Let’s face it, after the intensity of our journey through Egypt, leaning back to lie on top of the water as if it were a firm mattress was just our speed. Even Jim had no problem floating. Amanda slathered herself with the legendary black mud, assured that it would erase 10 years (alas, it turned out to only be 5). The oddest thing was how slick and oily the Dead Sea feels with such high salt content that nothing except a few bacteria can live there, not even those pup fish from Death Valley.
From what we saw of city, town and countryside during our brief stay, Jordan is orders of magnitude more prosperous than Egypt. For one thing, vendors selling to tourists were only mildly aggressive, while in Egypt they often seemed almost desperate. It’s a country that’s easy to like as a visitor. In keeping with the relaxed mode, our guide stopped the bus and hopped off to talk with this Bedouin father and his young son with their small flock. They were camped nearby so that the boy’s older siblings could go to school. Having no grazing rights, they run the animals along the road. The Bedouin encampment was one of several spotted on the way to Mount Nebo.
archeologists in 1933) does, however, contain some nice mosaics.
