The MOST salt

Today Jiries and I went to the Dead Sea!!! First we went to the sea for an hour or so (it was 120 degrees!) then we climbed up En Gedi Nature Reserve right down the road. We saw tons of illegal settlements all the way from Jerusalem to Jericho on top of many hills in the entire way there, it was depressing. The road we traveled on was a new Israeli bypass that runs right through Palestinian land; on one side it is all Arab buildings and the other is filled with settlement homes. More houses go up every day and Israel is currently building a railway to facilitate transportation between the settlements. The constant expansion is connecting the settlements to one another, essentially creating a wall that is rapidly closing in on the West Bank.


Settlements on top of the hills



We also saw lots of Bedouin homes, which will soon be wiped out and the people forced to relocate once the Israeli settlements creep down the hills


The Dead Sea is the lowest point in the world, there were signs along the way leading up to it.



Camel stop at the sea level point, he almost squished my brains when he did that

The following is some information about the Dead Sea (again, taken from a tourist agency website online which can provide more facts than I can):

"Deep in the Jordan Valley and 55 km southeast of Amman, is the Dead Sea, one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes in the whole world. It is the lowest body of water on earth, the lowest point on earth, and the world's richest source of natural salts, hiding wonderful treasures that accumulated throughout thousands of years...
En route a stone marker indicates "Sea Level", but the Dead Sea itself is not reached before descending another 400 meters below this sign. As its name evokes, the Dead Sea is devoid of life due to an extremely high content of salts and minerals which gives its waters the renowned curative powers, therapeutic qualities, and its buoyancy, recognized since the days of Herod the Great, more than 2000 years ago.

And because the salt content is four times that of most world's oceans, you can float in the Dead Sea without even trying, which makes swimming here a truly unique experience not to be missed: here is the only place in the world where you can recline on the water to read a newspaper.

Scientifically speaking, its water contains more than 35 different types of minerals that are essential for the health and care of the body skin including Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Bromine, Sulfur, and Iodine. They are well known for relieving pains and sufferings caused by arthritis, rheumatism, psoriasis, eczema, headache and foot-ache, while nourishing and softening the skin. They also provide the raw materials for the renowned Jordanian Dead Sea bath salts and cosmetic products marketed worldwide."

The water made it really difficult to brush my hair after, Jiries thought this was funny enough to take a picture of. The water was beautiful and the perfect temperature- but pretty painful as well. The salt gets in every single cut and stings to no avail. For this reason you can't stick your face in because the salt is very painful if it gets in your eyes. It also tastes terrible if you accidently get some on your lips. The bouyancey made it easy for me to avoid, but not so much Jiries since he had just shaved his face this morning and he said his neck was on fire in the water.
The beach:







Next, we went to the En Gedi Nature Reserve, it was incredible. We had lunch right outside if the entrance and there were prarie dogs running around. The nature reserve is tucked away in the mountains of the Jordan Valley right next to the Dead Sea. It is a sweet place where tourists can climb up rocks and stop every few hundred feet to swim in small pools beneath waterfalls. The oldest stuff unearthed there is from approximately 5,000 years ago. It is supposedly the place where King David hung out when he was wandering around in the desert after fleeing from King Saul, although the En Gedi brochure also says that there is no archeologocial evidence to back that up. However, there is archeological evidence (according to this pamphlet) that a Jewish settlement existed there for over a thousand years dating back to the 7th century BCE.

Here are some pictures, and many thanks to Jiries for being pretty much my personal photographer so that Madre and Padre back home can print out some Alli postcards and stick 'em on the fridge.




Marlboro maaan! Jiries likes to tell me all the time that the Marlboro man died of cancer, not because of cigarettes, but because his wife complained too much and it killed him.














In the background of several pictures is the Dead Sea, with the mountains of Jordan on the other side. After En Gedi we returned to the Dead Sea to swim (er, float) for a while longer before heading home. I jammed the trunk of The Tank so I had to ride home in a makeshift outfit so I wouldn't have to sit through a 2 hour car ride in a wet bathing suit. It was a really fun day and hopefully we will go again soon!