And so begins day 7 of our trip to the Holy Land. A mid term break with a difference was coming to an end. But we were going out with a bang. What were promising to be two real highlights of the week were on the agenda for today. A trip to the desert and a float in the Dead Sea was enough to motivate ourselves to get on a bus at an ungodly hour one last time. Well….there was still one more early bus trip ahead of us since we were leaving the hotel at 4am the next morning, but we’ll come to that later.
So after one last breakfast…..sadly at this stage (3 months later), I no longer have vivid memories of the Israeli delights that were served at breakfast. Needless to say, I didn’t have the weird tomato egg things or the weird fish. I probably had cereal or a croissant. Ooooh la la.
So off we went for a trip to the middle of nowhere. The desert. I had never been in a desert before and really it wasnt what I was expecting. I always thought that the desert was just a continuation of the sand dunes on the beach. Except with more sand on the ground, in the air, in your hair, in your eyes, in your mouth and in your sandwiches. But I was wrong. Well….with this desert anyway. It was rocky as opposed to sandy and actually looked like the kinda place that would be nice to have a picnic unlike the sand dunes at home. If you can stand searing heat that is. So we took the bus to the Palestinian desert…..which was only about 5 mins outside of Jerusalem. Its funny how close everything seems to be to Jerusalem! The desert roads were narrow and windy and overlooked valleys and gorges. It was a long way down from the road and we were lucky we didn’t meet any other buses coming in the opposite direction. It was quite unnerving.
Being out here in ‘the wilderness’ made me think of how hard travel must have been back in the day. I don’t think any of us would have enjoyed trekking across the desert on foot or by donkey back in the day. It really must have been an awful way to travel! Poor Jesus! And poor donkeys!
When we arrived at our destination in the desert we were surprised to find that, as soon as we stepped off the bus, we were bombarded with men and children selling tourist knick knacks (a polite way of saying crap). The fact that they were camped out literally in the middle of the desert didnt seem to come to bother these guys. They obviously just spent their day waiting for a bus to come by so they could sell their crap…I mean knick knacks. Obviously since they didn’t have much of a flow of customers, these salesmen were a lot more pushy than their urban counterparts. At times they were too pushy and got a bit too close for comfort. They also followed us on a 15 minute walk up a mountain/hill which annoyed us more than made us want to buy a Jesus fridge magnet.
When we reached the top of our hill (I dont think I can call it a mountain again), we were greeted with some great views of……nothing. Well, the desert. Which is nothing. But the most spectacular nothing ever!
As you can see, it wasnt all nothing. Spectacular buildings carved into the rocky mountains really were awe inspiring,
Back on the bus and we were off to Jericho. One of the most famous ancient cities of the Holy Land. The only city that I know of to be conquered by nothing more than the marching of an army and the blowing of horns. People really were push overs back in Old Testament times! I wrote my research paper about the conquest of Canaan by the original Israelite’s during my undergraduate degree so I was really looking forward to seeing Jericho. And here we are. So why didnt I take more photo’s?? Oh Mr. Bender, you crazy!
Outside of Jericho we stopped at a small village. The poverty of Palestine was really evident here. It was sad to see that the people of such a famous city have ended up living in such awful conditions. I know that there is poverty everywhere but its hard not to think that the plight of these people couldn’t be helped if the world wasn’t ignoring the problems in the Holy Land.
Near Jericho I took a picture of this car. It doesn’t look like much but what I was really taking a picture of the registration plate. It is white which means it is Palestinian. As I mentioned in the Bethlehem blog, this means that it is a Palestinian car and there fore cannot be taken past the borders of Palestine into Israel. With the borders of Israel expanding at an alarming rate you would wonder what will become of these cars. And more importantly, their owners.
After our trip to Jericho we were off further south to Qumran. Home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Along the way we saw more desert and some perfectly planted palm trees.
At this stage it would probably be good to acknowledge our wonderful bus driver. What was his name?? I forgot. How rude. Well whatever it was we salute you. Hail to the bus driver!!
So here we were at Qumran. Qumran is an archaeological site situated in the West Bank. It is the site of where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest known copies of Old Testament scripture. Discovered in the mid 20th century they are dated back to about 400BC. At Qumran we saw the scrolls themselves as well as the caves in which they were found and the excavated remains of the settlements of the Essene people.
As we looked out over the rocky terrain we could see something glimmering in the distance….the Dead Sea. It was happening….we were going SWIMMING!!!!!!
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. Its surface and shores are 427 metres (1,401 ft) below sea level. It is called the Dead Sea because no life can be sustained in it. It is also one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth. The amount of salt in the Dead Sea means that you can float in it which is quite the experience. It is a very strange sensation to be floating in the Dead Sea. Nothing like anything I have ever experienced before. The other peculiar thing about the Dead Sea that attracts visitors from far and wide is the mud. The minerals in the mud is said to rejuvenate and nourish the skin. Usually when people visit, they lather themselves in the mud and allow it to dry. Then they wash it off in the salty water. To say that you are left with skin as smooth as a babies bottom would be an understatement. It was such a strange experience.
I didn’t bring my camera to the Dead Sea as I didn’t want to look like a pervert. Not to worry, courtesy of Facebook….here you go!
A warning to anyone who is going to visit the Dead Sea….don’t taste the water to see if it really is as salty as they say. And don’t dunk your head under the water. The pain of being partially blinded by salt lasts for a lot longer than you would think and it is very hard to get out of the Dead Sea when you cannot open your eyes!!! Ouch!!!!!!
After our dip in the Dead Sea, we headed back to the bus to bring us to the hotel one last time. Following a dinner of tongue in a olive sauce….which I initially thought was just really tender beef, it was time to hit the bar for one last happy hour! Since our bus was picking us up at 4am to head back to Tel Aviv, it was deemed to be smart to stay up and drink through the night until it was time to board the bus. Sure whats the worst that could happen?? Well I suppose you could end up having to travel two and a half thousand miles home having had no sleep in the last 24 hours and with a raging hangover! ah, the joys of bad decision making!
Anyway, here ends our trip to the Holy Land. Needless to say it was the trip of a lifetime. I don’t think we could possibly have thought we were going to see as many different places and people as we did. Memories with a great bunch of people that will last a lifetime, no doubt.
Shalom!
Mr. Bender's Plog 