For most of my stay in Israel I remained in the central region of the country, between Haifa and Tel-Aviv, because this is where my kibbutz was located, this is where my friends live, and this is the most densley populated part of the country. For the first three months of my stay I didn't venture into the southern area at all. This is because I knew that I would get to go for free on a trip with the kibbutz. Every three months Kibbutz Dalia organizes a 3-day trip for the volunteers, and this time it headed down south. We departed early on a Thursday morning, armed with a couple hundred litres of water and plenty of sunscreen...I had heard many stories about the heat down south. First our bus drove across the Galilee region and then took a turn south and drove along the Jordan river. We were in the Jordan Valley, which is Israel's main settlement area in the Westbank, because of it's proximity to the border with Jordan. Israel vows to never give up this area because of it's strategic importance. We stopped for a few minutes at a little resting stop, and most of the customers there were soldiers or Orthodox Jews. I asked one Orthodox Jew if we were in the Westbank, and he glared at me and said "You are in Samaria" (right-wing Israelis call the Westbank by the biblical names "Judea" and "Samaria"). Soon we were on our way again, and after about another hour we could see the Dead Sea from the bus. The terrain had become extremely barren, and you could SEE the heat from inside our air-conditioned bus. Our first stop was Ein Gedi nature reserve, right across the highway from the Dead Sea. We got out of the bus, at 9 am, and it was already over 40 degrees celsius, and as strange as it sounds, it was really really humid. If you took one step you would sweat. We hiked from the entrance of Ein Gedi to David's Waterfall, about a 15 minute hike (that's plenty in this weather). Ein Gedi is a nice little place, with some green plants and trees to counter the desolate surroundings, and just when you're ready to turn around, this waterfall with green surroundings appears out of nowhere. The moment we saw this, there was a mass removal of clothing and everybody ran for the water. I knew that the weather would dry my clothes so I left them on and ran into the waterfall. I had never been so thankful for water. There is a shallow pool of water around the waterfall, and there is one spot where the rocks serve as a perfect reclining chair, and you can lay back and let the water rush over your enitre body. A nice way to cool off. The thing that makes Ein Gedi stunning is that it exists in the middle of a virtual wasteland. I don't know why it doesn't evaporate. If you view Ein Gedi on it's own, it's really not that amazing. The vegetation is pretty sparse, and I didn't see any animals. I'm from Canada, and we have a zillion parks and nature reserves that whip Ein Gedi's butt, but in the middle of the desert it's impressive.
After Ein Gedi, we drove down the Dead Sea to one of it's beaches. Now it was around noon and the official temperature reading was: BLOODY HOT!!! First we walked over to the change rooms, and the attendants told us that there's a 5 shekel fee to get changed. I would never pay this, I would rather skinny dip and get arrested, but the kibbutz was paying the bill. After we were all changed, we found a spot in the shade to leave our belongings, so I took off my shoes and started to walk along the beach. Big mistake. My feet were cooked for the next 2 days. Wear your shoes until you're just getting into the water, or leave them on if their cheap. So my feet were roasting, and out of instinct I ran for the water. This did not help. Keep in mind that there is nothing refreshing about the Dead Sea, the water is almost as hot as the air around it. When you enter the water, it feels slippery like oil. I walked farther out until I couldn't touch the bottom, but I wasn't sinking. I just floated. I had heard about this floating thing a million times, but I always thought they were exaggerating. Nope, you float. I started bobbing up and down, trying to get up enough momentum to touch the bottom, but I couldn't do it. What I did do was splash some of the water in my eyes. This is really painful, and you can't do anything about it. If you rub your eyes with your hands, you get even more salt in your eyes. Luckily some Israeli guy had a bottle of fresh water and washed out my eyes with it. It's a good idea to bring a bottle in with you. The salt content is incredible. If you have any cuts on your body when you enter, they will hurt, and all of your body crevices will hurt. Don't worry, it's not serious pain, just some buzzing soreness. It's worth it for the experience of defying gravity. I looked across to the other side of the sea and I thought about how cool it would be to float across to Jordan, get out and travel around the country, and then float back to Israel. But the salt content would probably kill you if you stayed in for that long.
We had to take one of the volunteers to the hospital in the town of Arad for heat stroke, so we got to see a little bit of this city. It's ugly and empty and looked very boring. The only thing that looked interesting to me were the people, because they seemed to mostly be oriental Jews, from places like Iraq or Yemen. But the city itself is ugly and feels really isolated. After this we drove inland to spend the evening in a "Bedouin camp". The reason for the quotation marks is that this was a phony Bedouin camp made specifically for tourists. An authentic camp doesn't sell postcards that say "BEDOUIN ADVENTURE" or cokes for $2.50 American. They try to give the illusion of nomadism by making YOU sleep under a tent while they sleep in a house with full utilities and furnishings. The dead giveaway was the large washroom with those sinks that activate when you clap your hands. In the evening we all gathered in the biggest tent and one of the bedouins gave a speech about Bedouin history and culture, which was somewhat informative, and then we took part in a special tea ceremony. I just remember that one guy crushed some tea with a special rhythmic pattern, and we got to drink it. It was very strong, just the way I like it. This gathering was interesting, so the BEDOUIN ADVENTURE wasn't a complete waste. The landscape near the camp was also very beautiful, with swirling mountains, strange rocks with several layers of colors, etc.
This camp was not exactly authentic, but as long as you realize that it's a RE-CREATION of a Bedouin camp then you would probably enjoy it.
The next morning we woke up at 4 am to climb Masada and watch the sun rise. Masada is the mountain fortress which was the last Jewish position to fall to Rome in 73 AD. We started climbing at around 5 am, and it was still pitch black out. We took the lazy path (about a third of the lenth), and at 5 am that was just fine with me. It took about 15 minutes to climb, and then we sat down to watch the sun rise over the Dead Sea. From the top of Masada the desert rock formations down on the ground look incredible. I was sitting on the roof of one of the restored buildings (I was told it's allowed) when I saw the sun start to peak out from behind the mountains of Jordan. This is a amazing view! Pictures don't do it justice, it's really something to see the natural wonders in front of you being slowly revealed. I was impressed. We spent a couple more hours on Masada, and then walked down the Snakepath (the long one). It's increidibly hard to climb down, so I don't know what it's like to climb UP. It took about 30 minutes to climb down, and when I got to the bottom I ran towards the nearest washroom, which I quickly realized didn't exist. Masada has no toilet! How stupid. I asked the guy who sells GLASSES OF ORANGE JUICE FOR 10 SHEKELS if I could use his washroom, but he said only if I buy something. I finally found one down the street in some little building not associated with Masada (so I was told). I had to direct about 20 people to this single stall, unisex washroom. Shortly after this we hopped back on the bus and headed down towards Eilat.
On the way from Masada to Eilat we saw rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Don't get me wrong, the rock formations in the Negev desert are gorgeous, but when you're simply driving by they get boring. I was so used to the coastal plain of Israel, which is sort of like one big mega-town strectching from Tel-Aviv to Haifa, so it was strange to drive for 3 hours without seeing a single person outside. It's definately a harsh environment. We stopped to hike at a place about 20 minutes from Eilat called the Red Canyon. This place is really cool. You hike through all these narrow passageways with these monstrous rock formations hanging above your head, and the rock actually has a red hue to it. It's a good place to hike, because you don't just walk, you actually have to climb a little bit. We hiked here for about an hour or so, and then headed for Eilat.
We arrived in Eilat at around 3 pm, and I was shocked at how small of a town it is. I think most of the people you see on the street there are from out of town, because I didn't see many houses at all. Eilat is not a gorgeous city (it's not ugly either), but it has a party atmosphere which is what it's known for. It's easy to relax and have fun in this place. The beaches are really nice too, with a great view of the Red Sea and Jordan. After we checked into the hostel I headed straight to the beach with some other people, and went for a nice swim. The heat in Eilat is very strange, because it gets to around 45 degrees celsius but it's so dry that your sweat evaporates. So you feel sticky like your sweating, but you're totally dry. It's a droning, monotonous heat. The water is a good relief.
Eilat is a modern city. The name "Eilat" is mentioned in the bible as part of Solomon's kingdom, but the original Eilat was across the bay...and is now called Aqaba, Jordan. This seems so strange to me. It's like Israel is trying to recreate their biblical kingdom, and they'll ignore little details (like a city's location) in order to make that recreation seem more real. Just like modern Be'er Sheva is several kilometres from the ruins of ancient Be'er Sheva. Be'er Sheva sucks, by the way. Don't waste any time there. Anyways, the next day all the volunteers went for a 4 hour boat ride on the Red Sea. This was great. We could just relax on the boat and look at the surroundings, or we could swim or snorkel. The snorkelling in the Red Sea is AMAZING! Strange florescent fish, fish that change size when they see you, fish that change colors, fish with big scary spikes on them...beautiful. Just watch out for little black plants with long black spikes, because I got 3 stingers stuck in my foot (and 3 more when I was in Egypt). If you go to Eilat you HAVE TO snorkel. I'm not recomending it, I'm commanding it.
Later that afternoon we left Eilat for the kibbutz, but we had one more stop on the way. It was the Ramon Crater, the biggest crater on earth. It looked like a canyon to me, I don't know what the difference is. It just drops straight down, and it's huge. I couldn't see the other end of it. You see all these strange swirls of colors at the bottom, it's just beautiful. I liked the crater, but I couldn't help but feel bad for the people of the town Mitzpe Ramon for being in such a tiny place in the middle of nowhere, and in such harsh conditions. There's a lot of controversy in Israel because oriental Jews claim that when they immigrated they were forced to live in these kind of isolated "development" towns while the European Jews got to live in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. The ethnic makeup of the cities definately supports their claims. But I'll let Israelis tackle this argument while I go to sleep. Good Night!
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