Thursday, Feburary 24: Masada, Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea, Camels!-- Audrey and Maddy's post

Almost at the top of Masada

Hello! This is Audrey and Maddy from room 1004 in the Jerusalem Tower Hotel. We are all cozied up in our PJ’s after an EXTREMELY long day! Ready to reflect: Waking up at 6:15 was hard… but the nap on the way to Masada, yes, Masada made up for it. We arrived, and started up the Snake Path. Some people were full of energy, (Ilan and Gideon) and were leading the group. Some people, (Naomi and I) were in the back, able to take our time, drink lots of water, and be traumatized by the beautiful  yet horrifying view.  Stopping every ten minutes, we finally made it up the mountain, and as we stood looking out, we were able to say to ourselves, “I climbed Masada.” Will that mean anything to anyone when we get back to school? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t matter.

Then off to Ein Gedi, the place where all of our water bottles come from. The logo is a kind of deer, and as we were hiking through, we noticed many of real live ones. We stopped at an oasis to take a swim in a cold yet refreshing pond.  We got out quick, psyched for the dead sea, made our way down the trail and to the famous Dead Sea.

It’s  Maddy- After Yishai gave us all the safety tips- don’t stick your head under the water, don’t splash water, don’t go to the bathroom in the water and so on-. We quickly got into our bathing suits and headed down to the water, all of us very surprised when all you had to do was lie back and FLOAT! None of us believed it was true until we realized it for ourselves. 



After relaxing and floating we wandered over to the mud area.  Covering ourselves with mud from head to toe. Then we went to a place where rode camels down a hill to dinner, which was thrilling!

It’s Auds- Overall, today was absolutely wonderful. I will be so sad to leave. Lots of love and see you soon.

Auds and MaddyJ