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Monday, April 13, 1998
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Jerusalem, Israel
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We drove down to Masada and hiked the 450m elevation trail in the light of the nearly full moon. It was a beautiful hike but even in the pitch dark the temperature was already well into the 70's. The trail was steep, but there was quite a crowd waiting when the gates opened so I set a quick pace so I could do it in peace. It only took me 20 minutes to get to the top, but I wasn't sure I was going to survive the 45 minutes until the sunrise. After a simple, classic, but beautiful sunrise I spent about an hour exploring the mountain top fortress. Then it was a scurry down the trail to avoid being left behind.
The next stop was the En Gedi Reserve. We spent about an hour an a half frolicing in (on?) and around the Dead Sea (well needed after the Masada hike).Then we were given another hour and a half to hike up to and swim in the water falls of the preserve. It was a beautiful valley and I would have liked to spend the rest of the day hiking the preserve. There wasn't enough time to make the larger falls (although I missed my chance at swimming trying to). By this time the temperature was well in to the 90's and I was going through an amazing amount of water.
The next stop was Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found), which was just a photo op since there's nothing to see but a hole in the side of a cliff. After that it was off to Jericho. Unfortunately there is not much left of old Jericho and the new town had very little to offer, although that didn't stop our bus driver from having our lunch break here. It was in Jericho where the high temp of 104° F was "experienced".
After Jericho it was a couple photo opertunity stops at the Mount & Monastery of Temptation (the mountain where Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights while be tempted by the devil), St. Georges Monastery, and the Mount of Olives (a great vista over Jerusalem).
As exhausted as I am I've decided to put off going back to Jordan until tomorrow (I'll skip staying in Amman again, and head straight for Petra). Unfortunately it's only 3:30 and I don't want to go to sleep quite this early, so here I am taking shelter from the heat in the internet cafe again (not sure when my next chance will be).
As evidence of how hot it was today: I drank three liters of water, and eight sodas or juices.
