Aaaargh, the flies! Noisily buzzing around my uncovered head, Djalma was once again hidden under the blanket despite the heat, they were trying to get into my ears, up my nose and failing that crawled round my eyes and mouth, they drove me mad and I was sitting up swatting them away and cursing – could they not wake up later or bother someone or something else!? More effective than an alarm clock, the flies and the sun got me up and into the shower to wash off the grit and the litres of sweat from another night on the roof, but not much reprieve there – mmm hot water, just what you want to start the day – more bloody heat. Up and dressed, I made Djalma do the same and together we walked to the falafel restaurant for a breakfast sandwich where we bumped into William who was on his way home from work. We decided to get plates of food to share with the family, we picked up big plates of; foul, hummus topped with browned and spiced mince, a big bag of falafel, bread, tangy yoghurt cheese and a tub of garlic and lime oil.
We arrived back home, laid out the food and we all ate breakfast together, it was nice to be able to repay some of the amazing hospitality we had been shown even if it was only in a small way. We made noises about moving on but they protested wanting us to stay another night and then go, we compromised and stayed most of the day, the morning and afternoon slipping away in a haze of food, tea, sleep and a new book. It being Friday, the equivalent of a Christian Sunday, there was loads of food throughout the afternoon, chicken was marinated in spices, cooked and served, followed by mouth-wateringly good watermelon and then later by more chicken, this time coated in yoghurt, spices and lime and then barbecued to a well done death. We were pushed to eat and despite being full from breakfast we tried to make a dent in the plates of food, but failing miserably I hoped I didn't offend the cook.
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| From Mazra'a, Jordan |
The time soon came to pick up our bags and move on, after some group pictures – trying to round up the girls was difficult but not impossible – we said our goodbyes and were driven by William's brother to the end of the road where we waited for all of twenty seconds before a German guy, Michael, picked us up in his Skoda and we drove to the Dead Sea.
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| From Mazra'a, Jordan |
Wow! The Dead Sea was amazing, I changed into some shorts keeping my T-shirt on over my bikini and we all went down to the public beach, full of local men, boys and a couple of families, to float in the super salty water. We splashed around, careful not to get the water in our eyes, and took pictures of each other floating effortlessly in the sea.
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| From The Dead Sea, Jordan |
The feeling was surreal, we moved a little further out to test the story, seeing whether we could stand straight and not touch the bottom, not surprisingly but amazingly, it worked – the feeling of being buoyed up by the water was fantastic, perfect for anyone who fears drowning in the depths of the ocean (although the water level is lowering a metre a year, millions of cubic metres lost to evaporation and industries extracting the minerals).
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| From The Dead Sea, Jordan |
We splashed around for a while although minor injuries, seemingly healed, made themselves well known after a few minutes in the mineral rich water and we moved onto the mud pits. Oh my goodness, the money rich people pay to get the sulphur rich slop on their bodies and we got it for free. It was great fun although walking into the stony pit there was a deep pot hole which caught people unaware and had them sinking into thigh high mud. We sat in the mud, covering every inch of exposed skin – unfortunately I didn't get as much of a mud bath as I would have liked to – a serious lack of women made me happy I had kept my T-shirt and shorts on – but our faces, arms, legs and even some of Djalma's hair got a good covering of the muck.
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| From The Dead Sea, Jordan |
We took some pictures with some of the boys who were also messing around in the mud. Soon enough we decided it was time to rinse off and so lay in a small river from a thermal spring to rinse off the 'body packs', it took a good deal of time and plenty of water to get the grit off and we stunk of sulphur (rotten egg fart) despite our best efforts.
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| From The Dead Sea, Jordan |
We bundled back into Michael's Skoda after admiring the beautiful sunset and headed off to Amman.
I read my book while Djalma and Michael spoke in the front all of us enjoying the reprieve from the heat the air conditioning system gave us. It was a short trip to the capital city and we arrived down town after negotiating the confusing, poorly signposted road system which wound round the many hills (over twenty) that Amman sprawls over.
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| From The Dead Sea, Jordan |
We said our goodbyes with promises to email photos, promises kept albeit later than arranged, and after a fair amount of false starts we got a taxi to the first circle where our host lived and met him there with his friend from Taiwan. We went back to his apartment and sat on the balcony which overlooked some of the city, talking and drinking beer until early in the morning. We slept in the living room which turned out to be a dark sweat box as soon as the bedroom doors (leading to the balcony) were closed. I tossed and turned for most of the night, waking up covered in sweat several times, it didn't stop me and Djalma from sleeping until midday though.
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| From Amman, Jordan |
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