Hopefully, my posts on my trip aren’t getting tiresome. I know a few people who are enjoying them (including my parents, hi!) so I will keep writing them.
Anyway, now for the Jordan part of the trip. The morning after our late-night arrival in Madaba, my sister and I took a public transport van to Amman to pick up a rental car. I finally got to take a good look at Jordan in the daylight. It was quite the drastic difference from the rainy urban scene of Istanbul.
Photo taken from the car ride.
My sister admirably navigated the Nissan through the confusing roundabouts of Amman back to Madaba. We picked up lunch – rotisserie-style chicken that came wrapped in flat bread with fries and served with this magnificent thick garlic paste/sauce (my internet research says this is probably the sauce called toum).
In the afternoon, we drove to see Mt. Nebo, the place where the prophet Moses died. Groups of school kids tried to get our attention by saying words to us in English, which we ignored, and they roamed on, giggling at their boldness. There were of course plenty of tourists. The church there was closed for repair, but there were some mosaics on display that were pretty cool and a taste of the kind of ancient art we were to see later at other sites in Jordan.
After leaving the site, we went down the road a little ways to find a better vantage point to see across to Israel and the Dead Sea.
Then we began driving down the hills toward the Dead Sea. We spotted Bedouin tents and livestock, and on the road that ran along the Dead Sea, I even got a decent shot of a boy riding a camel.
We parked at a resort and paid their beach access fee. Using a resort’s beach on the Dead Sea instead of a public beach meant access to shower facilities, for rinsing off the salt. As advertised, the Dead Sea was amazingly bouyant, and it was awesome just to effortlessly float on my back. Trying to swim felt weird. Jen got some salt in her eye which was unfortunate. We didn’t stay long as it was close to sunset. Rinsing off took away much of the salt, and my skin did feel different and softer.
On the drive back to Madaba, we were all thrilled when a small camel herd crossed the road in front of us. Even my sister, who had been in Jordan for a little while, said she hadn’t seen camels herded across a road before.
My friend Jen took this lovely shot.
A Good Stopping Point 