Right to Movement

The Palestinian Marathon is still young - the first one was in 2013. It takes place in Bethlehem in March. If you live in Jerusalem, Bethlehem or Ramallah, you can train during weekly runs with the group "Right to Movement", whose organizers started the marathon.

6:30 am: 2.5 shekel coffee in the street

Yesterday I went on Right to Movement's first organized hike by the Dead Sea. It was a little more popular than I (or they) expected -- we were 131 sur le chemin!

10:30 am: Resting in a cave, one of two shady spots all hike. That's George, the primary organizer, behind me.

Our three Bedouin guides, Mohammad, Mohammad and Mohammad, led us over 16km of desert toward the Dead Sea. The irony of the day was that our buses couldn't get past the checkpoint to come pick us up at the end, so we were offered the "right to move" an extra 8 km by foot to reach the checkpoint where the buses were held up. Luckily, during that last stretch, a majestic light show played out over the panoramic view of the Dead Sea while the moon rose and the sun dipped.

1:30 pm: Reached the Dead Sea overlook

My take away from the day is what a strong pull it is for many young Palestinians to live near their families. Many of the people on the hike had been born of brought up in the US and had recently made the decision to move back to Palestine to join their extended families (some even leaving their immediate families in the States). Several mentioned that even though life is "harder" more limited here, the sense of comfort that comes from having family nearby makes up for any inconvenience, and then some.

4:30 pm Looking for the Promised Bus of Milk and Honey. Good thing we didn't know it was still 12km away!

The magnificent Dead Sea at dusk that distracted us from complaining legs while we walked to the checkpoint.