The Negev

Lakiya Negeb Weaving Center--This is where women learn marketing skills to better their status in the community.  I never knew how much work went into one rug it is amazing.  This place was so cool because we got to see  how they made everything from scratch, all the way from spinning sheep's wool into yarn, dying it, then weaving it into rugs, purses, pillows, anything.  Their work is beautiful.

Tell Beersheva.

We got to go in an ancient underground water system. It's hard to imagine at first, but pretty phenomenal when you picture the ancient civilization that existed here. 

Tell Arad.

January 21st, the middle of winter and it was as hot as can be in the Negev.  At Tell Arad it was interesting to see sites where an old Holy of Holies was, and learn about the history, like this temple site was reverently buried because Hezekiah couldn't control the satellite temples from Jerusalem. The best part of this site for me was the 50 foot well where they gathered the sparse water their community had. In this ancient community, every street drained to a central area so the seven inches of water they got every year would gather and be held in the well. Even though everything we learned about was interesting, we were all relieved to find shade like this tower provided.