Jordan (part3)-Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea

So here we are, at the final installment of my Jordan adventure! Unfortunately I wasn't able to add the photos of me swimming in the dead sea because she still hasn't uploaded them or sent them to me, but I felt like I shouldn't put off posting this post any longer so here are the rest of the photos and hopefully I will be able to upload the swimming photos soon in a separate post!

On the public bus from Petra to Madaba

Our group waiting at a Jordanian bus stop, i.e. the side of the highway...

Two workers restoring a Mozaic at Mount Nebo. 

A quote about Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo is where it is believed that Moses spoke with God. According to Jewish and Christian tradition, Moses was buried on the mountain by God Himself.  The view from the top provides a panoramic view of the Holy Land.
 It wasn't an ideal clear day when we were there, so we just barely saw Israel in the distance.

View from the summit of Nebo

View of Jordan from Nebo

Me in with the Memorial for Moses on Mount Nebo

And now, on to the Dead Sea!!!

A little family of camels on our way to the Dead Sea

Me at the Dead Sea. The water here is so salty that you float across the surface with ease. It feels almost impossible to try to dive under as well since the water is so thick! The salts are good for your skin, but it actually starts to hurt after awhile, especially if you have any cuts on your body. Tip: DO NOT OPEN YOUR EYES IN THE DEAD SEA. My friend made that mistake on accident. Apparently it feels like pouring pure salt into your eye. Hm. Not pleasant. On the other
side of the shore is Israel. The closest I can to get to it if I still want to be allowed back into the UAE ;). Because
of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, many Gulf countries do not allow you into the country if you have a
recent Israeli visa stamp on your passport. It goes both ways. Someone I know was held at the Israeli border for
5 hours because he had a visa stamp from Lebanon. 

Sheep herder driving his sheep down the highway

At a Church in Madaba. Madaba has a high Christian population.

King Abdullah II of Jordan, waving us farewell!

Overall Jordan was a beautiful country and I had a great time. I was glad we stayed out of the big city (Amman) except that we missed out on seeing the ancient Roman Ruins there. There was a night that Kayla and I were followed by to young guys yelling "hey habiitii! Habiibtii nice butt!" (habiibtii means "my sweetheart" in arabic). We were very glad to have Redwan and Gabe with us at that point... but other than that episode I found Jordanians to be very nice, friendly people. I was able to use Arabic more here, where there are less foreigners, or even if they are not Jordanian they are probably Palestinian therefore they speak Arabic!

I will hopefully be able to get those photos from the Dead Sea eventually, until then I have a few miscellaneous posts and such that will be up soon, sorry for the long hiatus but I have been busy with midterm papers and exams! I have just a little over one month left here! I can't believe how the time has flown by and I looking forward to coming back to the States! But I will miss the UAE!