Imagine you were only in Israel for 24 hours and wanted to do everything you could in the small time allotted. That was today. We woke up early to start our treacherous hike of Masada, which proved to be both breathtaking (word of the day!) and grueling. Some had to take long breaks along the way, but me and my chacos were determined to make it up on one stretch, and I did exactly that. Once at the top, we toured the grounds, had our Hebrew naming ceremony (yes, I now answer to Liron) and rested for our decent.
Next up: the dead sea. Everyone stripped down to their bathing suits, the first time that we were in the open air without jackets and pants, and were startled by the freezing temperature of the water. Eventually everyone submerged (my gosh not fully- well except for Nov (god bless him)), some more slowly than others, and peacefully floated in the salty sea with only mild discomfort from salt in our shoes and freshly shaven skin (oops).
We boarded the bus salty and sticky (no, not a great combo) and went deep into the Negev to a Bedouin settlement. We started off by riding camels off into the sunset, an experience that everyone was glad to start and even more so to end, and then headed to our tent. The tent was small, dusty, and cold. Sweet. I started off the night by pulling on 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, and jacket- even that wasn't enough. I shivered through dinner, (which was amazing by the way, served family style with rice and meat, hummus, and pita) and even more so as the night wore on. After stuffing our faces with what was perhaps our best meal to date, we walked far out into the desert until the sounds of the camp were gone and the darkness was all consuming. We were told to disperse and take some time for ourselves, looking at the stars and thinking to ourselves. Many people, myself included, found this time to be a much needed break from our activity-packed trip. It was a nice time to reflect on our trip so far and just be alone in our thoughts.
We conjured up a fire and sat around singing songs and enjoying each others' presence. I wish I had more to say, but in typical Steph fashion I passed out at 9 and missed the entire night. At least I got more sleep than 100% of the others (most of which got less than 4!).