We left Petra early in the morning and drove the slow way (3 hours) down a very windy road to a place called Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve (although I don't know how building a dam in the middle of it reserves nature in any way, but that's beside the point). At Wadi Mujib we were able to do a 2 km "hike" through a canyon filled with water to a waterfall. It was glorious and such fun, but I was surprised by the intensity of it, and we weren't equipped with life jackets or helmets or anything, nor did they warn us about the little minnows that liked to suckle at our legs under water (ick). After scrambling over boulders and through waterfalls for a few hours we'd come to the sad realization that Pete's "made in Egypt" board shorts had a rip. The car key which was once tucked away in the shorts was now surely at the bottom of Wadi Mujib, probably being suckled on. It's a good thing for "Reliable Rent a Car" because a few phone calls, $65 and 1.5 hours later they delivered us a new key all smiles. Nothing seems to be a problem for any of the friendly people here in Jordan.
While waiting for the key to arrive we hitched a ride, virtually across the street to a private beach on the Dead Sea. For about $12 we were able to play on the beach and swim (or shall I say bob in the salty waters). Pete rates bobbing in there as one of his most bizarre experiences in life, I would have to agree. Some guy who worked there even scrubbed us down with Dead Sea mud and our skin is still silky and smooth.
Upon leaving the Dead Sea we decided to head for Jerash, a small city north of Amman with a great display of Roman Ruins. Pete seems to think it lifts a leg on Rome itself but I don't know if we should take it that far. At that point in time we learned that speeding in Jordan is not allowed, even when the speed limit isn't posted anywhere are you're keeping up with the flow of traffic. Here's how our little run in with the police officer goes:
Police officer (in uniform), steps into the middle of highway and waves me to side. He says: Ah, welcome in Jordan
me: uuuhh, thanks
Police officer (in uniform): do you know speed limit on this road?
me: no
Police officer (in uniform): it is 80 kilometers. (even though I swear the sign about 10 miles back said 90km) You were going 102 kilometers (even though I swear I was going 120... maybe he was confused with the order of the numbers)
me: EIGHTY?! REALLY?! No.........
Possible Police officer (definitely not in uniform) approaches car: You give me 20 Jordan Dinar
Police officer (in uniform): You give me driving license and register.
me: silently hand over goods
Both men depart with my money, registration and drivers license and come back with 2 small pieces of paper all written in Arabic.
The rest Pete managed to video tape and I swear I will post it on here when we have the capabilities. But it all ended in smiles and thank yous. We had a good laugh but the whole incident was SO weird.
From there we ended up in Amman, even though we were trying to avoid it. We got terribly terribly lost and the brakes screeched a few times but us and our silver Hyundai all came out in one piece, plus we made it to Jerash.
I'm not going to post any pictures right now because it's dinner time but I will put them on soon. We are heading to Syria tomorrow and I hear that a lot of websites are banned so if you don't here from me, thats why. Hopefully they will allow at least gmail to work. Anyways, hope everyone is doing well and I promise to update again soon. Happy Canada Day and Happy 4th to all! xoxo
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