Dead Tire / Dead Sea

 Finding myself wide awake at 3am on Thursday morning, I decided to take a peek outside and was rewarded with the sight of a brilliant, almost full moon.

Dressed in nothing but a silk dressing gown and a pair of boxers, I stepped outside and waited in the evening chill (1 degree) as long as I could, waiting for my eyes to adjust. While not bright enough to photograph without a tripod, the sky to the south was lit with hundreds of stars, a sight rarely seen in the city washed skies where we live. I would have loved to have stayed out longer but the cold was a bit too much to bear so I want back inside and slept till 8.

After breakfast we loaded our luggage back on the bus, stopping once to view an abandoned narrow gauge engine and railway cars, part of a system once used to haul potash to Saudi Arabia.

The drive back to Amman took the better part of the day, leaving little time for anything besides laundry and eating dinner.

Friday morning we set out East of  town, travelling close to the Saudi border where we viewed three different fortresses from different historical periods with distinctly different styles. ( I made add more details including names and interior views, time permitting)

As we pulled into the final one our driver realized that one of the bus’s rear tires had picked up a rock and ripped a significant hole in the side wall. Attempting to remove the wheel he discovered that his equipment was damaged, rendering the job impossible. 

So we climbed back in the bus and he limped it at 30kph hoping to find a service station before any further damage occurred. Realizing he wouldn’t make it, he pulled over and attempted to remove the wheel again. Within minutes a truck and a bus pulled over to offer assistance. With the help of the truck driver’s tool kit and the assistance of several bystanders and a couple of our travel companions, the repair was completed and we set off again, some 75 minutes behind schedule. 

Our final stop was the Dead Sea, some 84 Km distant. The final few Km. was a steady downhill ride as the sea itself is 1400 ft below sea level.

 [The level is apparently dropping about 4 feet annually due to evaporation and the surface area is also shrinking at a significant rate- ( by almost one third over the last 50 years )]

A 1:30 lunch buffet had been arranged at a hotel beside the sea. The staff didn’t seem too concerned when we rolled in at 3:15.

 Following our meal most of our group changed into swimming gear and descended a steep flight of steps  (about 200 ft) to the waters edge. The experience of 40 % salt water was interesting, to say the least. Finding it easier to back into the water and flop on my back, the sensation of maximum buoyancy was fraught with some difficulties, one being trying to roll over and the second, trying to put my feet down in an attempt to tread water.

 of our group opted for smearing Dead Sea mud all over themselves as it supposedly has therapeutic benefits. Already feeling my skin burning from the salt, I wasn’t taking any chances.

Due to the tire issue, we didn’t get back to our hotel until almost 8pm leaving little time for supper and for packing for our 7am ride to the airport for our flight to Cairo.