The previous day was the Jerusalem Tour.  This day was another tour this time we were going to explore Masada, the Dead Sea and En Gedi.  As with the previous tour we had to get to David's Citadel before 8:45.  Honestly when this day began I was doubtful for the tour.  My feet were just aching from the Jerusalem Tour, I simply was exhausted from over 4 hours of walking up and down Jerusalem and even told Shawn that there was a good chance I would miss the tour.  Well after dinner and a good night sleep I decided I was going to do my best to get there. 

After dinner Shawn ended up going out got to a bar and got very drunk again.  Around 3 am he comes to my room and tells me thanks for letting him come along to Israel, punches me in the arm and I tell him to go to sleep. LOL  He asked me to wake him up for the tour.  Around 7:30 am I try to do just that, I hear a bit of moaning and I just walk away and met Chris for breakfast.  We took separate paths to the hotel (chris needed more memory for his camera).  Eventually around 8:30 we met up at David's Citadel but Shawn is no where in sight.  I call him no answer.  We decide to go alone on the tour.  About 9:15 the tour bus arrives and our tour guide (ALBERTO) loads the bus up - and by 9:30 we are off.  He translates everything into English AND Spanish.  So very quickly we leave Jerusalem and head south towards the Dead Sea.  On the way Alberto is giving us lectures about the bedouin villages, Herod the Great, the Maccabean revolt and the areas that we are driving through.  Throughout this journey we are close enough that on our left side we can see the Moutains of Moab (Moutains of Ruth) otherwise known as Jordan.  During our journey down there on my cell phone I get a text saying "WELCOME TO JORDAN" and I am like WTF?  We even passed the Caves where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls (I would have liked to have seen those caves) and within about an hour or so we finally arrive at our destination, the visitors center for Masada.  Around 10:30 am we get there.  We explore the visitor center for a bit and then head up to watch a 10 min movie about the Masada and its significance.  Then we head to the cable car launch.  We end up taking the cable car up to Masada's entrance.  From there we walk this wooden path to the beginning of the Tour and to grab a bit of water.  The heat and humdity was stifling it reminded me of Phoenix (over 100 degrees).  It was a very interesting tour and I loved looking over the countryside and examing the Roman camps that could be observed from the heights of Masada as well as the Roman Circumvellation which trapped the defenders in.  Half way through the tour I reached my limit between my feet aching and lack of water I headed to the gathering point where we got some water and began the tour (near the Israeli flag).  At this point I picked up a stone from the ground and kept it as a reminder of the tour and of visiting Masada.  When the tour was done we took the cable car back to the visitor center.  At this point there was quite a bit of conflict because our tour seemed to have gotten divided and well...between the heat and thirst some people because well...had very little patience and words were said...but we all got back to the visitor center and things quited down.  At the visitor center I got some things to take back as souvinners and gifts and we had a bit of time to sit and relax before loading back in the bus. 

Here is were something extremely unexpected happened.  Shawn showed up.  At first I did not even recongnize him.  Hell, when we left him he was asleep and missed the tour.  We found out that he ended up taking a Taxi to Masada!!!! And, he was VERY LUCKY because we were just getting ready to leave Masada to go to En Gedi.  If he showed up 10 min earlier we would have still been on the mountain.  10 min later and he would have missed us as we would have been on our way to the Kibbutuz.  Alberto gave Shawn a chance to go up Masada, but Shawn declined so we loaded into the bus and headed to Kibbutuz En Gedi. 

After a 15 min journey we arrived.  At this point we had a choice we could either go and take a dip in the mud bath, warm and cold springs and then the Dead Sea or go and have lunch.  Mostly everyone went to take a dip in the Dead Sea/mud bath.  I chose to rest and have lunch.  Chris and Shawn went swimming (well floating) as it had been made clear one does not swim in the dead sea you float.  And DO NOT GET THE WATER in your eyes.  (Shawn found out).  During this time I also did a bit more shopping.  They had far better deals on the dead sea cosmetics and such here.  After this, I just relaxed until it was time to load back in the bus (I think I had about 45 min of resting).  Around this time Shawn appeared and he got me a piece of the Dead Sea Salt!  WHICH WAS VERY COOL.  So I now had a piece of Masada and the Dead Sea Salt. I was very happy.  About 4:00 we loaded on the bus and everyone was spent!  Most of us all fell asleep on the way back to Jerusalem.  We got back around 5:30 or so and rested until we decided to hit the bar.  Now that I am thinking about it, I am not sure if today was the day of Shawn and my Morrocan Dinner or if it was the day of the Jerusalem tour.  Well never matter by this time we knew the next day we had to leave Jersualem.  Hopefully we were going to be meeting Adi (which did not pan out) and then Shawn was going to have to leave.

Posted by: Robert Woolwine at 09:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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