It's All Relative

Between Jericho and Jerusalem, we stopped at a Bedouin encampment. Just for a few moments. Meeting a few of the roving Arabian wanderers of the desert that live out here in tents and shacks that make the rural Appalachians look like Beverly Hills.

Anyway.........I read the StarTrib website frequently, and am up-to-date with how cold it is back there. But, remember, everything is relative! It is downright hot here.

Just a short distance from Jerusalem in the Judean Hills, I would have given anything to jump in a snowbank. To put some fresh, icy snow in my mouth and let the cold wetness nourish me. But no........no relief to be found. Count your good fortune!

I don't know, but who is to say the Bedouin man I photographed below might not be suffering from heatstroke, equally as deadly as frostbite.

This Bedouin elder is wilting in the sun and heat, wondering if winter will ever come.

This burro has poor traction in the blowing and drifting sand. (A handful of burro collisions were reported today due to blowing sand and warm gravel on the wadis.)

So see....it's all relative!

Geographic point of note. In the picture I took below at the Bedouin encampment, you can actually see part of the city of Jerusalem on the very last ridge in the center distance, right on the horizon.