Day 11: Dead Sea dancing… and the mud monster

Place: Madaba, Jordan, Salome Hotel, Room number 20 – on the only bed, at 7:10pm

Thought for the day: “ When a local tries to sell you mud for R33, think about where he got it from, and then go and get it yourself – for free.”

On our journey yesterday our taxi driver/hotel owner Riyad, said that Madaba has the most beautiful girls in Jordan – he reckons it is because they are Christian girls. Not sure what that means – maybe it’s because they don’t wear as many layers and you can see more than just their eyes.

Today was a very slow relaxing day – we woke up around 7ish and went for breakfast around 8ish. Coffee and crumpets was the fuel we chose for the day with plum jam and butter – washed down with some strong coffee.

We waited for a taxi in the street for about 2 mins and along came another Agggggmed. But this oke knew no English at all. After eventually getting a Jordanian that could translate for us and him, we explained where we were going and negotiated a price. Approximately R380 for 30 km. HECTIC we know but not much option here as there aren’t busses that run to the dead sea regularly. Anyway, off we went for a relaxing ride towards the Dead sea – the road from Madaba winds its way down very sharply into a valley where the Dead sea lies. The valley consists of rugged terrain with the odd clump of grass and bush here and there. We saw camels grazing on the hills and Bedouins camping near by. After many twists and turns the road leveled out and we again had to find a translater to explain to Agggggmed where we wanted to go. After getting the msg across to Aggggmed, he took us to a private beach where we paid about R350 to get in. At first we hated this idea – flip that is a lot of money!! So we went next door where we would have paid R300 – but then we saw about 7 busses full of school kids rock up. And thought the first option looked more attractive – and it turned out to be a really good choice. Funny that they have 2 prices – one for Jordanians and one for non-Jordanians. Not exactly tourist friendly as we paid the higher price.

After finding a spot to lie down about 5 meters from the sea, and clearing away all the cigarette stompies which littered the beach, Donna waited to warm up a bit before venturing into the sea, and I went to find out what this floating sea was all about. The translucent, green and turquoise water is so saturated with salt that it feels almost oily. Ja, weird hey! But your skin starts to feel extra smooth – but as the water dries the salt just cakes your skin, but not the same as the Indian ocean. If I don’t rinse after swimming back in Durbs, my skin feels all tight and very uncomfortable especially if I put a shirt on. But this is very different.

I walked further into the sea and eventually took my feet off the sand and just rose to the surface effortlessly. I floated there for a while before heading closer to shore to find some mud which apparently is very rich in minerals and good for the skin. The dead see has no waves, so a nice shore break ain’t gonna happen. So instead I played in the mud and rubbed it all over my face and body. I still feel the same as yesterday so not sure if it has any really good properties. I think that all the salt in the sea just nukes anything foreign on or in your body. You would be nuts to swallow the water though – you would probably look like a prune in minutes!

It was really entertaining to watch the overweight, old, lack of core strength aunties try and get back on their feet again after being suspended at the mercy of the Dead sea. It was like watching a person who couldn’t swim, floundering around and splashing as they grabbed at the water to try and get a grip of their liquid resource, but to no avail – and only to roll from their backs onto their stomachs – more splashing around and then again onto their backs. I wanted to laugh really loud but wasn’t sure if I could get arrested for that in Jordan. But inside I was hosing myself.

Eventually Donna decided to swim with me and we took some great pics. Just check out the colour of the water – it really is like no other sea I have ever seen.

Lunch comprised of dates, figs, sesame seed biscuits and rolls with peanut butter. I had no knife so used my index finger to spread the peanut butter on the rolls. When you pay over R700 bucks for a beach day, you try and eat very cheaply.

Agggmed picked us up at 4pm from Amman beach(the name of the private beach we were at) Amman is the capitol of Jordan and doesn’t have a beach – don’t get confused.  We stopped a couple of times to take some photos of the valley and then onward to the hotel for a nice hot shower and some of that tasty rocket fuel called Turkish coffee – I can solve 4 maths problems at the same time while singing “American Pie” in Arabic after a shot of this stuff.

We went for an evening walk around 6:15pm in search of some Turkish delight – we found some at the same shop that sold us dates and sesame seed biscuits. The oke at this shop also gave me manna and claimed it was from the bible days – must have passed its sell by date. Tasted like nougat with pistachios – so it tasted like something from heaven but not sure if he was correct about manna. Will do some research on this. The oke also said that it is easter in Jordan this weekend so we get to celebrate it again – flippen awesome! We have decided to stay in Madaba for another 3 nights as we don’t think we will get into Israel now as their visa Authority is on holiday and only back next week. So we will enquire tomorrow about heading to the boarder near the Dead sea on Monday. We believe that God has given us right of passage to all countries that our hearts desire – but He has also given us wisdom and timing. We are actually stoked that we get to spend more time in the quaint, Greek influenced town of Madaba and witness the festivities this weekend. I think it is God’s way of telling us to stop and smell the roses. We are enjoying seeing the huge greek influence in Madaba – you can see it in the shops, bakeries and restaurants. From Haloumi  to Hummus and baklava, just to name a few.

The next few days will be very chilled and we are just keen to soak up more of this little town and sample more of their drool inducing, finger licking delicacies!

Looking forward to a nice lazy morning tomorrow – starting with the usual Turkish brandstof.

Happy easter again to everyone – Jordan style.