Bethlehem, Beit Sahour, En Gedi, Masada and the Dead Sea

From Israel, Dead Sea Floating

PICTURES COMING SOON- WELL ALL 9 OF THEM ANYWAY.

Craig and I contacted the Alternative Travel Group (ATG) as suggested by some friends, and made arrangements to stay with a Palestinian family in Beit Sahour while we visited in and around Bethlehem. Again, we have reveled in God’s goodness to us through His provision of people wanting and willing to love on two young travelers. The highlight: Feeling like I was back home with my family; drinking coffee, laughing, drinking coffee, talking, drinking coffee, staying up late and drinking coffee. Needless to stay Craig was a little stretched and stayed up as late as 1am, maybe.
Samie and her family; 2 men, their wives, and 2 children each, all live nearly under the same roof, but more importantly they live as ONE family, it’s beautiful to watch. I ended up hanging out with the kids the last night as they hosted some German guests. I sat with 4 children, all under the age of 10’ish, and we spoke Spanish, English, Arabic, German, and French. We giggled as we attempted to learn from a French school book and learn certain words in all languages present; children are so great at breaking down cultural walls, no matter the size of these walls. I also fell in love with the newest member of their family, who is the same age as my little nephews Luke and Jack, she was a beautiful and joyful little girl with one dimple on the right cheek and the biggest, most beautiful honey colored eyes you ever saw. Don’t get all excited Mom and Mamacita, no news to write home about, I’ve always loved children.
It was a great couple of days visiting our new Palestinian friends. We ate some amazing food, cooked by Samie and the girls, and had delicious teas, coffees and conversation. We learned a lot of things regarding the political situation in Palestine and still know nothing about it-one of those incredibly complicated and sensitive issues that we will just have to understand by knowing that we can’t understand it.
We left Bethlehem this morning after a yummy pita and humus breakfast. After saying good-bye to Samie we caught a cab to the bus stop, then a bus back to Jerusalem. On our way out of the Palestinian Territory everyone on the bus had to exit the bus and show the machine gun bearing soldiers their passports and other forms of identification. After a five to ten minute stop we continued to Jerusalem to catch an Israeli bus to En Gedi, near the Dead Sea. After checking into the hostel, we walked to the sea for a float. It was a weird and fun sensation to effortlessly be floating in water. I am sure you’ve all seen pictures of people floating in the Dead Sea, I remember seeing one as a kid, but being in the sea and walking into the water, immediately feeling the buoyancy of your feet is so strange. You eventually get to a certain point, perhaps a bit past your belly, and your legs are pulled from under you and you are forced to float, no effort at all, you can’t put your feet on the sea floor because it’s just too difficult. This of course makes you let out loud, uncontrolled laughter and everyone else, who is already used to the new sensation stares as if they weren’t just in your shoes. Unfortunately, the camera is broken, this time it seems permanent, but a guy was nice enough to take the SD card and take some photos of us from his camera.
Tomorrow, we plan to catch a bus for a twenty minute ride south to Masada where we will visit the site of the fortress where the Zealot’s made their last stand against the Romans. The desert area is beautiful! The following day we hope to explore Wadi David before heading further south to Eilat, where we will attempt to acquire Egyptian visas, again, hopefully this time we won’t have anything incredible to blog about.
Friday, December 4th
Today we hiked to the top of Masada, a fortress that was one of the ancient wonders of the world. “Perched atop a plateau in the Judea Wilderness with a spectacular view of the Dead Sea nearly 2,000 feet below, it was a luxurious fortress-palace combining all the essential elements of a King Herod project. A three-tiered palace hung precariously from one end of the plateau, almost defying gravity. The western portion contained hot and cold baths, mosaic floors, and plastered walls. Masada also boasted swimming pools, barracks for soldiers, huge storehouses with supplies for outlasting years of siege, and cisterns holding millions of gallons of water”-Ray Vander Laan. “During the Jewish First Revolt against the Romans in AD 66, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Zealots fled here to its high fortress, which became the last outpost of Jewish Resistance. Faced with imminent attack, 10 Jewish men were elected to slay the rest of their group. When the Romans stormed the fortress, they discovered 960 bodies; only seven people, who’d hidden in a water cistern, survived to relay the tale to the world” –Lonely Planet. The history of Masada is quite fascinating. Unfortunately the camera is still broken. We now carry our SD card around and ask people to put it in their camera and take a photo of us. The hike up the Snake path was great and we hiked to the top before the herd of people taking the cable cars got there, so we enjoyed the views and eavesdropped on some of the English tours before heading back down to watch a quick film about Masada and returning to out hostel, not by bus because we missed it by a minute or two, but by yet another successful hitchhike from two nice German guys-hooray for kind people unafraid to pick up two sorry looking people.