October 18, 2013

Today was another fun day traveling around Israel. My dad, Debbie, our tour guide Ika, and I went to the South. We saw En Gedi, Masada, and swam and bathed in the Dead Sea. THe whole drive from Jerusalem to the south was beautiful; we saw really pretty views of Jordan and the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea and the desert. It was really interesting because along the drive, we basically drove on the border of Israel and Jordan. At some points, we were right next to Palestinian territories and Arab villages.

The first stop we made was at En Gedi. It is a famous waterfall. Before we got to it, I was expecting to see a big, beautiful waterfall. I was surprised because it was actually really small and pretty but not beautiful. Ika, our tour guide, told us that En Gedi was so famous because it is a completely fresh water natural waterfall in the middle of the desert and right above the salty dead sea. This made it more interesting! To get up to the waterfalls, we had to hike a little bit up a path. Once we got to the top, there was a beautiful view of the Dead Sea and the desert and the mountains of Jordan. Thinking about it now, it was amazing for there to be a fresh water waterfall in the middle of the desert. The next place we went to for the day was Masada. We all agreed that it was too hot to hike up the mountain, in the middle of the day, with the sun blaring on us, so we took the cable car up. From the top of the mountain, not that high at all, actually below sea level, we could see all the desert, the Dead Sea, and Jordan. It was such a beautiful view! The story and what is left of Masada was very interesting. I learned that there were two groups that lived up on the mountain; King Herod and the Romans. King Herod built his fortress on top of the mountain and it was cool to see the remains of it today. It was actually built very well with high technology. King Herod was a smart man I guess!

After En Gedi and Masada, the three of us went over to the Dead Sea, with Ika too. I think this was my favorite part of the day! As soon as we got there, we bought our tickets which included lunch, a towel, entry into the Dead Sea, and a free gift at the end! We had our quick lunch, put on our bathing suites, and headed out to the Dead Sea. When I got there, I was a little nervous to step into the water and float. I did not really believe that you would just float. So we all walked into the water and sure enough, we floated on top of the water. Without any effort, it was like being in no gravity, we were pulled up to the surface and basically forced to float on top of the water. It was really fun, just lying there and relaxing and laughing. Because it was sooo salty, after a few minutes, our bodies starting to sting and we had to get out (after getting pictures of course!!!!). We were told that after bathing in the water, we had to do the mud bath afterwards. Sure enough, we got ourselves covered and lathered up in the mud and got great pictures too! It was actually really cool being in the mud; it felt really good and apparently was really good for our skin! As soon as the mud started to harden, we had to rinse it off of our bodies, to get the full effect! At this point, I was so excited and ready to go back to the hotel and take a shower! Today was incredible and an amazing experience!