no rain, no president, and no dead sea pictures

Our streak of good weather luck continues; it rained last night and was cold this morning, but it's late afternoon now and the sky is clear blue. So basically we have had no rain, save for a couple of hours last week in Jerusalem the afternoon of our free day (when Kim and I stayed in and ate chocolate). We're going up north to the Galilee region in a couple days, where it is usually colder and there is more rain, so we'll see if our sunny bubble travels with us.

We are staying in a guest house near Jerusalem, and today we had a free day and took a bus to the Old City to finish up some shopping. You may have noticed George Bush is in town; WE noticed! The security is very high and a few of us actually saw the big convoy of helicopters fly overhead a day or two ago. In Jerusalem today there was an increase in armed soldiers and police, but those are nothing new, and I think George is in Ramallah today anyway. I looked all over for him but to no avail.

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So, yesterday was quite a big day. We were quite sticky and...aromatic...when we arrived at our hotel last night. In the morning about half of us climbed Masada (the other lazier half took the cable car up), which took 30-40 minutes but was really steep with lots of stairs, which we cursed all the way up. I already mentioned the stairs of Jebul Musa in Sinai, all 750 of them, so to see this many stairs in immediate succession on the side of a mountain so soon afterward was kind of scarring. Starting off the day dripping with sweat knowing you're not getting a shower until the evening was not the most pleasant of circumstances, but that later became the least of our concerns (or, smells) ... Here are some pics from Masada:

The seige ramp built by the Romans

A huge cistern up on top

After exploring for awhile, we took the tram back down and drove straight to the Dead Sea. I gave my camera to someone to take pictures but they didn't really, so I don't have anything to show for it except for this really zoomed in picture of a circle that we were forming as we floated, and I'm not even in the picture. :)

I'm going to check and see if anyone else has better pics and maybe I'll post those. It was so fun! A normal sea or ocean is about 3-5% salt; the Dead Sea is 30%. I can tell you, if you get it in your eyes it hurts like no other. It happened a few times, and I was blinded for a few minutes while I tried desperately to cry to clean out my eyes. You really do just float right on top. I think it was one of my favorite things so far.

From the Dead Sea (after only a quick outdoor rinse-off), we went to En Gedi, to see the caves where David hid out from Saul and cut the corner off his robe (1 Sam. 24), then to lunch and to Qumran. Before the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered there, there was really no reason to stop there; the ruins aren't that spectacular. But since the scrolls were discovered it's a major tourist destination. Our guide took us off the beaten path, up the road to Cave #1, the first cave that scrolls were discovered in, and we climbed halfway up a cliff to get there. It's just a cave, with nothing in in, and with a lot of loose and sharp rocks trying to get there, but hey, the next time I get in a conversation about the Dead Sea scrolls and how valuable they are for the reliablility of Scripture, I can say I've been there. :) Up in the very first cave where a Bedouin guy once threw a rock and heard pottery breaking and found scrolls from the Bible from the first century. In that cave. :)

I have a lot of pictures of myself in caves and tunnels. They all start to look the same after awhile, don't they. :) Anyway, after all that, a shower was fabulous last night, and the bed was even better.