عين جدي

Friday morning Noah and I woke up with a mission. We were off to visit the Dead Sea. A few hours, a bus ride, and a pomegranate later, we managed to arrive at En Gedi, a beach literally in the middle of the desert.

The sign for the beach along the desert highway.

It was absolutely gorgeous. With mountainous desert in one direction and the sea in the other, the view couldn't be beat. Except, maybe by the experience itself. We quickly hurried down to the shore, ditched our backpacks, and headed straight for the water. 

Noah on the beach before we got in.

At the Dead Sea!

The sensation of being in the Dead Sea was like something I had never experienced before. There's this feeling of weightlessness, I heard one tourist describe it as feeling like an astronaut. The buoyancy truly is incredible. Effortlessly, my body floated well above the water. There's an entirely new point of balance that's different from any other time swimming prior so it's a little freaky, but at the same time I imagine it'd be nearly impossible to drown. But then the water itself is different too. The water is insanely salty. My lips would burn and reactively licking it would just cause my mouth to taste like it was full of tablespoons of salt for minutes after. It felt cool on our skin though. Noah described it as taking a bath purely in essential oils, which is completely accurate. If you rub essential oil on your arm it would be nearly the exact feeling of your skin while in the Dead Sea.

This is a picture Noah took of me floating in the Dead Sea. I'm literally just sitting on top of the water.

Hanging out at En Gedi.

It was such an awesome experience and the perfect way to spend my first weekend is Israel. Nothing like a little sun, a lot of salt, and good company!