מצדה וים המלך

On Sunday I along with 6 other friends from the international school left for the Dead Sea (ים המלך) around 2pm and arrived at the  at around 5pm. We immediately got into the worlds saltiest water and began floating around. It was some of the most fun I have had here. We put mud on and continued to float around. A few of us managed to figure out how to "sit" in the water. It was so much fun, especially in the evening when the air and water were much cooler. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth and earlier that day was reaching temperatures close, if not at, 100 degrees fahrenheit. After swimming around for a few hours, we got out, dried off, and headed over to the small rental car for dinner. When I say "small" rental car, I mean it. When this thing pulled up to the bus stop, I was surprised...how would we fit all our stuff in there? Well, needless to say, we did get all our stuff in there, by cramming it all into every space we could find. That meant me and my friend in the back had the lovely adventure of feeling like sardines being squished into the back of the car. My knees were right up against the chair in front of me and my תחת hurt from sitting for so long, but when we finally got to our destination...it was worth it.

Dinner consisted of pita, hummus, tuna, and some veggies (whatever you brought) and many a hungry cat became onlookers to our meal. We gave them the partially empty tuna cans after all refused to eat pita and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy that meal. After we drank some beers we searched for the spot where we would camp out for the night...we found it right on the shores of the Dead Sea on a little rise. It was perfect, you could see stars everywhere, you could see Jordan off in the distance, and have the sulfurish smell and calming sounds of the Dead Sea all around you. We all stayed up a little later watching the stars, discussing where different constellations were in the sky, watching a multitude of shooting stars arch across the sky, and seeing Jupiter perched next to the luminous moon that was sending its reflected rays down onto the Dead Sea where the act was reciprocated and the flowing waves of the sea became illuminated in a ghostly glow.

At 3am we woke up and, after searching for one of our friend's shorts that had been left to dry on a tree and were now gone, began our drive to מצדה for our hike to the top. We arrived at around 4am and began climbing up until one of our group ran back to grab his water bottle and was seen by a previously sleeping security guard who told him no one was allowed up for another 20 minutes and that he must pay the entrance fee of 25 sheckels. He called us to explain this and we hid on the trail behind a mound of dirt waiting until our friend would join us. Once he did find us, it was all up hill from there...literally. We climbed as the sun began to rise over the hills and mountains to the East. The whole hike lasted around 45 minutes and when we reached the top we found ourselves on the very spot where 2,000 years ago the Romans layed siege to one of the last Jewish strongholds after the first revolt. I climbed over the outer wall where there was just enough ground to sit on the very ledge of the mountain and await the sunrise. We all watched with awe as the sun peaked over the horizon and cast its glowing rays across the land before us. Below us, Roman camps sat, abandoned, and lifeless, but one could imagine Roman soldiers just beginning their morning routines in camp, looking above at the towering fortress they were tasked with capturing.

We walked around Masada, taking in all of the sights and sounds and then began our trek back down the Snake Path (the way we came up). It was on the way down that I completed a goal that has been itching at the back of my mind for years...I finally got the opportunity to go into one of the Roman camps. As we passed the still ominous retaining wall set up by the Romans, I found the handle of a shattered pot that was most likely from Roman times as each legion had their own pottery making facility and the X Legion's (the group present at Masada and one of the primary Legions in Israel at the time) pottery factory was in Jerusalem. This means that most likely most, if not all, of the shards we found could be from the Romans. The coolest part about walking through the camp was the feeling of going back in time, like you were completely in touch with the soldiers who once occupied the base. The rocks were still in the outlines the Romans had left them, with different tent or other types of camp locations still outlined as if only yesterday the Romans had set up camp. It was eerie to look up and see the view these soldiers once had of the daunting Masada heights perched directly above them.

All in all, this trip proved to be a fantastic adventure and one that I wont soon forget. It was awesome spending the time with all of these great people (you know who you are) and I hope that in the very near future I will get the opportunity to float in the Dead Sea and climb Masada for the sunrise.