Wow! What a weekend... it was fantastic. We (all ten of us) left after class on Thursday for En Gedi (cf. 1 Sam. 24:1) from Jerusalem's central bus station. Then, 8 of us opted to stay in an expensive--albeit very nice--hotel, while Gabriel and I stayed at the youth hostel. Thursday evening, we swam, or rather, floated in the Dead Sea. It was surreal! And very salty, which made real swimming an intensely unpleasant experience (When any water reaches your eyes, they burn like mad! Talking pepper spray here. I was blinded one too many times...) But floating was gorgeous... the beach remained pretty deserted during our entire stay there, so that was rather nice. On Friday morning, after the recommendation to explore En Gedi over going to Qumran (from a sort of traveling masseuse who thought I was insane for voluntarily refraining from coffee), we hiked the trail to David's Spring. It was BEAUTiful! Holy cow. Natural springs peppered the trail every 5 minutes or so, dollops of beauty amidst dry crags and caves. We stopped to take a dip in one, and then proceeded to hike above the Spring and to a Chalcolithic temple. Then we began our descent, saw the ruins of a 5th century synagogue, and swam in the Dead Sea once more before catching the bus back to Jerusalem at around 2 or 3. A wonderfully refreshing trip. The rest of the group stayed behind for an additional day, but Gabe and I came home for financial, educational, and spiritual reasons (yep, it was justified). I had to give a talk in church on Shabbat, which went well (I think) and love it here! But I have to go study now.
Dead Sea--Me and Gabe (Photos
courtesy of some Ogden, Utah natives
we happened upon at the beach!)
The Dead Sea from En Gedi
This is David's Spring, essentially
Lower falls of David's Spring,
which we swam in. Paradisaical!
Taking a much needed break during
the long trek up the mountain... the
Dead Sea is in the background
An awesome Chalcolithic Temple
at the top of the mountain, where it's
supposed the moon was worshipped
Cute little ibex! These guys
were all over the place
The floor of a 5th Century Synagogue at the foot of the mountain(ish)
Rocks in the Dead Sea, with
salt build up. Gabe actually took
some salt formations from the
beach...
5 comments:
That sounds wonderful Ang! I am insanely jealous right now. Do you come back to provo in 2.5 weeks or just back to the states? I am going back home on the 16th of August.
ps. do you want to sell plasma with lara and I this fall?
pps. I wish you were going to be roommates with us next year. psh german housing...
Suffice to say that I am incredibly jealous and it may be painful for me to be nice to you when you get back because of this burning desire to be where you are right now.
Oh, and before I forget . . .
Who is this Gabe person?
I think this must be my fave entry...mmm..nice. All of it. Except the pepper spray.
Yeah... I think it's my favorite entry too. :)
Gabe is a classmate and a really good friend.
I am coming back to Salt Lake/Provo/Spring City on Aug. 5.
By the by, maybe plasma!
and I am jealous of myself, peeps.
Holy cow!
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