The lowest point on Earth

1400 feet Below sea level

After a long day hiking around Petra, a little R/R was in order.  I took the morning bus from Wadi Musa to Amman the next day and spent the day walking around the city.  That evening the rest of the crew that I've been traveling with showed up and the next day we rented a car.  There are many tours to the Dead Sea but being 5 of us it was great to split the cost of a car and well worth having our freedom to do what we want.  There are also many resorts and paid beaches along the Dead Sea which all are quite expensive.  With our car, we found a quiet spot on the side of the road and simply walked down the hill to our own, free beach.  

When visiting the Dead Sea:

RULE # 1:  Never EVER dive head first into the Dead Sea!

RULE # 2:  Never EVER...EVER ignore rule # 1!!!

Here is the resulting photo of me ignoring Rule # 1

I can't even begin to explain the pain in my eyes from the salt water.  Lucky we bought several bottles of water because it took some serious flushing to reverse the breaking of Rule # 1.  It also took a long time for my friends to stop laughing at me too.  Happy to have entertained you guys.

The Dead Sea has a salinity of 33% salt.  Normal ocean water is around 3.5%  It was a strange feeling to be so naturally buoyant.  I was actually able to put my feet straight down, as if standing, and still float.

Then it was spa time.

The mud along the shores of the Dead Sea are very rich in minerals and nutrients. The common thing to do is give yourself a little mud mask and scrub but scrub lightly because when you wash it off in the water, you'll be made aware of every single scrape, scratch or cut.

After a good bake in the sun and a rinse in the water your skin really does feel amazing.

Petra, Jordan

I arrived in the evening in Wadi Musa (Valley of Moses) right outside of Petra where it was windy, snowing and raining.  Here met up with again with my two Australian friends that I had met in the deserts of Egypt.  It rained for 2 more days where I was forced to sit inside the most unpleasant place on earth...The Valentine Inn.  Lonely Planet's Middle East book lists the Valentine Inn as "the quintessential backpacker hotel" which makes me now convinced that no one from the Lonely Planet crew has ever even been to Jordan.  I'm not going to complain much about all the details but hopefully the word will spread and this place will cease to exist.  Basically, the whole of Wadi Musa is a virus feeding off the wonderful world class ruins of Petra.  Get in, go to Petra and get out is my only advice.

Finally the weather cleared and I was able to go to the "Red Rose City"  The Entrance fee is exuberant but it is a sight that cannot be missed.

The road leading down into the valley of Petra.

The valley walls of solid rock cut straight up on both sides.  Then at the bottom the sandstone walls break away and reveal the Treasury, the most iconic image of Petra.

The locals are quite proud of one particular movie that made this sight famous.

Petra is quite large.  It's possible to see it in one day but 2 days are better as there are numerous hiking trails throughout the valley.  I did it in only one because I was already falling behind schedule but I left very satisfied with what I saw.  It's impossible to post enough photos of this place to do it justice.  Absolutely incredible.  

This last one is from "Little Petra"  Another set of ruins that are free and well worth a visit outside of the Bedouin village near Wadi Musa.  The sandstone here is more golden colored.

Catching up...Crossing Jordan

I have some catching up to do.  Since the last post from Dahab, Egypt, I've been into Jordan and Syria and now back in Jordan waiting to cross the border into Israel.

From Dahab, I took a bus to the port city of Nuweiba on the Sinai Peninsula in the Gulf of Aqaba where I caught the ferry into Aqaba, Jordan.  This ferry crossing has many horror stories from other travelers with long wait times, ferries stuck at sea for hours, and one alleged sinking several years ago.  To cross into Jordan by land you risk having unwanted passport stamps from Israel which would have made things difficult further down the line so the ferry was my only option.  After enduring this, I have to say that everything that is said about the ferry is understated!

We bought our ticket ($70 USD!!!) and were told to wait.  Then after about 2 hours we were told to hurry up and go down to the ferry landing and board the ferry.  With no real direction, the whole mass of us rapidly wandered around until we found the landing where there was more waiting while we watched this...

For about 20 minutes, the driver of this tractor was attempting to load the ferry with the luggage trailer.  I think this is the ideal situation to inform everyone out there that tractors are to remain in fields and not as a loading device.  I'm not even sure how they did get trailer on because they gave up and let the foreigners on first.  I was the first one on the ferry.  The group was told to come up the ramp then no, wait here, then ok go, go, no wait, wait, ok now go, no wait so I just pushed past and walked up the stairs.  When I arrived at the top of the stairs it was almost of a surprise to the crew that there were to be passengers on this passenger ferry.  Two men began talking back and forth with eachother and pointing...a lot.  Then one of them escorted me past the seating area then walked around and then back to the seating area.  This was when I realized that no one else had boarded yet.  They were still down doing the go, no, wait, ok now go game.  After about 10 minutes the rest began to arrive.  Tourists first then the locals.  After about 1 1/2 hour the ferry was ready to leave.  They closed up all the doors and then more waiting.  I swear that the only way this much confusion and disorganization is possible is that the entire crew and ferry was doing this for the first time of their lives.  Sadly this is not the case.  This is what they do every single day.  Maybe one day they will figure out a routine but undoubtedly any time soon.  Immigrations was done on the ferry (another long messy process) and off we went.  Finally we were allowed to walk around a little where I found the duty free shop on the ferry with some amazing designer perfumes, bootleg of course.  Here are a few of the classics there.  

And my favorite...

Total time: entirely way too long to account for what should have been 1 hour shore to shore.