How to get to En Geddi . . .

It started out simple enough. Hike up Jaffa St., catch the bus to the central bus station, and then find the 8:00 bus going to En Geddi. So I boarded the bus for the central station . . . and cluelessly stayed on as we went by. I realized my mistake when I looked out the window to my right and saw a sign saying, "Central Station is that way." (It didn't say it like that exactly, but that's what it meant.) It turned out that "that way" was where we had just been.

We were stopped at a traffic light and one passenger had just talked the driver into letting him off there. So I tried the same thing. I don't think the drivers like to do it though because when I asked if I could get off there, the answer was quite negative. I believe it was your basic "no". So I said, "Okay."

Seeing I was a clueless tourist, he wondered where I wanted to go. "Central bus station," I said. Next thing I knew, the doors opened and I was on the street -- or more accurately, the sidewalk. I made it back to the bus station in good time, and after going through security (that pretty much ignored me thankfully), I wandered into the special departures section. This is where the cab drivers hang out. These guys prey on unsuspecting foreigners by charging exorbitant rates to transport them from point A to point B.

Usually they say something like, "You're going to the Dead Sea, yes? I have to go there and pick someone up. I'll take you there. Right now." If you ask how much, he will say, "Normally 500 shekels, but for you -- 200 shekels." This is your cue to stare at him in shock and disbelief, because you know that you can take the bus for 34.50 (shekels). AND it's even cheaper to buy a round trip bus ticket. But you may not be able to feign shock and disbelief if you don't know you can take the bus for 34.50.

Anyway, one of the cab drivers was kind enough to direct me to the bus terminal area, where later another cab driver found me and asked, "You're going to the Dead Sea, yes? I have to go there to pick someone up . . . " And Etc. You already can guess how that conversation went.

On the way to En Geddi, we had to go through a checkpoint complete with soldiers and AK 47's. One of the cars in front of us was receiving much lengthy instruction from one of the soldiers. Our dear bus driver who was not known for his great longsuffering character promptly laid his hand on the horn, and followed this with sweeping motions of the hands complete with facial contortions. She looked back and glared at him, causing him to honk even more. This had the desired result of producing another soldier at his window who made motions that could be interpreted to mean that he needs to cool his jets, which in turn caused the driver to lay forth into a barrage of Hebrew which could be interpreted to mean . . . well, I'm not sure, probably something along the lines of, "Get that other guy out of the way, and let us get on with the show!" But in the end the driver couldn't do anything but sit there anyway. I mean, are you gonna ignore the instructions of people who have AK 47's and know how to use them?

We made it to En Geddi without casualties (no holes shot in our tires), and got off the bus where we were greeted with a warm reception. Like, a hundred degrees farenheit (well, almost). We happened to be right beside the Dead Sea. It's August in the wilderness, and we were 400 meters below sea level. It felt like a desert, hot and dry. But in the midst of this wilderness are these springs with clear, cool water. Pretty nice.

They have quite a few hiking trails, and some of them are fairly steep ascents. It turned out that all the high ascents were closed due to extreme temperatures. After hiking the area that afternoon, I can understand. The heat just saps the energy right out of you. Also it requires a lot of water to keep going, which of course means more pack weight, which requires more energy to carry, which generates more body heat, which requires more water to keep cool . . . well, you see where this is going.


View of the Dead Sea.





En Geddi Lookout. My original plan was to hike up here.

Instead of the black trail, I followed the green and the red one into The Dry Canyon. Pretty neat.

On my way back, I met some hikers that were Israelis but were from New York originally. One of the guys said they live in one of the caves around here.

But he was joking, of course. This picture wasn't even taken at En Geddi, for that matter. ;-)