The ride to our hostel called Bait Sarah or the Ein Gedi Youth Hostel was quite adventurous. I called the hostel while we were on the bus and asked them where we should get off. They told me, in both English and Hebrew (I had them spell it out in the latter) we needed to get off at Qalya (or Kalya), one of the beaches on the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, Qalya is over thirty minutes from Ein Gedi and the hostel and so we had to get back on the bus. I was rather annoyed at the people who run the hostel from then on. So, if you plan to stay in Ein Gedi/the Dead Sea, know that the hostel is actually 2 stops before the Ein Gedi Kibbutz. One stop before the Kibbutz is called Hof Ein Gedi (the Shore of Ein Gedi) and it's near a gas station. That's the best place to get off, because the bus driver doesn't announce the previous stop.
Anyway, after a long and trying day, we finally checked into the hostel and then went to float in the Dead Sea. Hof Ein Gedi is a free beach (Qalya, Mineral Beach, etc are not). The way down was fairly easy and I was able to float for about 10 minutes. It's hard to describe what it feels like floating in the Dead Sea. Once you go out far enough, you just feel weightless and, in my opinion, greasy. The salt clings to your body and if you have any cuts it's quite painful. Some people cut themselves on the rocks going into the water, so it's advisable to wear flip flops or some other sort of water shoe if you're worried. I didn't need to, but another girl was almost crying when she went in because she cut her toes up on the rocks.
Sadly, I didn't cover myself in mud because I wasn't going to buy the mud from the stores. (Everything in the Dead Sea is a tourist trap. You can get the mud for a lot cheaper on Ben Yehuda or in certain parts of the Shuk). I believe that the beaches you pay to enter all have mud available, but I'm not positive. The Kibbutz certainly does but they are ridiculously expensive. So if you have to put mud on at the Dead Sea but don't want to pay to enter one of the beaches where it's provided or readily available, then just bring some with you.
Anyway, after that we went back to the Hostel and called it a night. (We had a long day earlier getting lost). The next morning, we got up early and had breakfast (it was included in the price and decent), we decided to hike one of the Ein Gedi trails. The hostel is right next to the Ein Gedi nature preserve and they have a lot of trails. We chose one of the easier and shorter ones (because we had to leave that morning and had all of our stuff). The trail was nice and simple and we had a great time.
Now onto the pictures:
First the Dead Sea
and now Ein Gedi:
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