Traveling in Jordan: Day 4: The Dead Sea (and final Jordan post)

The Dead Sea

The rock at the top is the wife lady who turned to stone in a biblical story.

The white at the base of the cliff is all salt!

Our first steps into the sea

Tammy is getting mudded up

I couldn't wait, so I started mudding my face

It was fun to watch

Yay, my turn to get muddy!

This is the one time in life we can be black!

I am asleep in half my pictures, I swear!

We cleaned the mud off in the sea.

Our friend Zaher (on left), and his friend Bashar (on right), with Rhoda and I.

A pretty view

This is Sea Level!

The saltiest place on Earth! What more can I say? After sitting in the car for a few hours, we finally reached the Dead Sea. We stopped to take some photos before we reached the beach. The sea is very beautiful, as is everything else in Jordan. Absolutely nothing lives in the Dead Sea, except for 7 different types of bacteria, but no animals or plants or anything. We stopped at a rock formation, which was above us. There was a biblical story, I can't recall exactly what the story was, but I know the couple had to flee, and they were told to go, and not look back. However, the wife looked back and as she did she turned to stone! So the stone we saw, pictured in the 2nd photo, is the wife who turned to stone. After admiring the stone lady for a few moments, we made our way further down the road towards the beach. We reached the beached and got changed and ready. We made our way into the water. It was very slippery when you rubbed your hands together. We went a little further, and then we went on our backs, and boy do you float! We could put our feet up in the air and not sink at all! So, we began to swim out further and further. It was much deeper, so we couldn't touch the bottom, but it looked like we were standing up! We were floating upright in the water. Amazing! I couldn't believe how well we were floating. We were laughing because it just seemed so funny. I then began to wondering, what would happen if this were a mob movie, and the mafia men tried to tie the cinder block to your feet and throw you in the water? I'm assuming you would sink, but I'm not really sure. It's impossible to submerge yourself in the water. 

After spending time floating around the water, we were ready for the mud. The Dead Sea mud is supposed to be very healing, and very good for the skin. It's a thick, smooth, black mud. We went over to the mud man and he got us good and muddy. We were completely covered in black mud, and had to keep the mud on for about 15 minutes. Then, we rinsed off in the sea. Of course,  you have to be very careful not to get the water in your eyes, because that will burn like you have hot sauce in your eyeball. I actually decided to taste the sea. I only licked the tip of my finger, and I literally had to spit immediately, and spit about 10 times or so, because it was really that salty! It was saltier than sticking your tongue in a pile of salt, I swear! I have never tasted anything so horribly salty in my life. Whenever we got out of the sea, and dried, the salt dried on us and made us look very white. It was funny. Also, the base of the beach, where the tide comes in, is full of salt crystals and rocks, which is good to sit there and exfoliate your feet, just like you would at a spa. 

After a while, our colleague/friend Zaher, and his best friend Bashar met up with us at the sea and hung out with us for a while. As evening approached, it was time to head back to Amman. We met up with the guys that evening for the best schwarma in Amman, as well as some sheesha smoking at a very lovely place. My camera was dead at this point, so I did not get to capture the final evening in Jordan. Needless to say, the trip was amazing, and we had such a fun time. It was sad when we had to depart the next morning, but we were so happy that we did this trip. It was truly unforgettable.