Jericho

We took a cab to the city of Jericho Wednesday morning. It's the lowest continuously inhabited city in the world and is located next to the Dead Sea. It also is one of the oldest inhabited city, dating back to 9,000 BC. I guess I can add it to my list of "Extreme Cities" that I've visited; my only other one was when I visited Barrow, Alaska, the most northern city in the United States. Jericho is a small town with a population of 20,000 Palestinians. The climate is harsh since it's the lowest point on earth. Although, temps were hotter in Phoenix, Arizona where my friend Heather lives; they had a high of 116, which made our 95 seem like a refreshing breeze.

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel. Abe had wanted a change of pace and we had heard good things about the hotel, so we decided to stay a night. The ride there passed the same Bedouin groups that we had seen on our way to Bethlehem. Their homes are temporary and resemble shacks, made out of pieces of this and that. There is no running water and they use outhouses. They are herders, so there were goats, camels and sheep everywhere. It looks like a very hot and dusty life, but I'm told they love it.

The temps got hotter the closer we got to Jericho. You could tell that the place was once covered in water because it was suddenly flat with hills rimming the area. Everything was sandy colored and dry. Nothing really grew, probably due partially from the lack of water and from the heat.

Security was tight at the hotel; it was the only hotel I've been to where there are physical barriers to the entrance (retractable iron posts that came up out of the ground that probably could block any car), plus our cab's trunk was opened. Abe says that those kinds places are sometimes subject to attacks from fundamentalists.

The hotel was beautiful, very elegant and posh. It was quite empty, though, which gave me a bit of a lonely feeling. The economy, as can be expected, isn't the best around here, so I guess not that many people are splurging on hotel rooms. Our room was large and the bathroom was awesome; it had a deep tub and a glass shower.

The pools were nice and Jimi was so excited to go swimming. After a quick lunch, we headed down to the pool. I didn't have a suit with me and wasn't willing to buy one of the 3 bikini-in-a-box that the hotel shop had. What a weird experience trying to talk to the shop worker in his very broken English about sizes; his hand gestures used to describe that the only one piece was for, um, well endowed women, was enough for me to say no thanks to a bathing suit. I sat with Adam in the shade and watched the boys swim. It was HOT, even in the shade, so we all went to the room after about 20 minutes.

Later we sat and had a snack on the patio of the restaurant. We met an American family from California who were there visiting family in Bethlehem. We saw a young couple who were on their honeymoon; you could see the henna tattoos on her hands.

We never made it to the Dead Sea, though. We got lazy and didn't want to find a cab to drive us there. It would've been so hot that I wouldn't have gotten out of the car for long anyway with Adam. I'm a bit disappointed that we were that close and didn't bother seeing it. Maybe next time.

Abe's now sick. He woke up Thursday morning with bad stomach cramps (we wonder if it was the lasagna from dinner) and diarrhea. Today he had a fever with the cramps. He's slept most of the day today, so I hope he's getting better. Poor thing. I'm looking forward to getting home next week.