Le Quatrième Jour, Vendredi. (The fourth day, Friday 5/20)

 Friday was our first full day in Israel. We kicked off the day by going to a reserve called Timna, which is a place that the Egyptians had copper mines. There are all sorts of really cool sandstone rock formations in the park area, and it was really beautiful. There were all sorts of little green copper rock pieces on the ground, and I picked up a few while I was there.

Mushroom rock.

Solomon's Pillars.

Sphynx rock formation.

 

Some sort of altar and sacrifice place.

We also got to climb down into one of the shafts, though it didn't go very far down it was still cool to see all of the caves and interconnections. I wasn't brave enough to climb through the really tight, sandy, dark parts even though those were the coolest. I just stayed in the main, bright and open area. But it was still cool.

Inside the Ark of the Covenant.

In Timna, there was also a recreation of the Jewish Tabernacle. It was really interesting. Especially since the woman running it turned out to be a Messianic Jew. She was talking all about how the Tabernacle was set up to point toward Jesus. It was really interesting and powerful. I just wish that I had the experience before I wrote my paper on the same topic for Hebrews class. Bummer.





In the afternoon, we went snorkeling in the Red Sea. It was totally awesome! I never got the hang of it perfectly, but I was surprised by the fact that I was decent at it. And the water, though it seemed only about the same saltiness as the Atlantic ocean must have been much saltier, because we floated really easy. There were tons of jellyfish in the water and it was totally freaking me out, even though they didn't really sting us. The water was totally gorgeous there and the coral had some really cool colors in it, too.