Mark Aceves

We tried to get up early to catch the bus to Eilat, but basically missed it by a mere few minutes, so we decided to catch the next bus to Ein Gedi, spend the day there, then catch the last bus to Eilat and find a place to stay for...

Everywhere we go I notice that we get funny looks and I always assumed it was due to Rafa having long hair but I am rethinking that. I think it’s because Rafa looks like the traditional accepted image of Jesus and naturally him being in Jerusalem, people definitely do a...

Saturday is a day of rest for the Jews and so it was kind of for us as well, being that travel was shut down, so we just kind of hung arod  town. I snacked in the morning and discovered this awesome Arabic delight. It was a cheese pastry soaked...

I had a strange dream last night. I was at my old Catholic high school and they had installed what appeared to be giant iron doors in place of the old regular ones. When I touched the doors they seemed to turn to putty and I ended up turning them...

In the morning we walked up into the newer part of Jerusalem to catch a bus to the dead sea region. It takes about 90 minutes to get there from Jerusalem. Once out of the city you find yourself in the Judean desert surrounded by rolling hills and sand dunes....

The call to prayer woke me up too early and after a while of tossing and turning, I decided to go out onto the terrace and watch the sunrise. First light was just peeking over the Jordanian mountains. Brenda the Canadian lady was already out on the roof top, so...

Rafa wanted to eat a Jewish breakfast so we went down to the Jewish quarter to see what we could find. I didnt know exactly what a Jewish breakfast was, but hey, I’m down. He ended up getting a bagel because all the restaurants were still closed. I was hungry...

I was awakened at 4:30 AM by the muezzin, the call to prayer sounding from the Al Aqsa Mosque. It bounces off the walls of the buildings and is pretty loud since the tower is so close. You can also hear calls from the surrounding mosques too., It lasts a...

Today I fly. I woke up before the alarm went off and just laid there with mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation. Whenever I fly far distances I always have this temporary feeling of trepidation, right before I go. It’s a mixed bag of feelings…fear of being far from home...