A beautiful day of swimming in the desert

When you think of the desert, probably the last thing you think of is swimming, but that’s exactly what we did today. After breakfast at our hostel, we drove about 100 meters to the parking lot of the Ein Gedi nature preserve. There are two main options for trails there and although we are ambitious, the 100 degree temperature (at 9 am) and the baby in the backpack on our back convinced us to choose the shorter, easier of the two, Nahal David. Ein Gedi is an amazing oasis in the middle of the desert, fed by an underground fresh water spring, which comes from the mountains near Jerusalem. As we walked into the park, we started to see some plants and small trees, and a few animals like birds and Rock Hyrax (an animal kind of  halfway between a squirrel and a groundhog).  The further in we walked the more lush and green it became and soon we started seeing pools of water and small water falls. They were tempting, but we decided to walk to the halfway point of the round trip trail (about ½ an hour in) before getting wet.  It was well worth the wait. The trail culminates is a gorgeous, cold waterfall rushing off the cliff above into a crystal clear pool of water. It was not very crowded, and we stayed and cooled off and swam for a long time, imagining what it would have been like to be riding through the desert on your camel thousands of years ago and suddenly find this spot!

As the sun was getting higher and it was getting even hotter, we reluctantly left the pool and hiked back to the entrance. Planning ahead for our early hike up Masada tomorrow, we stopped at the Ein Gedi Kibbutz grocery store. The Kibbutz is really spectacular. It is famous for its botanical gardens (which we could see some of from the road as we drove in) and for its water, which it bottles and sells under the Ein Gedi Spring brand name. The small, but well stocked grocery store had everything we needed (granola, bread, a little fruit), and much to our surprise, Winnie the Pooh pacifiers! So, we, of course, got those too – the paci collection is growing out of control! We then brought our empty water bottles over to the dining hall and refilled them out of the taps there, which dispense Ein Gedi Spring water. Very refreshing!

Just as we were trying to decide what to do next, we got an email from Grandpa and Jussara that they were nearby at the Dead Sea Beach, so we went over to say hello. They were just finishing up their float in the Dead Sea and getting ready to head back to their hotel. So, we made plans to meet up with them later for dinner.

We went to have our Dead Sea experience at Mineral Beach. This beach, on the northern part of the Dead Sea (which is actually 2 smaller seas now with a dry area between them since the water level has dropped so much in recent years), had everything we needed to make our experience complete. We first went down to the sea to swim (or actually float, since you can’t really swim). Ella, Jonah, and I all succeeded (Abe was resting with Sylvia in the air conditioning) despite the kids having blisters and scratches which stung a bit when they went in. Next step to a Dead Sea experience – the mud. Mineral beach had big barrels of mud in a little hut for us to use. The kids had a great time slathering it all over their body and hair, and marveled at how soft it left their skin (Jonah thought it even helped dry out his blister!) Finally, a shower and a swim in a fresh water pool to cool off (we decided to skip the sulpher pool  - it was just too stinky!

We came home, showered and changed, and met up with my Dad and Jussara for a nice buffet dinner at their guest house, and some time hanging out on the deck watching the mountains turn pink in the setting sun. On the way home, we scouted out the parking, etc for Masada, since we are hoping to hike up it at 5 am tomorrow!

(Photos coming tomorrow when we have better wifi)