The Dead Sea and Israeli Food 6/26 by Rachel Huss
Woah! I didn’t know what the Dead Sea would be like, but it’s
awesome! The sensation of your feet just coming out from underneath you and
floating is so disorienting, but also a lot of fun. However, the salt does sting
quite a bit if you get it on your face and in any cuts you have! We were just
in an evaporation pool next to the Dead Sea at a hotel called Herods (reeeeeealllllyyyyyy
fancy hotel and it was almost kind of awkward…), but you still got a good
experience.
After getting some Dead Sea mud on our faces and spending
some time in the Dead Sea, we moved to the normal pool to clean off some of the
salt and stop our bodies from stinging. Kaity and I had a water-treading
contest for 30 minutes before we gave it up and called it a tie. We’re going to
be sore for a bit after that, but it’s good exercise and we need to sleep.
Also, the hotel is freezing, so it’s kind of hard to get comfortable, and our
room is pretty tiny for three people (but it has a “private” pool shared with
nine other rooms that we hung out as a group in later). Altogether, though,
everything seems really rich and lavish and it feels like we’re actually
hanging out at [one of] King Herod’s [many] palaces. I can’t wait to see more
at Masada and around Israel!
We also met this really sweet old man who was wearing the
Jewish yamakah skullcap, and was
walking on crutches. It was just me and Kaity who talked to him, but he was
super excited that we were Americans and gave us a big hug. It was like a two
minute conversation at the most, but it was super cool to meet a person like
him. The people here are all so unique but also share the heritage that Israel
has. There are so many cool places that unite them, but we’ve seen so many in
the past few days that the days and ruins are starting to blur together… I can’t
even pick out the name of a favorite site anymore! I wish you could see it all,
but just a few pictures on this blog will give you a good snapshot.
One more topic I would also like to share with you is the
food here – it’s so good and unique! I especially love a simple pita stuffed
with a ton of different vegetables and some awesome falafel (fried chickpeas).
Most of the food is buffet style, so Kaity and I take some food we want to try
and split it so we can try more foods. Most of the meals are almost entirely
vegetarian (or close to it), but the meat is really good here! I love the steak,
though I have to admit that the St. Peter’s Fish (tilapia) that we ate around
the Sea of Galilee was pretty good even though I don’t like fish. I’ve tried so
much salad here! All the food is really healthy and (most of the time) fills
you up with day-long energy for all our hiking around. All I can really bring
back is the pictures of it, though. Enjoy!
-Rachel (Huss)
Comments
Post a Comment