We're Going Caving!!!

Who wants to spend a morning slithering on your stomach through a bunch of tiny limestone caves? Me! On one of the school trips, we got the chance to go explore some of the Maccabeean  Cave that are right outside of Jerusalem. These limestone caves were originally quarries and places for refrigeration, before some were dug to be used in guerrilla tactics against the Romans in the first century BC. There initially there weren’t too many tiny holes that we had to squeeze through, but after going through the first couple rooms, we got to the first little tunnel that we really had to crawl on our hands and knees through this little windy tunnel. It wasn’t very long and after a few feet we were able to squeeze through another small hole that lead to an even bigger room. The limestone was so soft in places that it would literally crumble in your hand.  At that stop we went around in a circle and told a really bizarre ghost story in the dark that had us all laughing. Really that was the only cave that we actually had to crawl through, which was kinda depressing, since I expected more. We also went to a bell cave that was an old quarry and two burial caves, one Jewish one that still had the stones that would have been used to seal the bodies into the grottos for a year, before gathering the bones and interring them.  The other was a Christian one with Corinthian columns etched with small crosses. in contrast to the Jewish burial cave, the bodies were laid out along the wall rather than into the wall, and were not sealed in, interestingly enough.  From the limestone caves we went to an overlook of the valley of E’lah, which is where David fought Goliath. It was an absolutely fantastic view of the valley, and there were some beautiful trees at the overlook. And of course we had to stage the battle of David and Goliath between two of the students and read the story of the event. :P All in all it was  pretty fantastic trip.