Friday 06-06 - Part 2, Dead Sea

Then on the bus to the Dead Sea. I had been looking forward to this part of the tour much more than the mountain. We weren´t taken to the touristy and dangerous Ein Gedi beach. We were taken to the quieter and nicer Mineral Beach.



There were only a few people there. For those that don't know, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth, at 400m below sea level. It is called the dead sea because nothing can live there. Its very salty. To quote from the Lonely Planet book, ´20 times as much bromine, 15 times as much magnesium and 10 times as much iodine´. Our guide said it was 10 times saltier than normal ocean (3% to 33%). I was warned by the book not to shave on the day I go there, as it would still like kicking a bee hive.

The mud is supposed to be a virtual panacea for the skin, treating psoriasis and all sorts of skin diseases. There was a free mud pool at this beach (probably not free at the more touristy places). In turn, we covered ourselves in the hot black mud.



It spread on thick felt like it was cooking me underneath. To stand in the mud is like standing in quick sand. I almost lost my sandals in the mud and fell into it. A girl caught my arm and pulled me up straight.





We washed the mud off in the high pressure fresh water showers and went into the sea. The story is that the salt content makes you buoyant and you float. I saw photos in the past but always thought it an exaggeration. Nope. You float. You try push down but you get float right on up again. You glide along the surface and slide onto your stomach like your body was covered in water wings. It was so surreal. I felt so free. I felt so graceful. definitely one of the highlights of this trip so far. I could have stayed in there for hours. Just floating.







You just have to make sure you don't get you face in the water. it would blind you from at least 10 minutes after washing it off. I was very very careful. Some of it went near my mouth and I could taste it for hours after.

We got back to Jerusalem as shabbat was coming in. We began a search for an ATM, as this hostel only takes cash. We made a terrible mistake. We set off without a map in the old city of Jerusalem. Bad idea. First we walked through the Armenian and Jewish areas. Which wasn´t too bad to explore.

Getting lost gave us a chance to walk around empty streets bordered on each side by old stone walls. Old windows carved into them, but they feel right here, not even slightly touristy. Just sincere. Taxis passed us by as we walked, filled religious Jews on their way to the wall. Men in large fur hats and shiny coats walked down the narrow passages. They looked happy and joyous, and patted each other on the back and talked excitedly about something probably profound.

Then we got stuck in the markets of the Muslim quarter. Had we a map, we could have turned left directly to our hostel Instead we meandered tiny stairwells before continuing straight. We ended up at the Damascus gate, pretty far from where we wanted to be. We walked almost half way round the outside of the gate before finding our bearings.

We continued away from the old city until eventually we found a bank with an ATM. The banks was closed and the machine wouldn't take our cards. Walked further. Nothing. Gave up and walked back. We got a little some money out from a gas station on the way back to the gate.

On entering the gate we noticed a money changer across the street from our hostel with a big sign declaring that he, in fact, had an ATM. Plus our cards worked. We walked for more than an hour and then found this guy. At least the exploring gave us a chance to get to know the old city.

Moral of the story: always bring a map.

We bought sausages and tried to make hotdogs for dinner. We borrowed a lighter from a nice Canadian guy named Aaron. We all stood and chatted while our dinner fried away.