Day 5

We spent Christmas eve at a very nice hotel in Aqaba, and, thanks to Nick the Brit in Amman, we had a wonderful dinner at a close-by restaurant. On Christmas day, our goal was to drive to the Dead Sea and float! After a BIG buffet breakfast at the hotel (the best part of which was just watching all the different nationalities chose their form of breakfast!), we drove north of Aqaba onto the King's Highway and listened to very corny Christmas music, all of which were songs I had never heard before!

When we left Aqaba, it was so nice and warm and sunny; however, as we neared the Dead Sea, it was clear that we might finally encounter some rain. The drive between the two is about 4 hours, with the first 3 in an extreme desert-like area with very little to see but the sand, rocks and mountains in the distance. There were numerous police check points where we had to stop to show our passports. I guess it's easy enough to get into this area of Jordan with anything and nobody takes a chance these days. At the very last checkpoint, Dania was asked for her driver's license, something she knew she didn't have (it was still at a U.N. refugee check-in office in Syria....). Rather than hassle us, the police or military guy or ? simply allowed me to take over the driving. So, I headed us into the Dead Sea area where desert turned to very fertile ground and plenty of farms along the sides of the road.

It did rain/drizzle the entire time we were at the Dead Sea; however, it really didn't affect our day, since Dania had thought ahead in Aqaba and made reservations for us to have massages and enjoy the facilities at the sister hotel of the one we'd stayed in there. So, we drove into the place right on the sea, realized immediately that there was going to be a bit more money involved than we had anticipated, and remembered Allen's Christmas "walking around" money gift! It was an extremely nice Swedish-owned resort with unbelievable facilities. So, when in Rome AND on Christmas day, what do you do but be a Roman, right? We checked in, got our bags with towels, lotion, and PAPER underpants that neither of us figured out what to do with until well later, changed into our bathing suits hoping that we could at least dip our feet into the sea. Unfortunately, the entire area was closed because the they claimed the water was too rough. So, we headed for the massage area. Dania chose some high-end, torturous sounding version and I opted for the Swedish type. She was stretched so much that she ached for at least a day afterwards. I was in heaven and well taken care of by a Chinese man whose family had emigrated from Beijing 15 years before. He told me that, although at this point, he could understand Arabic pretty well, his mouth could not form the sounds, something I could understand completely! He also told me that his son was in his last year of college at Texas Christian University! We truly live in a global community, don't we! Anyway, after our massages, we finally got our chance to sample the Dead Sea waters in the resorts various pools, spas, jacuzzis and hydro-therapy areas. You really do float thanks to the high salt content! What a relaxing and unique way to spend Christmas day. Thank you, Allen!

After grabbing a bite to eat there, we trudged back through the rain to our car and gunned it back to Amman just in time to return it to the rental agency. I was VERY impressed all along the way south from Amman to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba and then back north through the Dead Sea to Amman with the highways. They are very modern and, fortunately for us, the last part between the DS and Amman is well-lit too! While the rain wasn't too bad, the crappy rental car could have used new windshield wiper blades! But, after a bit of frustration over not finding where we were supposed to go, we finally made it, checked it back in and hopped on another service headed back to good ole Damascus.

Our adventure to Jordan was fun, but it was nice to be back in Dania's apartment and eventually back in her bed! The little rain that we had had in Jordan was apparently heavier in Damascus, a good thing because it cleared away the fog and/or smog that had been hanging around since my arrival. The next morning was clear, crisp and without any of the haze that I had seen earlier.