11-15 (Thursday) Jerusalem

I decided to go to Bethlehem this morning. I walked to the Damascus Gate where I hoped to find a local bus. I was lucky and got to the station just as one was getting ready to leave. It cost me $1 for the trip. I didn't realize this is an area where Israel has put up a wall to keep the Palestines out. I had to show my passport and go through a series of fences and checkpoints to get to the other side. Waiting there were an army of taxis. At least 10 drivers came running up to me. They wanted $5 to drive me to the Church of the Nativity. I asked if they had meters. One driver said he did so I went with him. When I got in the cab I asked where the meter was. He turned back the mileage counter and said that was it. I told him to forget it and got out. The other drives began swarming again. I said I'd only pay $2.50 and I walked off. Some driver came up in his cab and said he'd take me for $2.50. As we were driving he began telling me all the other things there were to see. I knew he wanted to take me on a tour so I told him I was only going to the church.

After I finished in the church there he was - waiting on me. I told him I was going to look around. When I got ready to leave - there he was. I got in his cab. As we were driving back he got mad at me when he figured out I wasn't going to go touring with him.He said he had wasted time with me and he thought I should just get out of his cab. He stopped and I got out. This reminded me of the guy in Vietnam who put me out of his pedicab. It wasn't long before another cab came along and agreed to $2.50

I decided to go on a three hour city walking tour when I got back to Jerusalem. I thought it was a good tour - going through most of the places I had been yesterday but learning more about them: the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim Quarters, the Western (Wailing) Wall, Via Dolorous and the Church of the Sepulchre.