Relaxing

This morning me, Shara, and her friend packed up for a road trip to the Dead Sea and Eilat!

I had been anticipating my visit to the Dead Sea since before I got here. The only problem is that the Sea is in the middle of the desert and not close to anything! Well I guess that is just about every place here lol. My original plan was to hop on a bus to get to the Dead Sea…a 2 and a half hour ride each way from Tel Aviv…with limited return service. I wasn’t worried so much (you know me-if I get stuck I will just stick it out and worry about it the next day lol), but I think Shara did all the worrying I should have been doing lol. Fortunately it worked out that stopping by the Dead Sea only added about 15 minutes to our road trip!

As mentioned, the Dead Sea is about 2 and a half hours from Tel Aviv…two and a half hours of hotness. Like over 100 degrees. Luckily it was dry heat. (If I can even say “lucky” and “over 100 degrees” in the same sentence!)

Even tho the desert just looked like a continuous pile of sand and rock to me, I was amazed that Shara and her friend could point out areas such as the location of Sodom and Gamorah (sp?) and the area where it is said that Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt. I guess it is a testament of how rich the oral (and I guess written) histories are here.

So after almost wilting in the car we finally get to Ein Bokek, a small Dead Sea resort town. We stop by the little shopping center first to eat and shop a bit. We ended up eating at McDonalds (capitalism is alive and well LOL) and I bought some lotions, soaps, etc which have dead sea minerals.

Then we were off to the Dead Sea for a swim! I had been warned my many regarding the precautions to take for a dip into the sea. First and foremost-no scratching! Second-no shaving for a few days before. If you could see the status of my hair growth right now, you would understand how mad I was that I forgot to shave a few days ago! Third, I heard that females tend to have a slightly…uh…more painful time in the water…and finally…I was told that no matter what don’t ever ever ever EVER fart in the water. LMAO! It was only today that I asked why…not that I intended to pass gas in the water…just curious lol. Apparently doing that creates an opening for the water to go in and it burns. Ok. The last thing I need is for my bootie to burn, so no passing gas in the water lol.

The Dead Sea is pretty amazing. The water is EXTREMELY salty and filled with minerals. The water is so salty in fact, that nothing can live in the water. No fish. No seaweed. Nothing. And as a result of the salty water-you float! Unlike any other type of floating. Lift your legs just a little and they fly to the top of the water! I was standing up and my feet were barely touching the bottom-I was floating while standing!
The sea floor is not sandy…very hard (felt almost like walking on a hard gravel road). Had to wear my flip flops while in there to keep from cutting my feet. (I did take them off briefly and they were floating as well!)

After a little while (when my hand started burning bc I cut it slightly on one of the mineral rocks) I got out to rinse off. As the water dries, you can feel the salt residue.

The Dead Sea is suppose to work wonders for healing skin conditions. I certainly hope so-we’ll see in the next few days!

So we are on the road now-headed to the actual intended destination of the trip-Eilat. Eilat is way way way in the south of the country and also in the desert. The plan is to hang out there to go camping for the weekend. Yes-you read correctly-I am going camping with a sleeping bag and tent! Believe it or not, I spent half of a summer camping out-but that was about 15 years ago LOL. Let’s see how quickly my tent pitching abilities come back to me lol.