The Dead Sea

After we came back from Aqaba we stayed at the same hostel we stayed in the previous week, The Jordan Tower Hostel. We booked the excursion to the Dead Sea with them for the next day.

The guide that took us and 5 more people there was really friendly, we first went to several famous religious places like Mount Nebo, this is were Moses supposedly died, but they don't know where exactly on the mountain. We liked the history behind these places, but it got a bit boring after a while because there were so many tourists around. What we liked more was a stop we made at the Mosaic Museum called "La Storia". We really like mosaic and it was really interesting to see how detailed the work behind it really is. In a workshop that took place we could see how mosaic was made and used in many types of products and decoration. They were also making the largest mosaic portrait in the world, and Julen and I glued our little piece in it as well, it will take about 3 years to finish...

Our guide took us to a couple of little shops so we could buy something for lunch. Although there wasn't a lot we could have for lunch there, it was still nice to see the local people. In one shop the owner showed us all the different kind of seeds he sold, f.ex. sesame seeds, etc, these are very typical for cooking in Jordan.

It was a very warm day and we really wanted to get to the Dead Sea so we could go into the water.

Because of the very high concentration of salt in the sea, you need to take a shower right after you go in.

You can go to a 5 star resort where you pay 60 Dinars to get in and have access to a shower or you can go to a public resort where you can go for 16 Dinars, but of course it's very basic. Anywhere else, there will be no shower and the salt on your skin wilt crystallize because of the heat, so that is no option.

We are backpackers that just started their long journey, so we went for the 16 Dinar option. It happened to be a bank holiday and there were a lot of people. We went down to the sea and the experience of bathing in the Dead Sea was really fun! We tried the most silly poses you can imagine in the water and you will float every time. There is no chance of drowning, of course that is obvious being the Dead Sea, but when you are there you just try to see what happens ;-)

One thing, be very careful with the water, because if it gets into your eyes, it will burn like hell!!!

You can't really stay in the water for too long as the heat will get to you and so will the salt to your skin.

We took a quick shower to wash off the salt. The bad thing was that the showers here weren't the best, so you had to look for one that more or less worked. After that you just want to sit somewhere in the shadow so you don't fry in the sun, which wasn't easy with that many people around. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth, at 400m below seapoint, so you can have an idea of how warm it was.

As we had lots of time there before we had to meet our guide again, we decided to go back into the water, it was cloudy at that point, so not that warm and there were also less people. We started to look around us properly and we saw certain places with garbage, even in the water, and it just annoyed us a lot.

It was still interesting to see how you could cross to Israel if you wanted without drowning, even tough you would never get there anyway because of the security everywhere. It was a strange sensation for us to see the sea in that desert area, with no living thing in it whatsoever.

Many skin products of the Dead Sea are sold all over Jordan, I don't know how authentic they are or if they work, I didn't try any of them. The mud in the sea itself is supposed to be great for the skin, but it was hard to get your hands on, as you don't want to get water in your eyes, so I eventually gave up and just enjoyed floating around :-)

Before leaving we had a short shower again, we wanted to go into the bathrooms to have a proper shower with soap, but after seeing how dirty everything was and the bad state of them, we decided to wait until we would get back to our hostel. So we ask ourselves the question, where does the money go that we pay for the entrance?

It was a great experience, but we were disappointed to see that, at least the place where we went, wasn't well maintained at all.


Pictures: Julen Esnal

The Red Sea - Aqaba

After the Wadi Rum desert, we arrived to our next city named Aqaba (by taxi it takes about an hour), it is located in the very south of Jordan. From there we could see Egypt and Israel in front of us. Aqaba is quite touristic, because of its famous Red Sea. We arrived there around noon and the temperature was 37 degrees, so you can imagine the heat we went through.

We booked a hotel in the South Beach area, (15km from the centre of Aqaba) because we read that it would be the best spot to be close to the beaches and to do snorkeling. The hotel was quite nice and cheap (17 € per night for both of us) and it was located just in front of the beach and it also had a swimming pool. Some basic things were missing in the room and you also only get 1 towel anywhere in Jordan and sometimes it`s even a small one. But we could live with that, it's no big deal.

But what we found to be a pity is the state in which the Red Sea is in. We didn`t mind to much the fact that the sand wasn` t really nice and that there were a lot of stones, also in the water. But what we think is unacceptable is the amount of litter (especially plastic), cigarettes and pieces of glass we could see on the beach and some even in the water. The Red Sea is famous for scuba diving, we guess and hope that when you go further into the sea its a lot cleaner and there is a lot more to see. For us, this is not a beach we enjoyed, but we knew there would be plenty of others we would enjoy during this trip.
Another reason why we weren't really comfortable at the beach was because of the looks of the local people. There weren't many tourists, so we were observed a lot by local families, we guess because we look different and because I was wearing a bikini. The local women cover up completely, even on the beach. We literally spent 5 minutes in the water, got out and left, it was too uncomfortable.

Finally, we had the chance to get to know Aqaba at the evening time, walking by its streets of long markets open almost night and day and have dinner at a couple of local restaurants. We had some very nice chicken with potatoes and rice for 7€ for both of us. We spent 2,5 days here and despite of the heat etc, we had a good time and had the chance to relax & rest.





Pictures: Julen Esnal

Wadi Rum desert

From Petra, we weren't too far from the Wadi Rum desert, also known as the Valley of the Moon. The Manager of our hotel in Petra booked a night for us in a Bedouin camp in the desert. It's not cheap (60 Euros per person), but it is a great experience. A little bus picked us up at the hotel on the morning of April 28th and brought us to Wadi Rum.
Our guide was waiting for us with his jeep when we arrived and he was going to show us the most important places of this desert that made Lawrence of Arabia famous (A movie we still need to see and that will definitely bring back memories).

So there was our guide, "Suliman", and his 33 year old jeep. Other guides made fun of this, but for us it had a special touch. The first thing he did was taking us to his home and invite us for tea with his family. A tea that we don't know the name of but that is served all over Jordan with honey and that we absolutely loved.
Suliman told us that all the bedouins that live in this little town (about 1500 people) come from the same family since their great great grand-parents moved to this area over 350 years ago. They are called the Zalabia tribe.

After this visit, we were ready to go into the desert. Suliman took us to the most important places, we were sitting in the back of the jeep and we realy enjoyed the views and the whole experience. It is a very beautiful place. We took a break and had a pic-nic in the shadow of a mountain rock, away from sun and wind on a big blanket with some snacks and more tea together with 3 italian tourists and a guide from another jeep. I even took a little nap and could hear a few goats pass with their shepard on the background. After that we went to see some dunes, where everybody started to jump and slide off the sand, really fun! Finally it was time to get to know our camp and wait to see the amazing sunset from up the mountain rocks.

The night at the camp was amazing. Firstly because of the very tasty dinner, which in the desert is prepared under the ground, as if it was a barbecue but below the sand. We had delicous chicken, rice and vegetables, the best meal so far and that we will always remember because it was so good. After that we sat together with 4 other tourists and the guides, and talked around a fire, and to finish off we had an amazing view at the sky where we could literally see a million stars. So beautiful! We loved this unique experience with the amazing Bedouin people.

A couple of other things we learned about the Bedouins:

-Until 1999 the babies were born in the desert , including our guide was born there. He says that as long as an older woman was present, there was no problem. Since then, the women go to hospital to have their babies and people also live in the village nowadays, not in the desert anymore. Our guide's parents generation refuse to live in the village and will live in the desert for the rest of their lives.

-The bedouins have a name for each mountain, they are taught by their father from their childhood. They know how to orientate themselves perfectly just by looking at the stars.