tree has ten large clusters of dates, each wrapped in a net to be protected from the birds. In each of these nets can be collected nearly a hundred dates, each weighing between 10 and 50 grams. The crops are massive - around 100 kilos per tree - and the work must be thorough.
Tristan and Juan enjoying a break
Tristan works high in the trees
The dates harvested in the bags go to the black boxes on the left
This is a big wheel to change ...
Volunteers are each morning separated into two groups. Some travel on foot and harvest the youngest palm trees, easily accessible. Others spend the morning in the air, raised by a powerful forklift driven by Eyal, that take them from tree to tree. After the morning's work, the fruits harvested in crates are taken up to the warehouse where they are stored on pallets before being sorted and stored in a huge cold room.
Our guests are not involved themselves in individual retail thereafter: a truck comes once a week to take the result of our picking. It's almost a tear in the eye that Eyal looks at is pallets of Superfresh going away every week.
We feel extremely well in this Moshav: the work pleases us greatly, the setting is beautiful and the atmosphere is very pleasant. Yet, we have to leave it temporarily: Théophile and Thibault, two of our closest friends, come to join us for ten days in Israel. It has indeed been seven months since we left our homeland, and even if we keep feeling happy with our farmer clothes, it is undeniable that we lack nothing more than the presence of our relatives. It is with immense joy that we welcome these two comrades in Tel Aviv.
Thus begins a great period. The reunion of our group of friends is going well and our program is more than attractive. Together we discover the splendor of Jerusalem, the holy city. Our religious beliefs are not the same, and no matter: impossible not to be seduced by the fascinating energy that emanates from this city. We discover the old city, the Holy Sepulcher, the Western Wall and the Grand Mosque, and we get to the top of Mount of Olives to admire Jerusalem in its totality.
A dream team in front of a dream city
Same picture without us so that you can have the view too.
Then we go to discover the rest of the country. Despite the sandstorm that strikes at the same time the Middle East, we have the opportunity to admire the Golan Heights and browse the Negev desert, passing of course by the Dead Sea.
Tristan, Théo and Jules don't know it, but they are about to drink the best tea of their life
Finally, we decide not to limit our overview of the Middle East to Israel, and go for a few days in Jordan. The change is huge and we are immediately fascinated by the culture of this Arab country, the first we visit since the beginning of our adventure. We get to Petra, a site known for its architectural splendor dating from more than two thousand years ago.
Thibault and Tristan about to get a new stamp on their passport
From left to right: half a camel, a camel, Jules, Thibault and Tristan in front of Petra's Treasure
The Monastery, Petra's symbol
We try to stay as far as possible from the tourist trails, and we find a way to stay in a Bedouin village. Zeinab, our host, presents us to all her family, and she tells us a lot about the political and geopolitical situation of Jordan. We learn much, and we are pleased to note that the Bedouin cuisine is one of the tastiest we had the opportunity to taste from the beginning.
On the site of Petra, we frequently see Bedouins that live in the same village as us, who recognize us, tell us they are cousins of Zeinab’s husband, Ali - who will tell us he has at least 1500 cousins - and invite us to share a tea with them.
A tea with ... Ali's cousins
Moreover we made a playlist of Arabic music about which we are very proud over this trip in Jordan, please do not hesitate to ask us by email!
In short, it is with great memories in mind that we finally separate with our two friends. We still have a whole month remaining here: Israel is the longest of all our steps. We do not hesitate a moment about how to follow our our adventures and return without losing an hour to the moshav that pleased us so much.
We therefore find back the daily life that we had discovered: get up at 5:40 to eat a quick breakfast, then depart for the fields where we work all morning long. Then it's lunch, rest, reading and writing.
On some days, 18 year-old boys between high school and military service, come and give a hand for sorting dates. We feel how little they enjoy working and understand soon that they are sent here by their university that wants to confront them to manual labor. This funny situation nevertheless allows us to talk with them and learn about their perception of the region's political problems.
We wish you a great week, and we hope it was not to hard for you to start working again,
We’ll be back next Sunday