Sunday - amazing people

I really did think about going to churcc, and I did start the day with breakfast at the table with a Southern Baptist pastor, wife and two young sons who stayed at the same hostel. We had a very lively, cordial conversation - he stammered quite noticeably and I learned that he now teaches religion courses on-line for a living and is quite happy with the arrangement. They were all cheerful and happy to be heading to Jerusalem that day. I, on the other hand, had engaged a guide to drive me to Megiddo - the hill and site of at least 30 settlements from the stone age onward...and the biblical location for the ultimate fight between good and evil aka Armegeddon. Not exactly a cheerful theme, but interesting nonetheless for the conquerors who had come and gone at this hill, the last being about 500 years ago. This excavation is considered the cradle of biblical archeology, since digging began here in the 1920's. My Arab Christian guide let me wander - this is a national park - and picked me up at the other end after I had descended 280 steps through the water system - this being the reason human beings settled here in the first place.
Gabi the Gude has a brother named Pele - because the great soccer player Pele visited Nazareth, his father met him, and promised to name his first son after the athlete. They love socccer, wake up at odd times in the night to watch the World Cup on TV - and soccer is why so many Brasilian flags are flying in Nazareth.
I managed to haul my gear on the bus and arrive safely at my next hotel in Tiberias. Taking to the shoreline, I strolled past the Scottish church just as the pastor was walking out. Rev. Colin responded to my question - where is the famous Scot (5-star) Hotel by taking me to the grounds and showing me around. Then we had a cup of tea...and we have a "date" for dinner on Wednesday in the ritzy restaurant. He also said that the person who manages Nazareth Village was in town - She and I and my guide Nancy from there had a very delightful conversation in the watch tower of the hotel (the facility was originally a hospital). That provided additional insight into the Nazareth scene.
At 6:45 the people working on the dig this week hiked out to the site and had a bonfire and (strange) supper of potatoes, tomatoes, pita, etc. and I sat between a youth pastor from Canada who is in seminary and a Seventh Day Adventist medical school student from N. Carolina. We talked with Katarina, an 18-year old Portuguese (literally) world traveller who had just come to Israel by way of Nepal and India. She speaks fluent English because her dad is English. One more person to add to the day Carrie, a 64-year old resident of Jerusalem who grew up in Chicago and came to this country in 1968 to join a kibbutz and never left. So you can understand that Israel is a magnet for all kinds of people - a beautiful mixed salad!