Hot fun in the summertime

August 18, 2009 - 6:48 AM by David

yamit When you live in Israel, you get used to being in crowds – especially in August. Everyone’s on vacation, and doing basically the same things.

I grew up in New England and it took me a long time to adapt to the elbow to elbow nature of the great Israeli outdoor and leisure scene. My wife, however, used to the elbow-to-knee nature of the Eastern seaboard fit in just fine.

It’s ironic, then, that 25 years later, I’m the one who can cope better with massive throngs of people. The best thing to do in August is to stay inside in the air conditioning, so it was a curious decision indeed to take our 8-year-old son yesterday to the country’s largest water amusement park, Yamit 2000, in Holon.

Packed to the gills, with trouble finding both a parking place outside and a sitting place inside, Yamit 2000 was the definition of a zoo. They have a huge outdoor pool, but it was covered with people, with little snippets of blue background seeping out. The average lines to the dozen or so stupendous slides there were about 45 minutes, and full of shouting, rambunctious youth.

Either you simmer inside at their overselling admission to the joint, or you surrender to the moment and go with the flow. I chose the latter. As noisy and crowded as the outdoor pool was, the indoor setup was even wilder. There, a wave machine and sprayers simulated a storm at sea, and the decibel level inside approached that of a Megadeth concert. Still, Matan and I plunged into the mass of people and got caught up in the storm, screaming along with them. It was exhilarating.

My wife couldn’t stand the noise and left for the refuge of our outside umbrella and chairs for the duration. “I can’t stand all the crowds and noise,” she said.

“What crowds and noise?” I answered, as we got back in line for another run on the banana slide…

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