The Dead Sea

For our last day in Israel we opted for the Dead Sea Relaxation Tour, meaning no more historical excavated sites, no more ancient structures and no more history of words!  At least that's what they want you to think.

On the way there we took Highway One and a tunnel that goes under Mount Scopus. This time we all knew the origin of the word scopus...no need to tell us it was a lookout. It separates the city of Jerusalem from the Judean Desert.  As we passed Jerusalem I missed the shot I was hoping for on this trip, when we passed a shepard walking his flock. He appeared older and was walking sluggishly, dressed in what looked like strips of cloth.  However, we were driving at highway speed. I saw him quickly on a hill near the right side of the bus, we turned a corner and he was gone. I only saw one other shepard after that and he looked like a young teenage kid, in his suburban high school hoodie, probably out to make a quick buck, walking his uncle's stupid flock.

We eventually drove though the Judean Desert and passed the alleged Inn of the Good Samaritan. Unfortunately for the past 10 years or so, the good samaritan has probably been helping build a 20 ft separation barrier wall to keep strangers out!


We were on a constant descent all the way there.  I couldn't get Clapton's song "Going Down Slow" out of my head that day or since, when I think of that day.
Lord, I'm going down. Down, down, down, down, down.

And down we went. The Dead Sea being 1400ft below sea level.




It was much greener on the way than we expected.  The area seemed to be well managed in producing crops and trees.






We drove along the north-west shore of the Dead Sea, near Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947.  We could see many caves cut into the rock, set high in the cliffs.

Our tour that day was really just a bus ride to the Dead Sea and then to be on our own at the spa. And because of that, our guide that day couldn't be as personal but didn't really seem to try to be either.  He was more of a director, who was trying not to lose any of us, which was appreciated.  He had a little bit of a pronunciation problem and warned us many times about sink holes or "sing holes".  Apparently it was a big problem there and there's been many roadways taken out there because of them.  We had a detour ourselves because of a sing hole.  He talked about it quite a bit and the more he did, the more genuinely concerned I was about our bus entering a sing hole. He also warned us about hiking or "iking" anywhere in the area.  Again, he explained that there was a chance if you went iking, that you could get swallowed up by a sing hole.  Scary stuff.



But we had the whole day at the Ein Gedi Sea Of Spa to be rubbed down and mudded up.

The pool looked inviting but it's kinda strange to go all the way to the Dead Sea and sit in a pool nearby.

I had a massage with Annette. It was really fantastic. Probably the best massage I've ever had but I haven't had many.  I told Randi I wanted to ask the lady if we were doing that more for me or for her!  She was really into it :)

They had a tractor pulling a few open trolley cars down to the water from the pool & spa area.








Randi and I went for a float together.  It definitely was odd.  Not only did I float but it appears the salt water made me look bloated.

The Mud People

I followed some folks who were goin out to a little stream area to get all mudded up.  It was really enjoyable for some reason to share this kind of primal experience with strangers.  I met one guy there and the two of us couldn't stop chuckling as we were on our hands and knees digging dug deep for fresh mud...the good stuff!

On the way back, as we weaved our way through sing hole traps, we were treated to a nice sunset.



We were on the road to Jericho. Maybe not the first century road that the Romans are said to have built between Jerusalem and Jericho but we stopped at a roadside automart type place, right outside Jericho.  In Jesus' time the Jericho-Jerusalem road was a notoriously dangerous passage.  I have a feeling this is a traditional thing and we may not have known how dangerous it still is.  But we may have had the best falafel we had while we were in Israel from that little fuel stop, at the crossroads within sight of Jericho.




We made it back to the Tel Aviv airport in plenty of time for our 11:30pm flight back to the States, mostly because of the incredible VIP service PTC had us hooked up with. We were escorted through customs like we were rock stars.  The customs experience in New York was a much different, much longer experience. The lines were painfully long but we all made our declarations of independence and made promises to ourselves not to take for granted our freedom in America, the land we love and a place we call home.

BTW...the word "home" originates from the Greek word "kome".  In ancient times they were thought to have said "kome sweet kome"
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