Crossing the highway in my underwear, and other ‘tonterías’

So I didn’t find a swimsuit where I was staying in Amman. Which was okay, because after Andrew picked up a little... argument with our driver, he convinced him to drive us to the free area by the Dead Sea, which was beautiful!!!

Hmm. Rewind a little bit. Andrew, Roi and Shir, with whom I was staying at the hostel. On Saturday - my second day in Jordan - we decided to go on one of those organised trips that the hostel runs. Two Korean girls were also there but we barely exchanged a word with them... Oh well.

So we went, among other places, to the Dead Sea! And we avoided the tourist beach and went to a place where regular people go, which was suggested by the Lonely Planet - it’s called Herodus Springs, and there are hot springs right across from the sea.

The Sea was really funny! And I was floating... for real!! That was so funny!! And I did the most stupid mistakes of all - I tried to dive. First, you can’t dive: too much pressure upwards. Plus, water enters your nose, your eyes, and it fucking hurts! And it tastes REALLY bad!

Then I hit the hot springs, which were really cool.

Oh, to explain the title of the paragraph: I swam in my trunks. Yep. Sorry, that’s my hidden trashy side... :) And to get to the springs, I had to cross the highway, which I did, barefoot, and almost naked. And the weirdest thing is that it didn’t feel weird at all!!!!

Other highlight of the day was Mount Nebo - where, according to the Bible, God showed Moses the Promised Land and told him the equivalent of ‘See that land over there? Well, I should give it to you but you’re never going to get there, na!’. And from there, you can see the Land - in a clear day you can see Jericho (Ari7a), Jerusalem... it’s a fascinating sight!

Something else happened, though. I was sitting there with Shir - who is Israeli, for that matter - and we were contemplating the horizon. And we didn’t even talk - words weren’t necessary. It was... good.

Really, Roi and Shir are the kind of people whom it’s good to meet in dark times. When I start losing hope in our little piece of land we call the Middle East. Guys - love you. I’ve known you for what, 24 hours? But I’m glad to call you my friends.