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Jordan! Yes! And It counts!

Jordan is a gorgeous country with a deep history and you can cover fairly effectively in a week. The people are really, really friendly, and most of them speak English. For all you working stiffs (and I say that with affection), I highly recommend it.

Wadi Rum and Petra are two of the most photogenic places to which I have ever been. I was in Petra and Wadi Rum for only one day each but I got a hell of a lot of great pictures. The photos I already posted on Picasa tell a far better story than I could write. If you want to know more about the history of Wadi Rum, rent [I[Lawrence of Arabia (and watch it on a massive flat screen). A lot of people recommend staying two or three days in each of these places. I definitely like to get to know a place when I travel. I really haven’t visited too many countries considering that I’ve now been on the road for a cumulative 11 months. Quality before quantity. Beautiful as they are, though, Wadi Rum and Petra are very tourist-oriented; there isn’t a whole lot of culture to absorb. Petra, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, would be a great place to read, write, or meditate if it weren’t loaded with tourists, which it is, even in the off-season. Wadi Rum would be a great place to hike for three or four days but it would be awfully hot most of the year. I spent time with Bedouins, but they were ones that deal with tourists every day. They weren’t the ones making a life out in the desert. “Bedouin,” by the way, is simply the Arabic term for people who live in the desert. Although they Bedouins throughout the Arabic world have a lot in common with one another, they are not a People. They are certainly quite different from other Arabs I met in Jordan and in Egypt, though. Their long hair is a big contrast, and they are prone to wearing leather jackets. Basically, they’re pretty bad-ass looking dudes.

I arrived in Jordan by ferry from Egypt. As I was getting off the boat, I met a Canadian named Terence and I spent the next four days pretty much—no, not “pretty much.” I spent the next four days completely piggy-backing on his trip. Terence had a jeep expedition and night in the desert booked in Wadi Rum, he had a hotel reserved near Petra, and he had a car rented for the next few days after that. After leaving Petra, we visited two Crusader fortresses. The most interesting thing about visiting these castles is getting an idea the way people lived back then in basic, cramped, quarters where diseases must have ran rampant. Even more intense is to hear about how they fought. Imagine being stuck in a fortress for nine months while a siege was being laid; imagine climbing up a rampart while arrows and boiling oil rain down on you. Imagine getting blasted by an 80 lb rock slung from a catapult. All in the name of God and his Son, the Prince of Peace.

Terence had sent an ambitious agenda that day. In between visiting the castles, we went to a stunning nature reserve, and before arriving in the town of Madaba where we would spend the night, we were to swim the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea and the Jordan River represent the current border of Jordan and Israel-controlled territories. The West Bank in which many Palestinians live is so named because it is the west bank of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. With all our stops and the challenges of driving in Jordanian cities, it was getting late as we approached the Sea. As cold as it had been in Jordan, I wasn’t thrilled about going swimming after sunset. Besides that, since I was going to Israel I would have an opportunity to go in from the other side. Terence was on a tighter schedule, though, and the Dead Sea is definitely something you shouldn’t miss when you are in this part of the world.

As it turned out, being cold wasn’t a problem. The shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest place on Planet Earth—over 400 meters below sea level. It was much, much warmer than the mountains and plateaus from which we came. In fact, it was a perfect warm night. Getting into the Dead Sea, however, is easier said than done. Access from the Jordanian side is mostly via spas and luxury resorts. Where there is open access, it is a pretty long walk from the road to the shore because the water level is sinking at a rate of one meter per year as river water is being siphoned off before it reaches the Sea. More importantly, because of the high salt and mineral content, it is highly recommended that you wash off with fresh water soon after you get out and there aren’t fresh water showers set up in public places. It was dark out by the time we came to a bridge where a crowd of people hugged the sides of the road, buying and selling foods and handicrafts. We got out and saw that two fresh water streams drained into the river here, but they were only an inch deep—maybe less. We were dead set on getting in, though, so we figured we could manage.

Knowing about the salinity of the Dead Sea doesn’t prepare you for it. It is over 30%!s(MISSING)alt. That is ten times saltier than the oceans. And, man, you can tell! You can comfortably read a book while floating on your back. I was able to touch my fingers to my feet, cross my legs, and roll over from my back to my stomach five times in three seconds—all without getting my hair wet (Yes, we were being total dorks.). It’s a strange, cool feeling, but the craziest part was the tartness and stinging I felt when I got a drop—a single drop—on my lips. Forty-five minutes later, I touched my tongue to the spot where the drop had hit, and it still made me grimace. I’m not sure if it was just because of the salt or some of the other minerals had something to do with it. There are mad minerals in it and Dead Sea beauty products are a small industry. Terence was foolish enough to put his head under and, while his eyes were closed, they still stung bad. The say that if you shave on the same day that you go in, it is like dipping your face into a bee’s nest.

Four local guys were swimming there as well, being every bit as goofy as us. From the moment we got out, our skin was slimy and coarse. We asked them how they washed off and they said “Follow us.” We got to our car and drove maybe 150 meters back down the “highway,” then turned up a dirt road. I wish I could give better directions in case anyone I know ever goes there, because the place they took us was so cool. The only sign was in Arabic, though, and then we parked in a non-descript spot near a house and walked ten minutes down a path to a stream. A little bit up the stream was a pool. A waterfall fed it, crashing down on a rock. You could sit on the rock and get a pounding massage. On the side of the pool, though, there was a second water source—a small cave lit by candles—a hot spring. We soaked in over our heads and it was incredible, but there was more. An older man waded up to us with a serious look on his face. “Do you have high blood pressure?”, he asked. “No.” “Do you have a heart condition?” “No.” “OK, come with me.” Then we saw that up over the rocks from which the water was spilling there was a second inner cave. As we climbed up, hot air rushed into our lungs. It was a natural steam room, about knee deep. The ceiling was low and was the ultimate source of the water, which came down as a steady rain. There were no other tourists and no women, and the men sang Arabic songs. It was a true Jordanian experience.


We spent the night in Madaba, “city of mosaics”. Madaba is a really chilled out that is worth going to. It is touristy, but not hassle-ly (To my mind, the single worst aspect of traveling is the hassling. Any respite from it is heavenly.). Madaba is also a Christian town, which was a surprise. Frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered to me, but the city was all decked out for Christmas. That was kind of nice. The closest thing to home in a while.
The next day, we visited Mount Nebo, from which God showed Moses the Promised Land. Moses never did go to Israel. He died on the mountain. I did go to Israel, but it was an adventure to get there—one I’ll save for another post.

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year.

Greg


Here are some pictures:

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