Rewind: Week 1 Part 2

Thursday, September 16th

Today was our first Tiyul (trip) with the Tel Aviv group.  We woke up early to head southeast to Ein Gedi for a hike and visit to the Dead Sea (the lowest place on earth).  We were told the hike would be pretty easy.  I guess in retrospect it was pretty easy compared to other hikes I've been on, but being that this was the first hike I had gone on since July 2009, it was pretty difficult for me.  I kept wishing my dear friends Shira and Tehila were there to keep me company and cheer me on.  (Shira and Tehila are the lovely Israeli girls who were doing their National Service by working with Livnot U'Lehibanot, the organization that sponsored my Israel trip last summer.  They both made hiking look so easy and it seemed like they could hike with their eyes closed if they had to.)  Luckily during this hike, there were only a few steep uphill spots and plenty of other level sections for me to catch my breath.  Also, it was an extremely hot day so that made things much harder.  I only brought 1 bottle of water with me (left the other bottle on the bus), thinking I'd want my 2nd bottle later.  I learned my lesson; rationing out my water was not fun.

Ein Gedi Hike 

I kept up my motivation by reminding myself that we were heading to a beautiful waterfall.  We made it to the waterfall and had some time to relax and cool off in the water.  

Waterfall in the middle of the hike

The return hike was not so bad, just hot.  I was grateful for the water fountain at the end of the trail.  Afterwards, we drove to the Dead Sea where we were given lunch.  I ate lunch with my friend Ruth and then went down to the water.  This was very exciting for me.  Although this is my 4th time in Israel, I have only been to the Dead Sea once and that was over 10 years ago.  During that visit, I did not fully immerse myself in the water because I had a skin irritation on my legs.  My counselor at the time, Lisa, advised me to stay out of the water because the saltwater would really burn.  I remember standing in the water up to my knees, accidentally getting splashed, and screaming because only a few drops burned so much.  This time I did not know of any cuts or other skin irritations, and also figured I was a little braver as a 26-year-old than I had been as a 16-year-old, so I went right in.  The floating part was really cool.  It was difficult to control my body as no matter how I tried to position myself, my feet always rose to the surface.  This occurs because the high levels of salt in the water make the water very dense.  Anything that goes in this water is extremely buoyant.  I also discovered I did have some cuts on my toes from the hike, but the pain was minimal and hopefully the dead sea minerals were helping to heal the cuts.

first time floating in the Dead Sea 

On my way back to the bus, I took one last look at the Dead Sea and Jordan in the distance.  Sadly, the Dead Sea is shrinking.  The diversion of water from the Jordan River through dams, reservoirs, and pipelines limits the amount of water that reaches the Dead Sea, and the water lost through natural evaporation does not get fully replenished.

Beautiful Dead Sea/View of Jordan