31st

That morning it was very snowy - but not slushy and we bought some food for all our three meals for the day for 37 shekals, about $1.50 each per meal. A one armed man in our hostel told us that buses were not going out of the city because of the snow so we decided to take a sheroot to Tel aviv and go to Masada from there. It only snows in Jeruselam every 3 or 4 years and when it does it is a big deal and most businesses close down. Talia was going to Tel aviv that day so i told her that we were going also - she came down stairs but decided not to go - Pol came down too - which was both good and bad, good because it was nice to see her again before we split but bad because it meant that we couldn't part on her previous final statement which made me chuckle " Just remember if you stay in the dead sea too long your genitals might start to sting"

After a moment of panic in Tel aviv where i left my black bag containing my passport, wallet and camera in a sheroot we boarded a bus bound for Eilat - right at the bottom of the country. We had missed the bus to Masada and figuered we would do it on the way up. With us on the bus trip were many Israelli youths from teh army with their menacing guns and a lady who we talked to briely from Tasmania. In Eilat five hours later we opted not to be driven to a cheap hotel by someone at the bus station and went to the one accross the road - the little prince. It was quite cheap but very empty. We dried some of our clothes and our shoes there with a hair dryer that we were lucky enought to find. For dinner we had meaty `israelli take away burgers as we hadn't had meat in two days - i also had a malt fizzy drink which smelt like beer.