dead sea

well, as my first official stop on this little adventure, my mom and i have been exploring israel. it seems to me so far like a mix of mediterranean and moroccan, plus a couple million jews thrown into the mix.

during our busy schedule of shuffling from roman/biblical/byzantine ruins/historical sites/museums, we managed to squeeze in some time to check out the dead sea. yes, you really do float. walking out into the water i was skeptical, but once i got in i bobbed right up to the top. it was very relaxing, just being able to float on my back and admire the mountains of jordan in front of me. a word of caution, though. if you do decide to roll over (because that's all you can do; even treading water is difficult) try to minimize the flailing. otherwise you may end up with a eye and/or mouthful of salty, salty water (à la my mother). i don't think she enjoyed the experience quite as much as i did. she spent a good 10 minutes recovering. i licked my finger later, out of curiosity. wow. it's so salty it's actually bitter. like chugging vinegar. besides that, the experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and easily one of the more interesting things i've done thus far.

at the moment i'm in a nice little hotel, tucked into the armenian quarter of the old city in jerusalem. eastern european music is wafting in on breezes through the window. i'm eagerly awaiting the dome of the rock, but it will have to wait. tomorrow is jordan.