Day three of our Israel/Palestine adventure started more or less like day two ended, we got lost. Somehow this appears to become a reoccurring thing here in Jerusalem. This time it was on the search for a supermarket. After some walking around and backtracking we managed to find a little place to buy Pita and Hummus. With these provisions for the road, we embarked bus 19 leaving near Damascus Gate for Ramallah.
We had both seen the wall and the checkpoints before, but nonetheless they remain an intimidating sight. We crossed the checkpoint without any trouble and saw the West Bank for the first time. Ramallah is a very busy and hectic town, where everything is a little more chaotic and disorganized in the best way possible. Cars are driving going through roundabouts in the opposite direction, you hear constant honking and at the same time everyone is so willing to help these two westerners that have no idea how to get from A to B.
Once there, we went to the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, a group affiliated with the Green Party in Germany, which was hosting an open day, celebrating their office’s 15th anniversary. Great people, that made us feel very welcome and promised to help in the future should we need anything.
The way back to Jerusalem took a little longer than expected, because we naively decided to go during the rush hour. Apart from that everything went smoothly and the Israeli soldiers with their big guns only looked at our passports for two seconds.
I have to admit, that the climate is taking its toll. It is only 7pm and I feel exhausted from only walking around a couple of hours. I guess I will need a few more days to adjust to this.
