November 22nd, 2019
Today was amazing. I woke up and walked outside the tent to find the most amazing sunrise over the Dead Sea. It was very beautiful and a great way to start the day.
It feels nice and relaxed here and I later learned that’s because it is so far below sea level, the oxygen is richer and is very therapeutic. We got up and headed right to the sea for a swim. We walked around a bunch of sinkholes and some were really big. The whole ground felt sketchy and I remembered reading how some beaches were closed due to the sinkholes. We were not going to a designated beach or a tourist place. We were just walking to the water from our camp.
We finally made it, and it was pretty and amazing to see all the salt. Brendan got in first and said it was the weirdest thing ever because you just float.
He was laughing and smiling big as he said it is such a crazy feeling to just be able to sit in the water not using any effort to stay afloat. I got in next and agreed that the initial plunge was the weirdest thing since we had never been in water where you didn’t sink!
We were both laughing and enjoying this super unique experience. We rubbed the mud on us which is supposed to be good for your skin. The water was a nice temperature and even though it was November, not too cold. We got out and tried to rinse off with some fresh water we brought down with us. The salt makes your skin turn white when it dries.
We walked around the shore for a while before making the scary trip back through the sinkholes to get back to camp. Once we reached the road we saw signs that said “DANGER!”, “NO ENTRANCE”, “SINK HOLES”, etc.
I am super glad we stayed safe and didn’t see those signs before we walked down as we probably wouldn’t have gone. But since we didn’t see them, we had a really cool experience where no one else was and we didn’t have to be at a tourist, resort type place to experience the Dead Sea.
We got back to camp and showered before catching the bus back to Tel Aviv where our friends were having Friday Shabbat dinner. Shabbat is Judaism’s day of rest and it is customary to have a family dinner on Friday where certain traditions are honored. I felt so lucky we were going to be a part of this special time, and experience Shabbat with Eytan and his family. His Mom made an incredible meal that Brendan and I both felt was the best home-cooked meal we had on the entire trip. Everything was fresh and healthy. She had salmon, quinoa salad, tofu with veggies, special Shabbat bread called challah and homemade cookies. Even though they have this dinner every Friday, it felt like a holiday to me as there were traditional customs and family time. It was very nice and I am thoroughly thankful they welcomed us to be a part of Shabbat.