The Desert

Hey Readers, Ben Werner reporting for blog entry duty. So I know I cannot compete with Matt for humor so I'll just be doing a factual report. We woke up this morning at around 6:15, hurriedly packed our bags, ate some breakfast, and boarded our bus leaving Shalom Hotel behind us for the last time. Our first stop was at the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve, the area where soon to be King David spared King Saul's despite the fact that the latter was hunting David. In my opinion this was the most beautiful places in Israel I have seen on the trip so far, the stream bubbled over the rocks creating a wonderful accompaniment to the tall rock walls on either side of us. We came upon a small pool at the base of a waterfall where many of us jumped into the cool water for a very refreshing dip. After spending about a half hour around the pool enjoying the sun, water, and natural noises. We continued onward and when the path rose higher we saw outward through the valley to the Dead Sea. Back towards the entrance of the park we saw a herd Ibex which are, for the most part, unafraid of humans. Back on the bus, we continued to our next stop, a Bedouin village at which we rode camels and learned about their culture, customs, and wonderful cooking. Before we arrived, we were forced to stop the bus by a huge herd of Bedouin goats crossing the road. Anyway, after arriving at the village we jumped aboard camel trains and walked across the rocky sand desert. One of the camels made the greatest moans at the beginning as if it was complaining to have to walk around the camp. So after getting off the camels, which is really weird, the camel drops to its front knees first and then its back before settling down which is disconcerting. You lead forward at a great angle which is quite unexpected. We went into one of the tents where we listened to a Bedouin describe their lives. We were then served a very delicious and huge lunch, I am proud to say that I was part of the group of four to completely devour our entire platter. After rolling back onto the bus we continued onto our hotel where some of us got our first feel for the Dead Sea water in a pool while other napped. Later that night we all enjoyed our one last discussion about our wonderful week and a half in Israel. Tomorrow we are waking up to climb Massada at something like 4:15 AM and its about 10 here so... this is Ben Werner, Over and Out.

Ben Werner