Hobbling from the donkey line, Zilneia and I hurried to find some running water, to rinse off our stinking feet. The donkey excrement had run right down my leg into my sock and trainer, so I stripped my foot, swilled both the sock and shoe under the running tap and replaced the fairly clean trainer onto my foot. Despite applying plenty of soap, the sock still looked filthy and smelt awful, so I wrung out the surplus water and then carried it to our next location in the Bedouin village.
Everyone was reclining on mattresses in concentric circles drinking sweet tea from small glasses.
Andy really liked the tea, but it was far too sweet for my taste. After three glasses (the normal custom) we had fresh bread baked on a stone, which was delicious.
By now the entertainment was in full swing, with audience participation encouraged. Several people tried accompanying the lyrist with a strange instrument which was played by striking the inside of a pot in different places, rythmically.
Davi, Zilneia's husband had definitely got the knack and kept the rythym going for several minutes, whilst working up quite a sweat.
Then, we moved to a different tent for our food, which was again enjoyed reclining at low tables. Andy and I sat with Marielouise (from the skipping camel) and Donna (centre), Oliver's daughter, who was five months pregnant at the time.
By now we were used to the usual Israeli starters: pitta bread with humus and salad, followed by BBQ'd meat and corn on the cob. We were all ravenous after our long journey and earlier camel adventures!
More entertainment followed, including some niffty drumming, which we tried to replicate...
Before retiring to bed some of us took a short walk to look at the desert stars, but were rather disappointed due to too much light pollution from the Bedouin village.
This is the ladies' section of the communal sleeping tent: very basic and cramped.
The men's section was on the other side of a very thin and low dividing curtain, but privacy was obviously not a priority as one long side of the tent remained open all night.
A friend, Charles, from Zambia, who was sleeping very close to the open side, told us that during the night he woke up with a start, aware that something was licking his face - it was one of the large guard dogs which roamed the courtyard! (Poor Charles, perhaps one day I'll tell you about some of his other 'animal encounters', when he first moved onto the farm radio site from the city, in 1994. Now he's turned into quite a farm boy raising chickens on his own small holding).
Please note Andy's absence from the photos above; only I slept in the communal tent. Andy and I had infact been offered a room, but I refused to sleep there - it just didn't feel right coming all the way into the desert and sleeping in a room...
Nevertheless, it was Andy who had the last laugh, as not normally being a 'morning person' he woke at 4am quite refreshed, compared with me, who hadn't slept a wink!
The reason for our exceptionally early start was to climb up Masada before sunrise. Masada had been built as a Roman fortress in Herod's kingdom; somewhere the armies could retreat to and regroup. However, during the fall of Jerusalem in AD70, the almost abandoned stronghold was taken over by 1000 Jewish zealots who held out against the Romans for 12 years. We climbed the western side, up the Roman seige ramp, which they built to try to gain access to Masada.
Sunrise over the Dead Sea was spectacular...
Then, we had a tour of the huge fortress. This is a model of what it looked like at its height, showing Herod's palace built on the northern face - the coolest side.
The story of Masada is amazing. The Zealots had plenty of supplies and abundant water from the huge cisterns which collected the water which cascaded down the many desert wadis (the engineering involved was amazing for the time). However, they knew that the Romans would eventually succeed in their attack, so agreeing between themselves that they didn't want to be taken prisoner and become Roman slaves, they decided to take their own lives. When the Romans finally broke through the defences, they discovered only corpses. It was a huge blow to Roman pride.
Now, besides being an important archeological site, it is the place where all Israeli soldiers complete their basic training. We were fortunate to witness this as several troops of soldiers marched up the ramp shortly after we arrived at the top.
Also, Masada now has a synagogue, which can be used for weddings and bar mitzvah ceremonies. Our guide, Tsvika told us he had been married at Masada 19 years ago.
After a lengthy, but excellent tour of Masada, we descended via the cable car on the east face and travelled to the Dead Sea resort for a dip in the salty, oily water. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth at over 400m below sea level.
Charles (from the story above) and his wife Joyce, who cannot swim, are the black people floating on the surface. It was a wonderful experience, but you were certainly made aware of any skin irritations, as they smarted in the salty water.
I demonstrated that it is possible to read in the Dead Sea...
...and these two Australian radio presenters exprimented with Dead Sea mineral mud packs.
Our last stop before leaving the Negev Desert was to visit Qumran, where Biblical manuscripts, now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, were discovered in caves, by Bedouin shepherd boys in 1947.
This is one of the caves, which we couldn't climb up to, just photograph.
Whilst we had been in Jerusalem we visited the Scroll Museum, called 'the Shrine of the Book', where some of the Dead Sea scrolls are now exhibited. The roof has been constructed in the shape of the lids of the earthware jars, in which the scrolls were discovered.
The museum told the story in photographs of the discovery and subsequent authentication process. Some of the scrolls were made of copper, others were parchments, all preserved wrapped in linen. A few dated back 4000 years, others 2000 years, but all are priceless and have reinforced the many of the Old and New Testament Scriptures.
A portion of the book of Isaiah was the central exhibit, with many other documents and artefacts displayed.
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