Catching Up

 We have left the beautiful and lush North for the wild, desolate South. But I shall get to that in a minute. On Sunday we had quite the amazing Israeli breakfast like the one shown in the previous blogpost, and afterwards drove to the south end of the Galilee to hang out with Mr. Joe and his kids. Hamat Gader was our destination, a mixed zoo/alligator farm and hot springs. On our drive there we were very close to the Jordanian border. Abba got really confused because we were going south and the border was on the wrong side of the road, but we figured out that it was correct. I'd say we were within ten feet from the fence at points.

Alligators

A friend :)

 Anyways, it was a fun day. The water was very hot and reminded me of a giant hot tub. I think I prefer cold water to hot, but it is nice to relax every once in a while. My head felt like it was going to explode when I was swimming underwater though, but of course I had to swim as far as I could, no matter the temperature. :) Afterwards we threw around a plastic football and headed for some Falafel. By that time it was pouring rain, something Israel really hasn't had enough of this past winter. We had to say goodbye to our friends there, and headed up to Sarona for a one night stay at a guesthouse.

 The place was no doubt highly rated because of the guy who gave us a bottle of wine and cookies, and plus the breakfast was decent the next morning. Also, they had a ping-pong table, on which Henny, Sarah, and I tried to teach ourselves, and on which Saba and Abba played a few fast paced games. Then Abba and Saba helped to teach me how to hold the paddle and such, which was fun. :)

After the ping-pong, we all hopped in the car and started to drive to Tel Aviv to pick up Aunt Coco. We didn't need to pick her up until after four, and so took our time in getting there. One of the stops we made was Megiddo, also known as Armageddon. The archeology there was super cool, with some very old parts dating to the biblical Israelites. There was this super cool tunnel that we walked through, which was used to get water. It was very impressive, I must say, especially to have been made during the time of Ahab (I think). Another stop was Beit Shearim, Jewish catacombs with many sarcophagi within them. The sarcophagi were massive and made of huge blocks of stone, and every one that I saw had been broken into. The bones were long gone. The tombs are from the 2nd century to the 4th century CE.

At Megiddo

Down to the tunnel

A carved Menorah in the tombs

 

It was a long drive to Tel Aviv and we had to wait a while once we got to the airport, but I spent the time in Narnia, thanks to a movie. ;) Finally Auntie Coco was off the plane and we were able to continue our driving. It was getting dark by that point, and after a stop at a rest stop for some falafel, Abba drove us all the way to Masada, near the Dead Sea. There was much conversation in the car, considering Auntie Coco had joined us and we don't see her that often. It was fun taking the sharp turns in the dark as we headed down to the lowest spot on earth.

 

 When we pulled up to the youth hostile, we were greeted by what seemed like a thousand kids (aged middle school to high school). Many were dancing wildly to loud music, which looked rather fun to me, besides the fact that I didn't speak their language and they seemed crazy. They were all very, very loud. It didn't get quiet until midnight, but thankfully I fell asleep well before then. Abba didn't though.

 

 We were up early the next morning, 4:30 to be exact. Everyone got dressed and grabbed some water and headlights: we were going to climb Masada. We started up the Snake Path at five, and I'd say the sun rose at about six or so, give or take thirty minutes. (I'm not the best at estimating time). There was 800 stairs to go up on our climb, and that certainly wasn't easy, especially considering we (I speak mainly for myself, but I'm sure at least half, if not all, of the others wouldn't disagree) haven't been keeping in the best shape over the winter. We went at a pretty slow pace, but Auntie Coco and Henny had to keep a slower pace and so they arrived at the top a while after us. Abba went down to walk with them. I'm certainly impressed that Auntie Coco and Saba made the climb!

 The sunrise at the top was beautiful; though it had been light for a long time before we saw the sun appear above the jagged cliffs of Jordan. Then we explored Masada until eight, reading about the massive fortress and palace Herod had built, and about the many hundreds of Zealots that committed suicide before the Romans had built a ramp and had burned the gate. At 8 o'clock, everyone but Abba and I took the cable car down. Him and I hiked back down and saved some shekels.

 

 Then we went to Ein Gedi and did the little hike up to the waterfalls. We were evading masses of kids that had come from the hostile. At David's waterfall you weren't allowed to swim in the pool, which was very sad to us, especially to Abba, who had been looking forward to that. To try to make up for it, him and I hiked back down the stream, getting our feet wet and rock hopping. :) That was fun, but it certainly is a small stream and very simple to go down. 

 

Smaller Waterfall

After some ice cream we headed over to a Dead Sea beach I cannot remember the name of. The water was so crazy! Water isn't suppose to act like that in my book! So strange, being able to float without a problem. It was impossible to sink. All the cuts on my body sure stung, but poor Sarah, she had some fresh ones from our hike. I'm sure it helped heal them, though.

 

 Back at the hostel we had dinner and then headed up to bed, thankfully there were less kids and they weren't half as loud as the night before. So that was yesterday! Now I can say I've climbed Masada and floated in the Dead Sea. :) Yay!

View from Hostel

Back at Arbel. Ella and Henny trying a sip of this lemon/hard alcohol/sugar stuff. The amount in the glass was the original amount given. The faces certainly describe our what our reactions were. ;)

God Bless and Shalom,

Ella