Dead Sea


On the road from Masada to the Dead Sea, our van broke down.

After much chatter into a phone, our driver ushered us out of the van, waved down a tourist bus full of surprised Germans and blagged us 4 seats. The kind driver dropped us off at a spot from where we could walk down to the small cluster of buildings that housed a few tourist facilities such as showers, a cafe and a lifeguard station.

I enjoyed a nice bob in the sea. I loved that as it is 500ft below Sea Level it is almost impossible to get sunburnt. I found it very disconcerting that the salt makes the Sea so buoyant you basically sit on the water. I found it amusing that everyone who turned over onto their fronts to do the breaststroke in the 18 inch deep water was shouted at by the lifeguards. Though apparently you can drown easily in the Dead Sea if you get caught face down because it is tremendously difficult to right yourself.

It was as I came out of the Sea, slathered in pore enhancing slimey clay as you can see, that one of the other guys told me "The showers have just stopped working." Of course I thought he was joking, so I just laid back in a deckchair and let the slime get baked into a hard crust by the Sun before walking up to the shower block and discovering that he was telling the truth.

I challenge you to go to do the following:
  • Go to the nearest big Pharmacy,
  • Invest in a couple of sachets of Dead Sea mud,
  • Slather it in all it's squidgey oozy glory all over yourself,
  • And then try and wash it off with a 1.5litre bottle of still water.
It is possible. I had to do it... But I can tell you now, it ain't easy!

Comments