On Wednesday morning, I woke up at 5AM to do early morning yoga with Aylee, one of the girls on the trip. Doing sun salutations in the middle of the desert before the sun was even up was definitely a new experience. Why so early? Oh, you know, so we could be ready to ride camels at 6AM. Like you do. I rode a camel! There are pictures! It felt higher up than I expected, and it was very bouncy. Especially since my camel had a discipline problem and didn't want to walk in a straight line behind the other camels, so it kept drifting toward the rockier edges of the trail. Lots of fun though!
After camel riding, we had breakfast with the Bedouins and got on the road (still without showering!). Our next stop was Masada, a huge mountain fortress in the desert where King Herod had a really fancy palace. There's also a crazy story about Jewish rebels fighting the Romans, who retreated from Jerusalem to Masada. When the Romans came to set up a siege, the rebels killed themselves rather than become slaves to the Romans. There were lots of cool archaeological remains at this site, including small stones with the names of the rebels that they used to draw lots to figure out who would kill whom. We were supposed to hike up Masada, but when we got there a little before 9AM, it was already so hot that we weren't allowed to hike up and had to take the cablecar up instead. I was disappointed, it looked like a good hike! But we did plenty of walking around on the mountaintop, and it was HOT.
The other thing we did on Masada was to have "Bar/Bat Mitzvot." This was a weird thing. There was a young rabbi named Rabbi Gilly who showed up a couple of times on the trip. He reminded me and Al of a used car salesman, just a touch of the smarmy. His thing was that many of the people on our trip never had a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and that as 13 year olds, we probably didn't fully get the significance of it anyway, so we should have another chance as adults. I feel like religion meant way more to me when I was 13 than it does now, but I went along with it anyway because I wanted to get the most value out of this free trip! He called it a "Bat Mitzvah," but really it didn't feel much like one. Each of us spoke for a bit about what this trip had taught us about our Jewish identity. Then Rabbi Gilly talked with us about the meaning of our Hebrew name and gave us a blessing based on that. Then we sang songs and they threw candy at us, and then we were done. Quickest Bat Mitzvah ever!
After lunch, we went to Ein Gedi, a really awesome oasis in the middle of the desert wih springs and a waterfall. To get there, we climbed up a bunch of stairs that were completely exposed to the sun. At this point, it was really hot, and after all the walking around on Masada, it was awful. However, just as we were about to give up, we reached the waterfall, with a deliciously refreshing pool at the bottom just big enough for all of us. Swimming has never felt so wonderful!
I could have stayed at Ein Gedi all day, but our next stop was the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth (about 1300 miles below sea level!). I had always heard that the Dead Sea was so full of salt and minerals that you floated without trying, but actually experiencing it was really crazy! We rubbed mud all over our bodies, then floated in the sea and let it wash off. The mud and minerals were supposed to make your skin softer, but I didn't feel any difference. It was an experience I will remember, unlike anything I've done before.
After the Dead Sea, we drove an hour and a half back to the hotel in Jerusalem, where we were able to shower, many of us for the first time since Tuesday morning! It felt so good to get off the dirt from the beach, hiking, camel riding, sleeping in a tent, and swimming in the Dead Sea. After dinner, we had a seminar with an update on the political situation in the Middle East. I had been dreading this, but it was actually pretty cool! This guy Neil Lazarus is a British comedian/political analyst/really good public speaker, and his views on politics in the Middle East were surprisingly fair and liberal (and often hilarious!).
It was our last night, so people wanted to have a last hurrah party, but we were exhausted, so most of us just ended up going to bed. What a crazy two days!
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