Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Dead Sea and More!

Yesterday we took a trip south for our final field trip outside of Jerusalem! (can you believe it?) First we went to Masada, which was pretty cool. It is basically just a larger fortress on top of a mountain near the Dead Sea. We took cable cars up to the top, which was a lot of fun. Here's a pic of Jen and I in one of the rooms of the northern palace there:
We then went to an oasis in the desert called Ein Gedi, which had a lot of waterfalls and springs there. It was really great because it is getting SO hot here in Israel. It was like 96-100 degrees outside! So it was nice to hike up to the water falls and then be able to cool off by dipping your feet in the cool water. Here's a pic of Bon-Bon and I at the main waterfall:
Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea (our next location) were packed because it is basically Jewish spring break over here. It's passover week, so no school- which means time for family vacation! So there were a lot of people at these places, but it was still a lot of fun and a great experience. So yeah, the Dead Sea was just crazy. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly salty it is. And you can literally not sink in it. You can't even keep your legs underneath you because you float like crazy. It seriously blows your mind. It was the weirdest feeling ever. Definitely a cool thing to do, even the water made you feel pretty gross because it was kinda slimy and so extremely salty. Here we are just floating away!
The Dead Sea also has these mud pits that people use to exfoliate their skin. So I guess the thing to do it put mud all over your body and then wash it off in the Dead Sea... So I joined along... When in Rome, right? Those white rocks behind us in this pic are just salt pile ups from the sea. Pretty crazy. The entire shore line is just pure salt crystals that are HUGE.
Then we ended our day at Qumran, where we got to see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The cave in this pic is the most famous one- cave #4 to be exact. haha.
Overall a great day! I'll be spending my last night in Israel one week from tonight- boo!