Desert

1.
Carmelli lights a cigarette and inserts Rona Kenan's "Through Foreign Eyes" into the car stereo. we set off.

2.
Hand-painted signs are posted near the occasionally bombed town of Sderot. They cry fury.

3.
Juicy kofte kebab patties in Be'er Sheva ooze goodness.

4.
Carmelli: "I once went to Epcot Center, you know what it is - like Disneyworld for an older crowd. so I meet this girl there, this blond, chubby American, pretty cute actually, and she asks me where I'm from, so I say 'Israel', and she goes: 'what, you mean it's real?'"

5.
Nitzan, Carmelli's goat-herding friend, instructs me to grab the udder with two fingers and squeeze with the other hand.

6.
Carmelli (with the milking Nitzan within earshot): "In the olden day for two of these I could get one like Nitzan."

7.
Carmelli: "Rona Kenan is a Genius."

8.
Sitting in a cave in a rock face that forms an 800 meters sheer drop into the Ramon crater, talking about Berlin.

9.
Returning to that cave at night, very gingerly, the crater beneath us is a dark vacuum. An Englishwoman sings "Danny Boy".

10.
Tent's on crooked ground - sleeping slanted.

11.
Carmelli: "So, how do we convince Rona Kenan to change her sexual tendencies so they feature us?"

12.
A Bedouin shepherd and his donkeys among the ruins of Nabatian Ovdat. sunburn kicking in.

13.
Crepe at "Le Chocolat" in Mitzpe ramon, a picture of Rudolph Valentino on the wall, a decaying military installment across the silent street.

14.
Buying fragrant, all natural soap from a soap artisan at Mitzpe Ramon's "Spice Roads District". That's what happens when two macho guys go on a road trip.

15.
Walking among plank-shaped crystals of oxidizing iron. The rim of the crater high above us.

16.
Back to the car. It is hell.

17.
"The thing about Rona Kenan is - see, this is the ultimate concept album. she takes one theme, which is the jilted lover not getting over it, and attacks it from ten different angles. It's the exact same emotion in each song."

18.
A massive dune towers by the road, we get out, climb and roll down.

19.
Strange, beautiful spherical flowers grow at the foot of the dune.

20.
Now the car is full of sand.

21.
An Egyptian flag is flying over a lonesome border crossing, the Israeli side is abandoned. A trailer is open, with the air conditioning on. Inside is a desk completely covered with stickers reading: "I love Burger Bar".

22.
A quail crosses the road.

23.
Two barn owls look up from within an ancient well.

24.
Carmelli: "This is the world's end."