Today we said goodbye to Kibbutz Ketura and went first to Machtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater). We visited the visitors center, and learned all about Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut in space, and about the crater itself, including its ongoing formation over millions of years and the wildlife that inhabits the crater.
Next, we saw David Ben Gurion’s desert house in Sde Boker, as well as his grave site. We learned about his life and everything he did for the Jewish state of Israel with an interactive touch-screen quiz.
After that, we took a hike up the Ramon Crater. We cooled off on the bus ride to Kibbutz Gvulot, where we will be staying for the next two nights. We relaxed and then went to check out the still-standing remains of the kibbutz’s humble beginnings as the first Jewish settlement in the Negev. On the way, we paused to take in a gorgeous sunset and a reddish moon taking its place in the sky. We were tasked with preparing our own barbecue dinner as well as putting on a show of songs, dances, and skits about the history of the settlement. All in all, it was a tiring but fun day.