The Dreaded Group Tour

It is entirely possible that Jordan just keeps getting better every day.

One of the nice things about staying at a hostel (it is NOT the bathrooms, I can tell you that) is that you meet so many cool people from all different parts of the world. People traveling for a week, and people traveling for a year. And everyone is in the exact same boat, doing the same thing and there's a sort of community to it, as strange as that may seem. So even though it's a building full of strangers, everyone hangs out together in the lobby and chats, eats together and chats, shares rooms together and chats and, a lot of times, ends up hanging out and doing things together. They also share travel experiences and tips and suggestions, which is great and super helpful. "Oh, you're going to Dubai? I was just there... here's the name of a great, cheap hotel". "I was just in Hong Kong. Do NOT go to...." "When you get to Bangkok, you definitely need to see the.... " It's a great way to get information from people that are pretty much traveling exactly the same way you are.

So when we saw a sign-up at the hostel to head out with a couple others to the Dead Sea today, we decided to join in. It seemed way easier than trying to find it ourselves and the sheet advertised "transportation only" so we figured it was just the ride and that then we'd be on our own to do our own thing. Which was the reason I was okay with signing up as I despise group tours and normally avoid anything even remotely resembling them like the Black Plague. We thought that four of us were going; there ended up being 14 of us. Which officially made us a tour group. Which officially made me an unwitting participant of a tour group. Doh!

We also thought we were just going to the Dead Sea but ended up going to four fairly close and rather significant places: Madaba, Mount Nebo, Bethany and the Dead Sea.

In Madaba we went to a rinky dink, seemingly ordinary little Greek Orthodox church where in the 1800s they were doing some construction and discovered a mosaic map on the ground. Turns out it was originally part of a Byzantine church from the 1570s and that it is the oldest known map of the Middle East. Only a small part of it remains today but they think it originally contained over 2,000,000 tiles. Which is approximately the same number of people as there were in the church today.

After that we headed to Mount Nebo (pic 1), where it is believed that Moses went to die and from where he saw the Promised Land, even though he never made it there. Pretty awesome to stand on that spot. Also pretty awesome views of the surrounding mountainous desert as well as the Dead Sea.

From there, our happy little tour group gathered back up and went to the Jordan River, the river where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. They believe they have found the exact spot where the baptism took place, although that part is now dry (pic 2). We walked over to a different part of the river and were able to stick our feet in the water (that's the picture of me I inexplicably can't turn right side up). The part we went to was directly across from the part on the Israeli side where they do the same thing. We were maybe 20 feet away from Israel, yet separated by barbed wire and soldiers with machine guns on either side. Weird.

And then came the main event: The Dead Sea, baby! I would say we swam in the Dead Sea, but one doesn't really swim in the Dead Sea. One bobs around in the Dead Sea. It's amazing how as soon as you step in the water, you can just FEEL that it's different, thicker in a sense. Which makes sense, since it is up to 35% dissolved salt, six times the amount in the ocean (another fun fact about the Dead Sea (well, I think it's fun): it is the lowest point on the earth, as well as one of the hottest). The extreme amount of salt makes you so buoyant that you literally just bob around like a cork. I TRIED to keep my legs down in a 'hanging' position and it was nearly impossible as they just automatically float up to the top. Sometimes you turn just so and, pop, you get flipped over to your other side. Such a cool experience. So we hung out there with our group (our new besties in Jordan) and spent a couple hours just bobbing around. And taking pictures. That is a prerequisite, Tour Group 101. Pictures, and lots of them.

On our way back to the hostel, it occurred to me that there were just 8 people in our van but that 5 languages were represented: Arabic, French, Hungarian, Spanish and English. I love being in the middle of scenarios like that, surrounded by people speaking different languages, representing different countries, from varying cultures and yet all coming together to share a common thing. And having a great time together in the process. That's what travel is about for me, those kinds of moments. Love them!

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We have an early day tomorrow so we decided to come back to the hostel at a decent hour and lay low. Someone recommended a little local restaurant that is super typical, where the locals actually hang out. It's the kind of place where you go and they have one thing and that's what you get. But since the one they make is so good, you don't really need anything else. We had a ton of pita, hummus, fool (yes, it's really called fool) and falafel. Fresh and homemade. And it cost us 1.5 JD ($2) each. Yu-um.

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P.S. I may be filling up all of that recently emptied space in my suitcase with 3 kittens.

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P.P.S. Today is October 9th, which means I have been traveling for exactly one month. Which means that one-third of my trip is already over!