Out of Office O^3

Our last day being a tourist in Israel was full of adventures.

We met our van at the hotel down the street at 6:30 am, and as we were the first pickup, it was there early. I was surprised to recognize the driver as the person who met me at the airport last Sunday, gun still on his belt. He looks around 65 years old, with a long white beard and belly, and a yamika. Kind of like Santa Claus, but not at all like Santa Claus.
We picked up a few more people at the Hilton in Tel Aviv, and were driven to Jeruselum, where we picked up a few more people. Just like on Monday, we took the short cut to Jeruselum. Instead of taking the national hwy #1 we took hwy 443 ... through the west bank and two check points. So strange for us to see the walls, guard towers, barbed wire and machine gun carrying (young men and women) soldiers at the check points. We slowed at the check points, the driver would say "shalom" and then we'd continue through.
In Jeruselum we switched drivers, filled the van up with gas, and started the 1h drive downhill to Jericho.
Our van of tourists were interesting too! A young couple from France, a young man from China, a young woman from Berlin (a PhD student in big data), a woman from Brazil (who had just been working with Dr's Without Borders as a child psychologist at refugee camps for 4 months), a mother and adult daughter from London, a young white man from Namibia, two women from Germany, a couple from Brazil, and Leone and I. Our 2nd driver (no yamika or visible gun) commented on the lack of Americans in the van.
We soon realized the reason we switched drivers was not (only) because of the sabath (today at sunset). Jericho is in the Palestine territory, so we were once again passing through checkpoints, but this time we weren't just passing through. Our first driver would not have been welcome, but we were welcomed with fresh lemonade and a tour of the ruins of Jericho's old walls. Jericho is famous for being the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world, 10,000 years old! It's also the site of a fresh water spring and a 2000 year old tree that is mentioned in the bible, and a UN supported refugee camp.
Jericho was also where 3 of the people in the van met another driver to continue to Bethlehem - a tour we'll have to do another time. We stayed with the original van and continued our tour, back into Israel, up the west bank of the Dead Sea to Masada. Masada is a huge fort on a mountain, that was the last stronghold of the Jews fending off the Roman's (around 70 BCE). Once it became clear that the Jews would be conquered, they all commuted suicide (families too) and this area has become very symbolic to the Israeli fight. We took the cable car up (some tourists took the snake trail hiking trail, but it looked very hot and steep), enjoyed views of the desert, Dead Sea, and Jordan, and explored the fort on our own (no guide, but lots of people around). Besides tourists, there was a large group of Israeli teenagers, singing and chanting (like boy scouts and girl guides), in an organized "jamboree".
Even though we had taken the cable car, we were very hot from the sun exposure just walking around at the top, and were looking forward to our next stop. Ein Gedi is an oasis with a creek and several waterfalls. We put on bathing suits and after a short, but hot hike up the creek, were rewarded with cooling showers in the waterfall!
I'll finish here for now ... I've just arrived at MSN. I'm glad to be home after a really great trip! And so thankful Leone decided to come with me!!!