The Dead Sea

I finally got to go to the dead sea today. It was so damn beautiful.
The water is crazy crazy salty, but it's true. You float like nobodies business.
I had a fun time.

Ayman, one of the drivers who took me to the airport took me. We talked about his wife and kids, my life in NY, and how he grew up not being the typical Arab man in Palestine.
We drove along that morning, chatting it up.
On the way, we stopped so I could ride a camel or rather Jammal. I thought I was gonna fly off of the poor camel dude. AND they are a lot higher than you think!

Once I was done with the camel riding, it was off to the beach. We went down pretty far along the desert to one of the supposed better beaches. Better because there's a life guard who hollers at everyone every 10 mins about going out to far and/or about playing in the water too much.
Off in the distance, you can see Jordan like a hazy dream drawn on by some haphazard painter, not done adding all the details or colors. It's cool though because you know just over the water, folks are looking right back at you thinking the same thing.

The beach isn't like other beaches. Not only is the water incredibly salty (and believe me if you get this water in your mouth or eyes, you'll pee yourself... it's that strong), but there also isn't much sand. It's all rocks. So it's not very kind to your feet. I didn't read about that part! But it's nice. It's a strange set up. I'm sure farther down, where the spas are, there's a more comfortable setting, BUT it was nice. You find your rock up above and sit in the sun OR walk carefully down the hill to the water and float around OR sit on a rock in the water. Next time, I'll have booties. Its too slippery to wear your flip flops and walk up the rocks back to your stuff after you've been in the water. Aside from the slickness of the water, the salty makes it even slicker.

The water is also just so warm the first time you get in it. You know how some times even when it's really hot outside, water is still a bit cooler? This wasn't. This water was warm as soon as you get in. I got in only a few feet and floated about. Ayman and others tried to assure me that I'd be ok and not sink. That I'd float just fine. Tell that to someone who almost drowned as a child. Any water is dangerous water. Leave it to me to think I'll be the ONLY person in creation who ever died by drowning in the dead sea. Just wasn't gonna happen! I did ok though. No hyperventilation. No freaking out. Of course, when I stood up, the water was only up to the middle of my stomach, so there wasn't much to freak out about. Ayman got me out once farther floating and when I stood the water was to my chest. I almost had a heart attack. He's fine and all, but I don't do that with anyone in the water. Dave has been the ONLY person I trusted completely in the water like that. And he'll probably always be the only one I trust like that in the water.

Next, there's the magic mud. A 10 minute walk to another part of the beach will bring you closer to the magic mud. The first time, I walked and floated along to get there to the mud. Ayman was already there and I met him after getting my flip flops. Walking all that way with nothing on your feet is nearly impossible. Just too painful.

We got all muddied up with a bunch of other folks. There were these 2 young women who were helping each other out and these 3 Indian guys who kept trying to talk to them and get their number. Maybe it was their cheesy pick up lines. Maybe it was there leopard speedos. Either way, the girls laughed and ignored them and got all muddied up. Ayman and I laughed so hard and just kepting mudding ourselves. Once we were done, we went back to the side of the beach we were on before and rinsed off. I tried floating again, but I was still nervous. I floated for about 5-10 mins and that was good enough for me.

The next time, Ayman went back all the way over to the mud and brought back a crazy amount. That was when we REALLY got muddied up. It was great. It gets so hard, like concrete so fast in the heat of the sun. But you feel it doing something to your skin. Like making it tight, then loose. It also doesn't smell like anything. I thought it would at least smell like minerals or salt or dirt. There's no smell at all. Just this very dark gray mud. When it dries on completely, it's a lighter gray. But then, the salty ocean water isn't enough to wash it off. You'll need to go to the startling hard fresh water showers above.

We stayed all day and after tried to go to Jericho to ride the cable cars to the Mountain above the Old City, but they were working on the cars for maintenance. So we came back to Ramallah. It was fine though because after trecking out to the beach, floating around in salty water, covering myself in mud TWICE, and sitting in the sun, I was tired :) A night of rest was what I needed before I went out the next day.

In all seriousness though, I was in a lot of pain and tired. I'm not supposed to get too much sun anyway so that left me tired. But those rocks on my butt and on my feet were terrible. AND all the up and down of the uneven rocks by the beach took a toll on my knees. Of course if someone is of stellar health, it won't bother them too much.

Either way, it was a beautiful day. The weather, the water and the mud! So no complaints here.