The drama today started at 3 am when we were supposed to be on the bus— not still in our jammies! After some shouting and scurrying, we managed to get downstairs in 15 minutes. Oh my. What happened to our wake-up call? 

We traveled from Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan, through many scanners and finally to our new bus in a new country!

We trekked through a mountainous desert landscape while our new tour guide, Salah, told us about his early life as a Bedouin nomad, raising camels— a life which he still misses very much. With climate change and property disputes, many moved on. He got an education and became a tour guide for Viking. Truly an amazing person!!

The sad news is that Jordan has been hit way harder than Egypt by the war. Tourism is down by 80%. We will have our hotels and the sites to ourselves. 

Our first stop was at the Panorama Museum with a view of the Dead Sea. We could barely see through the evaporation fog across to Israel, but it was there! Jerusalem and Bethlehem were just across the water. In the museum, we learned about how climate change is affecting the level of the Sea. Water from the Jordan River is being diverted for human use, and plans to bring in water from the Red Sea would severely alter the composition of the Sea, so they pray for rain.

From The Panorama, we went to our hotel, right on the shore of the Dead Sea—The Movenpick. We were now 1410 ft below sea level, the lowest place on earth, ears popping all the way here. Rooms are more like cottages with an outpost for restaurants and shopping, a few pools, and a spa. Then all the way down are the changing rooms and access to the water. The lifeguard on duty is essential because the water is so salty that people die here on a regular basis! (Murder mystery idea— death by salt!) If you try to swim and any water gets in your mouth or eyes, it will cause such burning that you’re likely to panic and be unable to breathe. They lose tourists regularly (Future traveler, beware) and indeed, we were 8 out of possibly 14 tourists at this exquisite beach; no one in any of the pools were coming down. So the word is, “Come to Jordan. The water is fine!”

Our group had a great time, though, and did not die by salt. We did the whole thing, with Mr. Lifeguard’s attentive help. Getting into the water is hard because it’s a bit chilly and so different. Mr. Lifeguard helped us in, told us to squat, then gently lean back so we could float. 5-10 minutes later, we came out and went for the mud— essential to the experience. We were to rub mud mixed with cakes of salt all over us. Mr. Lifeguard did our backs. We even scrubbed our faces with mud! (Wrinkles, be gone!) Then, we had to bake completely dry, then back in the Sea to scrub off, then to the cold shower — the hardest part.

The result—Super soft skin. Amazing experience. Peggy and I each tasted the water by putting a wet finger to our tongues.  Just that amount was like a very hot spice— dangerous, indeed!  Lee had a splash in his eye and was in some agony for some while.

Floating in the Dead Sea is a fabulous experience, but only if you dare. Dinner was at 6 pm. We all sat together and had lots of laughs. Tomorrow we sleep until a glorious 7 am. Hooray!!