Saturday February 22, 2014
Me covered in mud
The Dead Sea
The Bedouin Tent
This morning we had Shabbat morning services at the hostel. It was so cool looking out during services and having the view of Masada. That was pretty amazing! After services we packed up all our stuff and headed to the lowest place on Earth, the Dead Sea! Throughout my many years of going to Hebrew and Religious school and camp, the two most popular places I heard I needed to visit when I go to Israel were the “wall that speaks” (the western wall) and the sea, where you float. So to finally be able to check both of these sights of is crazy!
As we walked off the bus the smell of salt wreaked though the air. it smelled like something was dead. (Ha Ha get it…. because it’s the Dead Sea). The first stop was to the mud pit where all of the members of EIE covered ourselves head to toe in mud! I think the most shocking thing to me was the Dead Sea spa where the mud at one time used to be right at the shore with the water, but now there is either a trolley or a 10 minute walk down to the sea to get to the mud because all the water is starting to dry up! We decided to walk to the sea and allow the mud to harden on our bodies. It was so funny how instead of a beach being covered in soft warm sand the Dead Sea has a sheet of hardened salt as its beach! I slowly walked into the sea waiting for something to burn because I feared I may have had an open wound. But I walked in sat down and began to float. Thank goodness I was lucky enough to have zero wounds - therefore no burning skin! I can now honestly say that I have floated in the Dead Sea and it was one of the coolest things I have done. I felt like I was defying gravity!
After a day at the salt beach we got on the buses to head to the Bedouin tents! The Bedouins are a group of Muslim Israelis that created a cultural experience of what it is like to be a Bedouin. Everything took place inside a very large tent in the middle of the desert. I really enjoyed dinner where we sat on pillows on the floor. The food was served to us on huge trays and a group of five shared the food family style. After dinner we all sat around the bon fire and sang songs. Not having to think about school and being able to relax, laughing and sharing smiles allowed people to break out of their shells!
Our entire EIE group slept in the giant Bedouin tent, under the stars, huddled together on the floor in our sleeping bags to sleep for the night!
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