That Time We Swam in the Dead Sea

Some woke up with the sun, but I tried to sleep in as late as I could. Sleeping on a hard surface next to someone who snores does not make rest easy, so I didn't quite get enough sleep. But that's perfectly okay.

(Note that everyone is up except Leemor.)

Breakfast was plums and hummus and pita and tea and whatever else was around. We quickly ate, then packed up everything into the 4 vehicles and headed off for a day of offroading in the desert. Humberto, Kim, and I rotated who was driving, but Alice doesn't have a license, so she decided to pass. We were on the offroad beginning at a little after 7am, with Kim at the wheel.

The route that we intended to take initially was blocked off for military testing. This sign was pretty common in the Negev.

We dealt with the problem by playing soccer while Amir found a new route.

Back on the "road" we traveled through one of the river beds toward a lonely Negev tree. This part of the trail was particularly challenging, because the surface was nothing more than loose stone.

Eventually, we came across one of the loneliest trees in the world, an acacia tree in the middle of the Negev. Amir explained that back in the biblical days, one of the standard meeting places was a tree. This is because trees were not only rare in the desert, but also because trees provided shade. (The difference in temperature between sun and shadow can be up to 20 degrees!)

I climbed the tree of course, then we returned to the car. Once again, we passed a "scary" sign regarding landmines.

During the various wars, particularly between 1948 and 1967, Israel placed landmines in the Negev to deter both military and non-military peoples from entering. They have never been removed, but there isn't exactly much pedestrian traffic through the desert.

I collapsed in the desert due to extreme dehydration. (Kidding, of course)

And grabbed a lovely shot of Leemor.

Easy Mike as a sunglasses pirate.

On the way to our next destination, we encountered some hot chicks with guns guarding a lookout near th Egyptian border, several large cisterns, and another Makhtesh.

And finally, the Dead Sea! The Dead Sea is a salt lake and is also the lowest point on Earth, at 330m below sea level. The Dead Sea is actually the second saltiest lake, loosing out to Lake Asal in Djibouti, but is still plenty salty. In fact, it's almost 9 times saltier than the ocean. Some people believe that the salts and mud of the Dead Sea have special healing powers, but our wounds from climbing near our camp site merely burned and burned. (But after we rinsed off, they actually DID feel much better!)

The sea is so salty that you have to float. In fact, you can't stand up even if you try!

And, instead of sand at the bottom of the ocean, there is salt. Seriously. Instead of a sand castle, you could build a salt castle, if only the salt would stick together.

On the way back to Tel Aviv, we stopped by a Bedouin restaurant. Outside, there was some interesting pottery, like a pair of shoes.

Inside, we sat on cushions on the floor, and enjoyed the usual meal of hummus and laffa and vegetables and olives. I snapped a picture of the group sitting behind us, and then promptly fell asleep.

We drove back to Tel Aviv, and I slept part of the way and drove part of the way. In the city, we waited with Amir to get into a parking lot, and the sun began to set.

At the end of the journey, I took a picture of the trip-o-meter. We traveled 673.5 kilometers from the time we picked up the cars to the time we returned them, plus, with 58 km between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, that's an additional 116 km. Which comes to a grand total of 789.5km, or 491 miles for those on the English system.

Next post: That Time the Kids Stole My Camera for a Scavenger Hunt.