A Moment I Will Never Forget by HEN GURARYE [Photo Essay]

ISRAEL — We are climbing. Slowly, footstep after footstep, scaling the wall. We started down below, inside the Makhtesh and are making our way towards Mitzpe Ramon, 500 meters higher than we started. The climb is long and on our backs we have heavy backpacks. We have been walking all day, we have already done 12 km and we want to stop, to take a break. We almost do, until we notice the clouds above us, breaking apart, getting organized for… the sunset, and the sun slowly making its way towards the horizon. We gather all of the strength that we have left and give another push.

We finally make it to the top, where we can see the whole Makhtesh ,Camel Mountain (fifth picture), and Mitzpe Ramon. We sit down, and watch the show that is just starting. Someone makes tea and passes around steaming cups that warm us from the inside. Someone else puts on Ehud Banai, and we all sit in a sort of trance, in silence watching the wonder that is right in front of us. The sky is being painted in hues of purple, red, pink, and orange, like a painter just decided to paint with all of the emotion inside of him, without holding himself back. The locals start a Shabbat prayer and the beautiful performance that nature has put on for us is accompanied by their voices, their cries to god, their singing. A local, who has also come to watch the show says that he has lived there for two years already and he has never seen anything like this.

Nature has put on a show just for us.