July 06, 2007
#38
About three years ago, I made a list of the things I wanted to do in life. In total, I came up with about 80 different goals, some travel-oriented, some professionally-oriented, some family-oriented, and some life-oriented. Some were pretty ambitious (See the darkness of space) and others entirely frivalous (spend a night gambling in VegaS). Creating the list was a big factor in me leaving politics and consulting behind because I realized that my current path wasn't really getting me any closer to my goals. Since 2004, I've knocked off five, including visiting Alcatraz to flying in a helicopter, and added a few more to the list.
Today I knocked off #38: "Swim in the Dead Sea." In our only free day in Israel, me and the ninjas, the only other two remaining members of our group, drove the two hours down to the Dead Sea region, through the desert outside Jerusalem, passing many goat- and sheep-herding Beduoin communities as well as several Israeli police and military checkpoints.
The gondola ride up to Masada, where it was in the low-100s.
We spent the early part of the afternoon at Masada, an ancient palace built by King Herod and then later, under the Romans, the scene of a lengthy seige where the last Jewish rebels held off the Romans for months until on the verge of defeat they committed mass suicide rather than face slavery. To this day, the scene has a unique importance in Jewish and Israeli culture—Israeli soldiers are sworn in here with the words "Masada shall not fall again."
Afterwards, we went over to Mineral Beach, where we went for a quick swim. It was amazingly fun; I've heard people talk about the prospect of just floating in the Dead Sea but that doesn't really capture just how cool it is. You really just float. You can't get under the water even if you wanted to. It's so buoyant and swimming is a breeze because there's no real resistance. We rubbed ourselves down with the famous mud and learned a valuable lesson: Using an abrasive mud and then swimming in very salty water can be quite painful.
People floating in the Dead Sea. Off in the distance is Jordan.
It was also REALLY hot. At Masada, which is about 50 meters above sea level, and at the Dead Sea, which is about 400 meters below sea level, you could feel the intense heat. The temperature was well over 100 degrees, but our guide explained that it can often range up towards 115.
Anyway, number 38 is done. At the rate I'm going I've got many decades ahead of me.
