Jericho

Quick post today b/c others are waiting to use the net book. Last night we went to our tour guide's home where she prepared pita bread on an outdoor stove for us. Very interesting & fun! Today we crossed over into Palestine. The landscape has totally changed from green & fertile in Galilee to brown, barren, & rocky. We passed through a checkpoint & then the electric fence barbed wire border was very prevalent. Our hotel had to be changed in Jericho b/c the Russian president took over our other hotel--of all the nerve! We continue to see amazing things one after the other. The Jordan River is not anything liked I imagined it--very green and stagnant b/c it's dammed up on either end in the area where they baptize people. Not a particularly appetizing baptismal site! More later.