After a long wait in the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and some very very bad shwarma, we caught a bus to the Dead Sea. We camped on the beach, where the wind whipped across the sand, tearing up the umbrellas above us. The ground was still emitting heat it had absorbed in the day, and we were glad to have the wind keeping us cool. We were just nodding off when a policeman came over, shouting that we tell him our nationalities. I, pretending to be too groggy to answer, let the boys reply they were from England. This satisfied the cop and he moved on to the next campers, with whom he was clearly less pleased, and arrested them! After a brief shouting match, the officer won, and they were towed away. Nice.
We didn't get back to sleep for long as a cloud of flies descended upon us before sunrise. They were such a nuisance, that we took a brief float in the water before scurrying off for cover. We ended up going to Massada just as it was becoming too hot to hike up. We thus took the cable car like the other lazy tourists, and explored the plateau for an hour or so. Having slept so little, we were eager to catch the bus to Eilat, which we boarded that afternoon and promptly fell asleep. We stayed only one night in Eilat before heading to Jordan. Before we left, we made a nice family dinner at the hostel and slept as much as possible. Once in Jordan, we got yet another harrowing cab ride to our hotel. The place itself had little to recommend it, but it did serve the most amazing dinner you've ever eaten. It was billed as "Bedouin meat dish, soup, 20+ salads and more!" and it did not disappoint. We feared briefly the "meat dish" would be pigeon, but got over it when we tasted it.
We spent two days total in Jordan exploring Petra. While I was unaware of this fact, Petra is one of the original wonders of the world. Despite this, the tourist industry has nearly ruined it. The entire site if full of garbage, and shit from the camels, donkeys, and horses used to cart tourists in an out of the ruins. Most of these critters are horribly mistreated and underfed. We witness, on several occasions, children beating animals with various objects to get them to bend to their will. People yelled at you to buy beads and other bobbles all throughout the day, and children as young as 4 and 5 were out trying to make money off the tourists. Although it was, on the whole, incredibly depressing, the site itself was fascinating and definitely worth the visit. So far, we have met very few people who are nicer than those we met in Jordan (Palestine is a close competitor). Everyone was just wonderful and super helpful. The border guards in particular were very friendly, and took more interest in flirting than checking visas. They made me promise I'd come back and visit Aman... hehe.
We returned to Eilat on Saturday, just long enough to catch a soccer game and receive our Egyptian visas (which took plenty of time...). We left Israel and crossed into Egypt through Taba. The instant we got into the cab and saw the water of the Gulf of Aqaba, I was sure I was in the Caribbean. I've never seen such beautiful landscapes as the mountains rising above the Red Sea, it was truly spectacular. We arrived in a small village outside Dahab, to the most serene spot on earth, I'm almost sure. We stayed at a hotel made of bright white plaster whose open air restaurant butted up against the sea. The restaurant was lined with huge colorful cushions instead of chairs, and food was served on low wooden tables. Stray cats and little girls scampered around meowing and selling woven bracelets respectively.
The hotel served as our base camp for a hike up Mount Sinai to see the sunrise, snorkeling in the Blue Hole, horse back riding, and quad biking excursions. We stayed four blissful days in total. The hike up Sinai was far too much exertion. We ended up reaching the top hours before sunrise and were forced to huddle behind a wall to stay out of the freezing wind. Who would have thought the desert was so damn cold?? The snorkeling was amazing, and the Blue Hole is very aptly named. It is a massive drop off of coral reef and every imaginable type of aquatic life... basically, it's a gigantic hole of blue water full of fish and scuba divers. So far,Dahab and Jerusalem are vying to be named my favorite spot so far, and it's a very close race.
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