On Friday morning a larger group than normal met at Al Manara central circle in Ramallah to go hiking. Abu Abed, the shared taxi driver who transports the group every week, had to recruit three other drivers, and we set off in our caravan, not in the normal northern direction, but toward Qalandia.
As we trundled past the checkpoint and the grafitti'd wall, nearly desolate at 7:30 am, we swung round a roundabout where Marwan and Leen jumped aboard one of the services. Marwan, coffee cup in hand, smiling, greeted all with a jovial wave. We continued in the direction of Jericho, and stopped at the sign marking sea level, where a camel sits perpetually, waiting for tourists. Leen, Marwan's fifth grade daughter, ate a Kinder Surprise egg for breakfast while the adults pinched her cheeks and asked her kee-fiq?
The photos which follow come from the hike which followed, one of the best I've taken since being here. The quotes in the captions are things Leen said along the way.
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| Sunrise in Ramallah before leaving the house |
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| "Baba, if we get lost, just follow the poop." |
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| "Do you want to have a barking lesson?" |
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| "It's a good thing I have good instincts: they were divas." |
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| "My good English comes from watching films." |
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| "That dog was cray-cray." |
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| "Yeah, I talk to her sometimes. Well, no, not really I don't." |
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| "It looks like there's some skin [of an avocado] in it.... The skin's not bad. ....Just kidding it's disgusting." |
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| "Don't you love tuna?" |
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| "You took the boring way." |
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