Cruisin' through the desert in our Skoda

Dan and I have been so busy in Jordan that I have neglected our blog which has resulted in quite the daunting task- to try to sum up our past week here in only a couple posts.
Upon doing some research we soon realized that Jordan is much smaller than we thought.  It takes just over 5 hours to drive from north to south, so we are hard pressed to spend more than 3 weeks here and it’s not for lack of things to see.  Unfortunately, the public transportation is lacking, leaving us very few options when trying to reach the lesser travelled corners of the country.  So, we weighed our options and even though renting a car would be stretching our budget, we decided to do it anyways, a decision that we haven’t regretted.  We have spent the past week driving down breathtaking desert roads and have had the freedom to do what we want, when we want.  Here are some of the highlights from our first few days on the road.

After leaving Amman we found ourselves in the beautiful, mellow city of Madaba.  It was a travellers haven, a place to meet fellow backpackers, eat fantastic cuisine and it provided a great jumping off point for the various sights in central Jordan.  The shot above is of the more traditional Muslim attire.

I love this part of the world because you are always just a few doors down from an authentic old world building, outfitted with carpets, sheesha pipes and lovely Arabic tunes.  A great place to enjoy a cup of sweet mint tea.

OK- this was amazing… Although really hard to take a photo of.  So, if you enjoy mosaics you will love Jordan, in particular Madaba for its abundance of well preserved ancient mosaics.  The one in the photo above is on the floor in St. Georges Church and is an image of the holy land in the time of Christ.  Archaeologists have used this mosaic specifically to help identify many important sights throughout the Middle East.  

Our next stop on our day trip was Mount Nebo and by this point I was beginning to really feel the history that we were seeing.  You see both Dan and I grew up going to church and studying the Bible, so to be in the places that we read about as kids was really surreal and a little hard to grasp.  We actually stood on Mount Nebo, where Moses looked upon the promise land that he himself was forbidden to enter.  He later died there and was buried somewhere in the area.

A picture of the view that Moses himself witnessed so long ago, minus the smog.  From the top of Mount Nebo it is possible to see views of the Dead Sea, Jericho, Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

This is the iconic picture you see when you read anything about  Mount Nebo.  A memorial sculpture of Jesus’ crucifixion.

OK brace yourselves because this was CRAZY.  Dan and I visited the actual site where John the Baptist baptised Jesus.  The area pictured above is believed to be the actual site that the baptism took place.  A few days later Jesus left to begin fasting for 40 days and 40 nights in the nearby wilderness.  Wow!

OK- away from the History and to the oddly exciting Dead Sea!!  Ok, I had the impression that a float in the Dead Sea was something that a person did just for the bragging rights but I loved it.  I still am having a hard time wrapping my mind around how buoyant you actually are.  It would be impossible to drown here- impossible.

A snap of Dan and I enjoying our swim- well float.  I was so excited to dip my whole body in to get all the benefits that the water is supposed to yield but once you really grasp just how salty the water is, the last thing you want is some in your mouth, up you nose or in your eyes.

Seriously, look how Dan is floating- bizarre.  The hardest thing is to stay vertical in the water with out going back or belly up.  It takes absolutely no effort to just lie back and relax.  If only you weren’t petrified of getting water in your eyes- that kinda makes it a little more tense.