Part 8: Mega party in the Negev

I really don't even know where to begin this post as we were just on a three day field trip to one of the most epic areas of Israel.  Rather than writing long paragraphs today I'll give you snip-its of our adventuring.

We started our adventures in the valley of Elah where it is said that David destroyed Goliath.  Oddly enough Carl (our proff) told us to collect stones and throw them.  After my last incident of throwing rocks (knocking Colt's tooth out) I decided my aim is too good and that I shouldn't throw rocks.  :)

We saw many more ruins which are sweet but don't make large impacts on me apparently.  It was after our "lunchy-poo"  and a warning that if we hear the sirens go off we have 15 seconds to get to safety, that we got to go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, which was completely enjoyed by all, even those who were stung by jelly fish.

We then proceeded to drive 3 miles away from the Gaza Strip (we could see the high rises) to the Maktesh Ramon crater (the super bowl). You drive forever along desert roads, and you can't help but think is what is out there really worth all this...and then as the sun sets you walk up to the crater and on your way an Ibex passes you and all of a sudden you feel very insignificant and little in this place which feels like the end of the earth and you realize that it was and is worth it. (The crater kind of looks like the moon from space.)

We woke up early the next morning and ventured to a wadi (the Hebrew word for canyon) and proceeded to walk up it.  For the first 15 minutes you walk along a path looking up wondering how you will ever make it to the top.  But before you know it you are walking up stone steps carved into the side of the Canyon.  The air is hot, the hottest (besides Jericho) we had felt yet.  To intensify things the Canyon is made out of a white rock which just reflects the light even more.  Part way up the canyon there are some old Monastic caves, which we were glad to take refuge in for a few minutes before heading to the last section which involves climbing ladders. It maybe doesn't sound like its worth it, but the view was incredible and it was every bit worth it. I was struck that day by the verse in Psalm 91 "I will not allow you foot to stumble".  We often think of that as tripping over roots in the rain-forest.  But here when you are so hot, and you can feel your heart beating in your head, and the rock below you is slippery and flaky you begin to find new meaning in those words. That morning we also saw some tombs and more ruins.

The last day (yesterday) was probably the highlight of the trip so far for me. It was also the day I've been most looking forward to despite the outrageous temperatures of 41/106 degrees.  We started off the day by hiking up Masada.  Masada is a very important part of Jewish culture. I'm not going to go into all the history if you google it I'm sure you can find out.  But it is so important the Israel military still has a ceremony up there once a year to remember that what happened on Masada, and to make sure it will never happen again.  We spent most of the morning up there exploring.

After Masada we drove down to the Dead Sea which had been taunting us from the top of Masada all morning.  I can't really explain the feeling of it other than that you feel like you are the cork of a bottle bobbing in the water.  Its kind of trippy.  You step into the water, just sit down and you're floating.  You actually have to work to keep your feet in the water.  After we got out from our little swim Carl and Mary (his wife) had made us hot dogs and we ate them in our bathing suits- it was the best and hot dogs have never tasted so good.

We jumped back on the bus for a 5 minute ride until we reached Ein Gedi.  There is a cave near the top of this wadi that it is said David took refuge in.  On the way to that cave we stopped and had a nice cooling off swim in a waterfall pool, I can't even begin to tell you how refreshing it feels after hiking in 41/106 degree weather.

Lastly, we arrived at Qumran.  Qumran is extremely significant simply because of the scrolls that were found in the caves.  By this time we were hot and tired but it was still fascinating to think about what else could be out there, after all these scrolls were found in the 1940's and that really isn't that long ago.

During our travels we saw, desert foxes, camels, Ibex, geckos, lizards and more...i love the nature.
We have today off to poke around the Old city and study for our second exam which is tomorrow.  Next week we head to Galilee for four days which I'm pretty sure will just explode my mind.  Anyway this is kind of a long update, but  there has been and is much adventuring.

That's it for now team! Thanks for reading!