Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Dead Sea!!!!

Took an hour bus ride to the Dead Sea. When we arrived it was soooo hot! 42 degrees celsius... so we were carefult to consume plenty of water.

Jack and I made our way down to the water (mind you- no sandy beaches just big rocks covered in crusty salt) and dipped in a te. The water was hot as well and you could see it was murky with a film of salt on the surface. When you first walk in you feel a very weird sensation as the water makes your skin feel slick or slimy. You can see Jordan enveloped in a thick haze across the sea and Jack was convinced he could float there.

Before we arrived we got a few pieces of advice from other travellers:
  1. "Do not get it in your eyes! It burns like hellfire!"
  2. "Do not drink the water, you'll vomit"
  3. "Do not try to swim, it might splash in your eyes"
  4. "Most important thing I can tell you, do not for any reason pee in the Dead Sea or open any bodily orifice for that matter! Trust me."

Luckily, Jack and I, after our two dips managed to not succumb to any urges to gargle it or pee in it! All was well!
I just wanted to include few facts about the Dead Sea as well:

  • It is the lowest elevation on Earth (above water that is); and has been known as the Earths navel
  • It is 8.6 times as salty as the ocean
  • No animals orish can live in its environment
  • The Sea level is dropping as much as 1 meter a year
  • Large sinkholes form and can be dangerous near the shore due many different ecological factors

Anyways, heads up, Jack and I depart Israel tonight from the Ben Gurion airport and head back to Bucharest. The next few days we will try to scramble back to Germany...hopefully there will be many adventures in store! I will try to keep you updated....I have more exciting stories about Israel and the West Bank to come!

-Deeelllliiilllllah and Jack (who is sleeping ont he couch beside me :))

4 comments:

  1. D & J- Very cool!
    They should send pile and canker sore sufferers there...haha!
    In Jack's pic he looks like he's performing some sort of robot dance while in water..hehe.
    Muah!
    xoxoxo

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  2. Jack didn't try to float to Jordan?? I am surprised about that!!!!
    Is salt water good for the skin? If that is the case can u bring me a few bottles back D???

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  3. HMac, guess what?!?!?!
    Some of the main reasons the salt from the Dead Sea is so good (aside from the absence of chemicals and pollution), is the high amount of magnesium and silicas!!!
    And to think- you have poked fun at me for taking so much stuff!
    So pfffftttt (that's the sound of me sticking my tongue out at you and consequently making an immature noise)....;)

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  4. I love love LOVE the earth's naval analogy. I especially love the word naval. It's fun on the tongue.

    I bet if you pissed in the water it would mix with the dead sea to create a kind of Red Bull-like substance.

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