Advertisement
Published: August 9th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Hardhats Required
Before going into the Cistern at Bersheeba...
Elizabeth - LA, Kathy-Chicago, Sara-San Diego, Me, Jolie-Denver Another early morning loading into the bus. But this time we were headed South. All the way South, to Elat, to be exact. On the way, we would be making a few stops. Where? I have no idea, so as I write we can be suprised together.
Our 1st stop was at Tel Beer Sheva (or Bersheeba). Bersheeba ("well of the oath") dates back to Genesis. It's believed to be the place were Abraham made an oath with Abimelech (Genesis 21:22-32). Bersheeba also marked the southernmost point of ancient Israel (2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21). We were able to walk down into an ancient cistern and then around the remains of the city itself. It was amazing to see how all the rooms were laid out. One other little known fact about Bersheeba is that it is home to gigantic, mutant size cows. (Starr, these cows were even bigger than your mountain cows!).
Our next stop was at the Ramon crater. Israel's version of the Grand Canyonh. The veiw from the top was commanding. You could look out over the entire area. The Ramon Crater is 40 kilometers long and 2 to 10 kilometers wide, shaped like an elongated heart.
It is a part of the Ramon Nature reserve that includes also the surrounding Negev mountains. The crater is 500 m. deep The crater formation began hundreds of millions years ago when the ocean that covered the Negev began to move north. Water and other climatic forces slowly and steadily flattened the curve on top of the hump-shaped hill. Eventually, the Arava rift valley was formed and rivers changed their course. As they did so, they carved out the inside of the crater.
There is less than 100ml of rain in Ramon each year. Many of the animals here don't need to drink water, although they get it from what they eat. We learned how the snails here hibernate in the summer and then resurface in the summer. From the top of the crater we hopped over to Bio Ramon. Think a zoo for all the dessert animals found at the crater. We were introduced to 2 very shy porcupines (they were huge!). After a short hike (everything's a hike when its 95 deg) back to the bus, we were on our way to Elat, home of the Red Sea.
Before heading into Elat, we stopped at the Israel/Egypt border.
Bersheeba
Isn't this incredible! Elat is the southernmost point of Israel. Israel, Egypt and Jordan borders all pretty much meet at the Red Sea. Even being baked by the sun couldn't keep us from staring out at the Red Sea, seemingly surrounded by mountains in the middle of the desert. Although we joked about making a run for the border, none of us dared to do so. As some point a militarty jeep showed up, which of course inspired a round of picture taking. The first picture was just of the soldiers. The next picture had one of us standing several feet away from the soldiers. The picture after that we were right next to the jeep. Until finally, we were sitting in the jeep. I think the most unbelievable moment came when a family came and plopped their kid in the jeep. After a few words between "mom" and the soldier, the soldier unstrapped his Uzzi (yes, I said Uzzi) and gave it to the kid to hold for the picture! Too Crazy!
Once in Elat, we found taxis to take us to the Coral Beach so we could do some snorkeling. The water was crystal clear. Even walking out across the pier
you could see the fish. The water was cool (not too warm, not too cold). There was 1 spot where there was a big coral reef that you could swim over (most of the other reefs were blocked off). It was absolutely incredible. India.arie sang it best...
I jumped in the water. It was like I was seeing it for the first time. It literally changed my life.
For the first time I understood it's power. As I swam I was cleansed. If I had any doubts this experience cleared them. Now I know for sure that God is real. I know that it's the truth by the way it feels.
Cause I saw starfish and sponges, Fish shaped like trumpets. So many different colors. I stayed out there for hours and I only saw a fraction of a fraction of the Deepest of the deep of the great blue wide. It brought a tear to my eye
That's how I know that God is real. All of this is not by chance. That's how I know that God is real. I conquered my fear of being surrounded by fish (I know, I know...How can I love to snorkel and
Hmmm
This place was off limits so I'm not sure what it is. be afraid of fish?). I found myself in the middle of several schools of fish (or scholls as Greg would say). I didn't panic and I didn't swim away. I simply enjoyed the moments looking at all of God's creations as they looked back at me. I didn't even panic when they brushed against me. Of course had they have taken the liberty to snack on me as they did Christian, it may have been a different story.
Nine of us (Myself, Sara - San Diego, Jolie - Denver, Brenda - New York, Greg - Israel via London, Clive - London via South Africa, Wouter - South Africa, pronounced Vote-Er, Christian - Paris, and Jim - Los Angeles) decided to spend the night on the beach, while the rest of the group went back to Jerusalem. I must admit i was doubtful in the beginning, especially since we were headed away from the only visible restaurant and I was hungry. However, we were assured at the dive shop that a nice campsite complete with restaurant was only 15 minutes up the road. So off we headed, complete with sleeping bags and 15 liters or so of water and juice. After
walking for about 15 minutes, we stumbled across paradise.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0235s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb