jonah, stuck in traffic

daniel and i set out around 10am, headed for tel aviv/jaffa, where he and his family had, until just before my arrival, held an apartment. tel aviv is the titular capitol of israel, a coastal manhattan where the roads of business and commerce bisect. however, it abides as the political center only as long as jerusalem, israel’s true heart, balances in a state of imperfect stability. the equally dense city of jaffa abuts tel aviv, and the two exist much the same way as st paul and minneapolis, st louis divided by the missouri, or for my texas friends, dallas and ft worth w out irving in between. metropolitan and vast, the cities differentiate by being predominantly jewish on the tel aviv side, and arab on the jaffa side, but they intertwine w the sinew of traffic, vertical construction, the azure blue of the mediterranean sea to the side, and in the middle, long dark alleys of tiny stalls, each peddling olive wood carvings, badly inlaid cigar boxes, and t-shirts w the equivalent of ‘i “heart” ny’ printed on them. you might also have deduced that jaffa is the ‘joppa’ of old testament reference, the seaport of jonah’s dissident departure. however, on the way there, daniel and i were not considering this, but instead, the simple need to stop for coffee. we did so, finding a starbucks imitation attached to a gas station. inside, we ordered our cafe afuq (not sure of spelling, but pronounced ‘a-fook’), which is a cappuccino, but translates directly as ‘upside-down’, owing to the separation of the foamy milk and coffee. i am very happy about the cappuccino’s here.

i waited for the coffees as dan filled up the gas tank, but purchased a sweet before leaving. a piece of apple cake. a point of interest because i love apple pie, and stand behind norman rockwell’s deifying of the cinnamon dusted, crumble crusted, apple stuffed confection. however, this alternative proved soggy and lifeless, too sweet and tasteless at the same time. but wishing i picked ‘trick’ instead of ‘treat’ didn’t deter us and we hit jaffa traffic shortly, winding our way to my friend’s old place, which is situated on the street that divides the arab and jewish quarters. that means his family experienced some tension and unrest, but more often than not, they saw nothing but bustle. though arab and jew have a great many discords, jaffa and tel aviv are known as the place where they mingle w and abide each other.
i waited for dan’s super to show up and enjoyed the 3rd floor balcony. the noise of construction and clamor was constant, but a big blue sky made it easy to bear. then headed up to the boardwalk for some sea side pics. the coast curves in, allowing for some beautiful wide shots of high rise downtown.

then it was into the swell of the bazar. narrow roads w storefronts extended by merchandise to the curb, squeezing pedestrians into traffic unless they closely observe the wares out for sale. even more claustrophobic are the alleys w a hundred cramped stalls, one after another. some part of your body is always brushing sale items, and the verbal part of your brain is trying to evolve so it can differentiate the directionless ricochets of seller entreaties: ‘please come in!’, ‘how are you, sir?’, ‘i have only the best merchandise!’ i bought some trinkets for some siblings, small things that i can carry w out hassle.

we stopped for schwarma (pronounced sh-war-ma), which is lamb in pita, w vegetables and humus. dan knew a hot spot, and it was incredibly good, w texan size portions. later, in jerusalem, we would get more schwarma, but this was the best and twice the size. i made sure to get the ‘spicy’ sauce, which was mild. i washed it down w water, daniel w coke.

we spent some time in a public garden situated on a hill overlooking the coast, and we separated for a bit so dan could meet his landlord. i walked up the boardwalk, which was lined w fancy cafe’s. feral cats run wild in all of israel, so i couldn’t resist the guy eating his dinner w the cat just outside of a fancy restaurant. kids on bmx’s were using the stylish curve of the boardwalk as a ramp, popping wheelies as the sun descended.

amber called to see if we were out of town at 4. the sun was headed east and traffic was picking up. she had hoped, for our sake and daniel’s sanity, that we had made it out of city limits by then. not so much. we sidled down the coast w all the other big city shlubs, wading thru a sea of honking as much as a sea of cars. the sludge out wasn’t too bad, i got some decent silhouettes, but i wonder if it was as difficult for jonah getting in to joppa, as it was for us getting out?