The Dead Sea & Mt. Nebo, Jordan (And the beret)

My friend, Rashid wanted to make a run out to the Dead Sea. So we put together three cabs and about a dozen of the group spent a few hours rolling through the Jordanian countryside.

One thing they have no shortage of here is rocks. Well, two things. There's a fair number of sheep too. But, if every visitor to Jordan took a couple stones for souvenirs why, in three or four billion years the place would be a desert. OK, so it's already a desert. You get my drift.

This is a spring where Charlton Heston, aka Moses, got his water in his last days. It sits below Mt. Nebo, from which he could see the Promised Land", but not touch.

From here Charl...I mean Moses could see the Land of Milk and Honey. Jericho is straight ahead about 27 kilometers. But, for him it was the end of the road. It's in the Bible (Deuterominominominy Chapter 34) and the Qu'ran (Like I would know where). He was 120 years old. A pretty good run, what with building the Ark and floating around in the bullrushes and all.

An order of catholic monks built a monastery here a few centuries ago. Pope JP II planted an olive tree a couple years ago. Muslims and Christians were praying here virtually side-by-side. There were even Korean Evangelicals running around singing and taking a slew of pictures. Yet we continue slaughtering each other over these crummy piles of rocks. Something ain't right.

So we went on down to the Dead Sea. Right across from Israel. They say the mud from the banks of this pond has some kind of nutrients that restore and refurbish your skin. I rubbed some on and it felt like my face was being eaten off. I'll say this: That water is REALLY salty! I got a sip when I was washing my face and it tasted like I had sucked down a three pound bag of Lay's Potato Chips in one bite.

All in all, a nice sort of unplanned side trip. Tomorrow- Petra!