Today was our second full day in Israel. I have had less than six hours of sleep in two days yet I have more energy than ever. We started the day very early waking up at 5am to head over from our Beduin Campsite to Mount Masada. This is my second time visiting Israel and Masada but the experience this time gives new, refreshing feeling. Still dark, we hiked up the plateau to catch an Israeli sunrise over the mountains. Once reaching to top of the Masada, it was quite a site. We walked all around the top of it learning interesting facts about all the ancient architecture and history behind this national treasure. By 9am we began to head back to eat breakfast back at the campsite.
Following breakfast, which was delicious, we continued to the next part of the morning and one of the most anticipated parts of the trip, camel riding. Everyone in our group was so excited when we saw all the camels lined up and connected to one another in fours. We paired up and prepared to get aboard. Upon getting on top of a seated camel, the Beduin herder kicked the side of the camel and it got up one side at a time - front to back. It was a humorous beginning envisioning the worst possible scenario of falling off the large creature. Everyone got on their camels and named them, which was just another way of entertaining ourselves. We did half a lap around the campsite to get an astonishing view of the desert around us. We turned around and headed back as a pack to our starting point. Getting off the camel was rather terrifying. The herder hits the camel’s neck to get the camel to sit down. It begins to sit down front to back, but our camel decided to stay with it's rear end up for a minute or two. My camel partner and I were laughing very hard after envisioning the same beginning scenario. I am writing this to you on our bus on our way back to Jerusalem to see what happens next. Over one hundred pictures later...it was a very memorable morning.
