Sunday, May 22, continued, by Pennie Clouser

After a refreshing drink of mint lemonade (capping off our lunch), several of us walked to an ATM. To our amazement, we found 100- and 50-shekel notes were the norm, so tomorrow we get change, we hope. Oh yes, the mint lemonade is made in a blender with lots of mint, lemonade, and sugar. Sorry! No quantities of ingredients available.

Once back on the bus, we headed to Qumran National Park, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls. After the Scrolls were discovered in 1947, the ruins were also rediscovered and preserved. I was fascinated by the fact that the Essene culture was dedicated to ritual bathing and purity and copying the Hebrew Scriptures and creating the scrolls.

From Qumran it was a quick jaunt to the Dead Sea where nearly all of us donned bathing suits and proceeded to bob like corks and give ourselves mud facials. 

To cap off our day, we drove to Wadi Qelt, home of St. George’s Monastery. The bus was greeted by several Bedouin peddlars. We said no until one of our crew decided a donkey ride would be better than walking up a steep rocky path. At the lookout point we could see St. George’s Monastery which is on “the road” to Jericho where the story of the Good Samaritan took place.  The road is a narrow dirt path. On the lookout side of the ravine are the remains of a water canal Herod built to get water to his summer palace. Once we were all back in the bus, we returned to the hotel for a great dinner and a reasonably early bedtime.

See all of you tomorrow!