“Swimming” in the Dead Sea was such a neat experience! Having spent literally years of my life swimming in various bodies of water, my body was not expecting and my mind was unprepared for how the Dead Sea would feel: you can literally float...it is impossible to submerge yourself in the water. Even though I had heard and read stories about how completely buoyant you are, the experience itself was still somewhat shocking and I laughed out loud at the strangeness of it all.
Floating in the Dead Sea.
On the beach we found vases of mud from the Dead Sea. There are countless products created from Dead Sea salts and mud promising anti-aging effects, so we decided to try it out and proceded to entirely cover ourselves in mud. This picture is compliments of a very hilarious older British man. [Side note: since we went on a Thursday (side side note: Weekends here are officially Fridays and Saturdays) and school had just started for schools here in Jordan, the hotel and the Dead Sea were fairly empty. The majority of the guests were older, mostly British, tourists…which created some wonderful little conversations.]
MUD!
We had read in multiple tourist books, and had heard from more experienced individuals, that it is worth paying a little more to spend the day at a local hotel, where not only is there direct Dead Sea access, but there are pools to use and showers are available. This was a great decision! We enjoyed floating in the Dead Sea, but I would not say it was a refreshing experience. It was wonderful to be able to cool of in the multiple pools offered to guest at the Holiday Inn. We spent the day reading, talking, and I was even able to do some laps [I had brought along my goggles hoping this would be a possibility].
Games with FunMan. Best part of the day.
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The next day, my last day in Amman, Holly and Ryan [an amazing couple working with MCC] invited us girls to join them for a day traveling north to Jerash and Ajloun castle. Jerash is one of the best-preserved, most dramatic and explorable Roman cities of the Middle East. It is a huge site that is filled with ancient temples, theaters, and amazing walkways. It was fun to spend the morning walking around these ruins. My favorite part was after climbing to the top of the theater, we were able to sit overlooking the site, listening to Jordanian man play “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” [!] on bagpipes [!]. I’m not sure they knew the same words we did…
Great start to the day. :)
Beautiful columns at Jerash.
The SALT girls with one of the amazing Jerash streets behind us.
View from the top of the theater.
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After trekking around Jerash, we hopped back into our van and went to lunch at Suzi’s [MCC local worker] favorite place. After a HUGE and very yummy lunch we headed to Ajloun Castle dated from the Crusader- period. We had a blast climbing around this ancient castle, which has a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding countryside and over three major wadis leading to the Jordan Valley. The hill that the castle sits, Jebel Auf, is said to have formerly been the site of an isolated Christian monastery. The area surrounding the castle was so beautiful and, because it was located amongst rolling hills, the cooler weather was a nice change of pace from stuffy Amman.
The view of Ajloun as we drive through the beautiful hills.
thanks for the update Trish! I love the picture of you in the dead sea, that looks so cool! And the book you're reading, I've read it 2 or 3 times, I really love that book! Love you!
ReplyDeleteTanny Brent? Come on. That should not be public knowledge.
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures. I wish I was in Jordan...
Trishy, that picture of you floating in the Dead Sea is the best ever. I love it!! I'm so glad you're having such wonderful adventures! :)
ReplyDelete