Passover

It's really quiet. Quieter than most sabbaths, and not just for one day.

The first thing you notice is little groups of people gathering in the vacant lots making little bonfires to burn the kametz. No yeast must be found in your house or in any of the stores. We went shopping today and found some food unavailable because it contained yeast. All the shelves containing cereal were covered with plastic and had a sign saying "kametz, do not open." Various other areas were covered with plastic. Toothpaste with soda, some candy bars, some baby formula were all covered. There was no bread at all, only rice cakes. There were some kosher cakes and macaroons. There was, as usual, lots of chocolate.

On Tuesday we headed south for our vacation, which also made up for our last two honeymoons which we didn't really celebrate. ("All things come to those who wait.") Besides riding a camel, we saw lots of nice vacant land and barren hills and eroded mountains. Lovely, after being in the city so long.

Burning the kametz.

It is starting to green up. Not sure how green it will get or how long it will last. See the sink hole? There are many of them and some big enough to cave the road in.
These goats are wa-ay up there. They're the African type, with long floppy ears.

Bedouins live here. This is a nice-looking place. Many of them are ugly trash heaps. Do Bedouin women have no desire for beauty or do their husbands just not care? Of course the scenery, in this case, would make up for the shoddy sheds they live in.

Lots of groves of date palms.

The white streak down the mountain is salt.

The soil must be fertile for there to be so many greenhouses.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in this and three other caves. You can see just one cave in this picture. There are hundreds of them all along the highway. I wonder how many of them have been explored. You'd have to watch out for rock slides.

Caves aside, this is a nice place to visit. I got the nicest green sunhat here. Prettier than any cave.

Getting closer to the water.
And here we are!
More to come.