As I write this we’re all on the bus heading back to Shefayim from our Bedouin feast. We have about two hours (at least) ahead of us so I figure its best to not fall further behind in the blogging department.
Practice was optional this morning. The bus left at 6:30 for the course and as we left the bar last night, Jake and I ambitiously agreed that we would wake up (with four hours of sleep) and go practice.
However, as you might expect we slept right through the alarm, and woke up at 8:30 as the half marathoner who’s staying in our room came back from his run. We laughed that we actually thought we could wake up on that amount of sleep…actually only two of the open golfers + woman as well as the juniors (who had plenty of sleep) practiced today. The tournament doesn’t start until the 19th so we have plenty of practice rounds before that.
We got on the bus at noon after a quick lunch for another 10 hours of touring. First top was the Dead Sea reached via a route through the West Bank. It’s acceptably safe to pass we’re told because of checkpoints and a very tall fence recently built.
Most of the way to the dead sea, we stopped at a gas station for a pit stop. Of course, there were camel rides and a fruit market at this particular gas station so I snapped some pics with a friendly non spitting (I think) camel and paid 15 nis for a squeezed in front of you orange juice. It was good but very warm.
I felt pretty ignorant learning that the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. Why did I think it was Death Valley?? Oh well, now I know. I also learned that the Dead Sea recedes 3-4 feet each year and within the past two decades, split into two bodies. We arrived at the Dead Sea (forgot the name of the beach unfortunately) picked up a locker key and a towel and headed towards the water.
The water’s edge is a good mile walk from the main building (didn’t used to be). The water was literally 90 degrees and there’s a thick layer of salt as the sea floor and surprisingly the beach itself. So I was pretty skeptical about the whole floating on the water thing, so I was excited to see for myself.
Picture a water bottle thrown into the water. It might crack the surface of the water but immediately rise to the surface. That’s exactly what it’s like in the Dead Sea. I waded out about 50 or 100 feet, leaned back and as my rose from the bottom I was amazing that I floated like a water bottle right to the surface and needed absolutely no effort to float right on the surface. Very very cool.
After we had had enough floating we walked back up towards the main building but stopped at the mud baths first. Apparently it’s quite the exfoliator so I decided to give it a shot. There were a bunch of kiddie pool sized pools filled with mud and I hopped right in and started massaging the grey goop all up in my legs arms back and chest. This kind of activity is not exactly my cup of tea but who cares right? After a few pictures we washed the mud off and walked back to the building where we changed and grabbed cold drinks before heading back to the bus.
Back on the bus again, we drove a few minutes up to Masada. We watched a movie about the history and significance of the site and took the tram up to the top where Izzy took us around the site showing us the frigidarium, tepidarium, and calodarium and other spots on top of the mountain before we all met up on the east side of the mountain to listen to an engaging sermon by the team rabbi.
Next stop was dinner of a Bedouin (sp?) feast another ten minutes away from Masada. It really was a feast, and we pretty much filled ourselves up with appetizers of delicious bread and hummus, falafel, and all sorts of other delicious foodstuffs. At the end of dinner, there was a belly dancer show which was very enjoyable to watch.
As you’ve noticed, I’m finishing this up quickly because my eyes are getting pretty heavy. Tomorrow we actually are practicing again at Cesarea and seeing the course for the first time. Thanks for reading.
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