Dead Sea, Desert, Eilat.....bring if on!

Although Ashleigh hadn't felt well the night before, she woke up hale and hearty and off
we went for the next adventures. Jack showed up at our condo at 7 and we loaded the van.

By 8:30 a.m. we had driven past the turn for Ramallah (PLO headquarters) and Ash had
seen her first camel wandering in the desert. We stopped for breakfast in the middle of nowhere and Ashleigh kiindly pointed out the bug crawling on the pastries we were planning to buy.
We bought them; we ate them. What are you going to do?

We continued on about another hour and we could see the Dead Sea out the windows. It was a beautiful blue. We pulled up at the Ein Gedi Spa. For $400. (total) we could each have 1 1/2 hours of treatments...considering there were four of us wanting massages and some reflexology this was a great price. I saw Ashleigh come out of her massage and she looked like melted butter. Benj was thoroughly relaxed after his also. Let me say this that price was incredible because it included all of our massages, reflexology, use of the pool, an entire day in the mud of the Dead Sea if we wished as well as our float in the sea....absolutely incredible. We laughed and laughed as we floated in the Sea holding on to our toes with our fingers....you can't imagine what it is like to try and put your feet down on the bottom of the Sea and have them slowly just pop back up again. I've been twice now and each time has been fabulous. The first time, at a different part of the Sea, we could pick up salt by the handful but this time the salt was embedded into the seabed and was rippled from the waves. Ashleigh was enchanted by all of this. We had Jack take pictures of us with our hands covered in mud so that we could send a photo to David entitled "finger licking good", at as he had told us you NEVER put your fingers near your mouth in China as they are always dirty from just being out in the air. We spent 5 1/2 hours at the Dead Sea and it flashed by in what felt like seconds. So far we had had a perfect day.

We hopped back in the car and headed to the camel place, the Khan (inn in Arabic). Wow..the views were incredible. The place looked like an alternative lifestyle place. The power goes off at 11 and doesn't come back on until 7 or 8 the next morning. Although the main building was huge we were the only guests soyou can imagine what great treatment we got. Katherine was our hostess, originally from South Africa. We all instantly fell in love with her. She's off to Boulder to do some dance training shortly so we invited her to Telluride during her time off. I hope she comes. She came tothe Khan about two years ago and hasn't left as she loves the "silence in nature" that the Negev provides. She introduced us to Yaeli our guide for our camel trip.

We laid back on the Persian carpets...the entire place was covered in Persian carpets...and our pillows. Our meal came. Delicious as usual but also the food was "per usual"...by that I mean hummus, tahini, pita, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives. We ate tons and then the main meal came of chicken and vegetables. We received a cookie for desert along with "nana" which is spearmint tea or "mud" coffee....when you drink the coffee there is about 3/4 of an inch of thick grounds or mud in the bottom. We had toured around the property taking photos earlier and now we were exhausted. Everyone hit the hay and we all had great sleeps...except Ashleigh who was sure she heard a door banging all night long and so she never slept.

Oh I forgot...during dinner Jack asked all of us to talk about what makes us intrinsically ourselves. It was interesting as we went around the circle. We then progressed to our favourite childhood memories which was fun. We really enjoyed these discussions. Benj and Abe begged all of us not to feed the cat that was hanging around wanting our chicken; Jack couldn't help himself so he tossed the cat a bit of food and I like the resulting photo with the cat at my shoulder (thanks Jack!)

Breakfast the next morning was on the patio looking over a gigantic rift in the desert floor. Again it was pita, hummus, tahini, tuna (you see where I'm going with this....it is a healthy diet that repeats itself over and over and over again.) Ashleigh was really in the mood for something to chew but that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

By 9:20 we are in the back of the most ramshackle vehicle any of us have ever seen. The seats were all torn, foam was exposed and missing, the ceiling was ripped and Abe cautioned me not to lean on him too hard in case the back door flies open. The guy driving us down the mountain knewt he road and he FLEW down it at full speed. Ashleigh's head was whipping around like something from the exorcist and we are all laughing like maniacs with the exhilaration of it all (and perhaps laughter was better than screaming in terror.)

We arrive at the "barn"?....an open area with hay bales and three camels ready to be loaded.
We are introduced to Shariff, Hashem and Yorek and told not to put our hands near their mouths without Yael our guide. I don't think any of us EVER put our hands near their mouths.
Shariff starts to make camel noises....it is as though someone is gargling really loudly only the gargling is really their stomach preparing to regurgitate....I can't explain it better than that. We got a really good look at the horrible state of their teeth which were green and disgusting. I'm sure all camel's teeth are green and disgusting but this was a closeup view as the gargling and potential vomiting noise continued. Hmmmm....two days on this we were all thinking.

We decide who goes on what camel. Benj and Abe share one, Ashleigh and I share another, Hashem is too young to carry anyone so he has the really heavy stuff like the hundred gallons of water we are bringing into the Negev with us (not really 100 gallons but probably 50), the tent poles to hold up a huge tarp if we need shade, the pots, etc. Jack decides to start off walking. For anyone who does not know my father-in-law....he's amazing. He is 78 and he walked almost the entire first day! It was 100 degrees if not a bit more and he walked about 9 miles! I repeat, he is amazing. The hardest part about riding a camel is sitting on its back as it stands up and as it lies down. The actual riding isn't tough although the inner thigh gets one hell of a workout. Sam.....instead of bricks on our thighs to open up our hips...you should just get a few camels out back at the yoga studio and we can sit on them for an hour at a time. The hips will ultimately open. Ash cheated; she rested her legs on the pack (i did that the next day and it is much more comfortable.). Eventually you get used to the camel's gait and you don't hold on so tightly any more to the handhold in front of your saddle.

Jack led our camel. You need to keep your back to the camel at all times so that he can follow you. You can't veer to the right or left....which he did sometimes...but by and large Jack's leading went really well. We went down cliffs, through valleys, and up hills. Each camel can carry up to 300 kilos..which is a lot of weight (mult. by 2.2 if you don't know kilos).

At 1:30 Yael led us up to a cliff. We parked the camels. You can't just park a camel anywhere. There must be sand for them to kneel in. Once they knelt down she hobbled them by tieing
the top of their leg to the bottom part of the leg. In this way they can't stand up again. They lie there until they are told to get up again. Did you know camels ALWAYS sit down facing INTO the sun; in this way the most narrow part of their body is in the sun (quite smart I think.). They have an extra bone on their chest (exposed) that their chest rests on in the sand and then their legs are folded up under them keeping their belly off the sand which allows the wind to blow under their body keeping them cool. I find this all amazing.

More on what takes place on the cliff tomorrow. I'll keep you all hanging for now. I will say that my niece amazed me. She's a five star hotel girl and she actually slept on the cliff face with only a small carpet under her...and I mean SLEPT for about four hours. She really can hang with
outdoorsy types when she wants...she was fantastic. Let me add this.....there is nowhere to pee in the desert where you are not on view. There are no trees to hide behind. The bushes are about 4 inches high which makes sense when you realise they have not had rain in th Negev
for SEVEN years. When you think of it this way...Hashem the young camel is four and he has never seen or felt rain. By the way...camels sweat. Small drips of a black oil appeared on the backs of the necks and legs of the camels and this is their sweat....very cool to see.

Anyway, more on the cliff, cooking, camping out, and sand dunes tomorrow. Until then......
Adios.