The Lowest Place on Earth

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So this is it, our last day. I say it with some sadness of course, but also there is a readiness to go back to the normalcy of home. We had originally planned on doing Petra for two days, but really one long day is all that is needed. We covered everything even with our two hour hike. We decided to go see the Dead Sea, so we popped into a travel agency last night and arranged transportation (it’s 3 hours away) for a wopping $65. Our driver picked us up at 7:30am and he was super nice. He didn’t seem happy that all we have seen of Jordan is Petra and the King’s Highway (think our I-5, just freeway with overwhelming amounts of oil trucks and desert). He asked us if he could take us the longer way and show us some sights…of course we were excited about that!

A short distance from Petra was Shobak Castle. It’s more than 1300 years old and we stopped for a few to walk around. After that, Ferris (our driver) took us on a great scenic drive that really showed that Jordan has many different landscapes. There is desert (of course), a canyon (that resembled the Grand Canyon), and rolling green hills at times. If you just flew into Jordan and took the King’s Highway to Petra, you would never know that Jordan is more than just desert…it is actually very pretty.

We arrived at the Dead Sea mid-afternoon and since we had not planned on doing any swimming this trip we didn’t have any swimsuits. Oh so lucky for us, there are vendor stalls selling them near the beach. Unluckily for me, all there seemed to be was horrible 80’s looking 2 piece suits (not happening). I finally found one guy that had a one piece for 7 Jordanian Dinars, so we were on our way. I thought I was stared at before…now try being a white girl in a swimsuit…jeez!

The Dead Sea is amazing. It’s 30% salt and there is no living things in the sea (hence the name). The mud and salt products that come out of it are very therapeutic and are used at spas everywhere (mud masks, etc..). It is also the lowest place on earth at 1300 feet below sea level. We had heard about the “floating” there, but we weren’t prepared for how much you actually do float. It is almost impossible to swim normally, and getting your legs back to the ground to stand up is even harder! You’re literally a human buoy! We had a lot of fun floating around and doing what is most popular…reaching to the bottom and grabbing yourself some mineral rich mud to slather on. It seems most people there were covered head to toe in it. It’s funny that they had a gift shop there where the mud (for mud masks) was sold in bags for $10 when you can go and get it for free? We had lunch and continued our drive with Ferris.

I had managed not to get my hair wet (thank goodness) because as Matt’s hair dried more and more, the salt kept appearing. He had it on his face, neck, ears, and the bottom of his hair. The more we cleaned if off, the more it seemed to appear…funny!

We had four military checkpoints on our journey. Since Israel is right across the Dead Sea less than 20 miles away, Jordan takes no chances. Each station had 3-4 soldiers in full gear with helmets and a Hummer with a large machine gun mounted on the top. Each time we stopped, the soldiers seem pleased we were American and one wanted to see our passports to almost make sure our driver wasn't lying. So far, Jordan had not really felt as Middle Eastern as Egypt...this was a reminder that we were still there!

We stopped at Mount Nebo which is an important Christian sight. According to the Bible, Moses came here to climb the mountain and see the Holy Land before dying. There is a monument and a beautiful church with lovely mosaics.

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Photos

"I Can't Stand Up!"
It's impossible to not float!

Jordanian Musclemen!
These guys were hilarious! Who would've guessed?

Erin in her $7 Swimsuit
She was not happy this is documented!

Inside of Our Hotel
Petra Movenpick

Comments

[Sue Rigos]

Dead Sea
We were at Whistler last week cross country skiing. There was still a lot of snow. I didn't see your last travel blog until we returned. I saw the Dead Sea when I was in Israel in l969 on my around the world tour. I didn't have time to swim since I was on a bus tour. I enjoyed your commentary and all the photos. Wow, Erin that was a colorful swimming suit. I hope your return trip goes well. Thanks again for sending us your reports and photos. What fun!! I bet you are glad to be home and probably have a greater appreciation for life in the USA. Bye for now. Love, Aunt Sue

[Sam]

Excellent
It looks like you had a really great time. Enjoyed your blog!