ISRAEL: A desert drive

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It’s the height of summer in Israel and hot everywhere, end of story. When the choice is between hot and humid, and really hot and arid, taking to the desert really isn’t as stupid as it sounds. And in spite of Eilat turning from a beatnik haven to a sometimes-tacky resort, it is still worth crossing the desert to the Israel’s southernmost town.

Some are attracted to the town at the tip of the Red Sea for what it is now; others, for what it used to be.

For older Israelis, Eilat used to be a stop on the way to Sinai. Since the very last bit of it -- the 700 square meters (about 2,300 square feet) of Taba -- was returned to Egypt 20 years ago following a two-year long international arbitration, Eilat is the end of the road.

And it’s a long road. More than 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Jerusalem. And you either love the drive, or you hate it.

Radio reception along the way is spotty; for miles the only stations picked up are Jordanian. Cellphone systems have fata-morgana, welcoming you to first to Jordan and later to Egypt in a discrete nod from the neighbors. Most drivers, in order to get out of the heat and into the hotel swimming pool, have little time for the harsh landscape, speeding madly on the road that is understandably infamous for fatal car accidents.

It takes the eyes time to adapt to the desert, with little between land and sky to break the glare. And it takes time to adjust to time itself, which is simply different in the desert. Patience is undoubtedly a desert virtue. The local expression ‘the patience of a Bedouin’ doesn’t come from nowhere.

The landscape changes constantly: from mountainous to lunar to flat; from green to brown; from dry to the salty waters of the Dead Sea; from an elevation of 700 meters (2,300 feet) above sea level down to 400 meters (1,312 feet) below it. The human landscape on the way from Jerusalem to Eilat changes too: from the urban mix of the capital to Palestinian villages sprawled down the hills, through Bedouin encampments to the hotel resort that rises from the lowest place on Earth, the Dead Sea. There are kibbutzim along the way, military checkpoints, eco-tourism villages and Thai workers in the fields of Israeli farms -- and each has its own charm.

Here are a few desert moments along the Arava Road between Jerusalem and Eilat, in no particular order.

--Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem/Eilat

Captions below pictures, click to enlarge. Photos: Batsheva Sobelman/Los Angeles Times

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