June 26, 2014 (continued)

Fr. James Martin said (in his Pilgrimage book) that he had never been so hot has he had been in the Holy Land. “Too hot! Much too hot!” as my family would say (inside joke- ask them about the Japanese steak house experience… hehe). Today we ventured out into the desert, and I must say I have rarely welcomed a nice, cool shower with as much joy and enthusiasm as I did today.

Being out there, seeing the lack of trees and animals and water really took some Bible images and stories to a whole new level. The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years… Jesus was tempted by the devil after forty days… and we barely lasted forty minutes. Whoa! My sunscreen and water bottles became my best friends today… Whew!

After exploring Masada in the morning (my first time in a cable car!), we stopped at the beach (a tourist trap if I ever saw one!) to take a dip in the Dead Sea (and also get lunch). The water was so salty… we could sit up and float! Also, the fresh cuts from the sharp rocks stung pretty badly… We couldn’t stay in long, as the water apparently raises people’s blood pressure (and I needed to get out of the sun).

Cable car up to Masada

Dead Sea (view from bus)

On the way back to Jerusalem, we stopped at Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) and Jericho (think Zacchaeus – and also Joshua from the Old Testament). We stopped at a souvenir shop there. I didn’t buy any more trinkets, but I did purchase some dried dates and figs.

Qumran - where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

We made a quick turn around with showers at the hotel so that we could eat dinner early and find a place to watch the USA soccer match. By luck (or I’d like to think- with God’s helping hand) we found our group who had left early to go watch the game and watched the second half with them. We lost to Germany, but we still will advance!

It was a hot day, but the evening walk back was very refreshing… Onward to tomorrow…