Dead Sea

On Sunday, our driver Isam, was there to pick us up bright and early (7 am).  We left Petra and headed up the King's Highway the most interesting and picturesque, to the village of Dana.  This little village overlooks the valley and Dana Nature Reserve.  The reserve is the largest in Jordan and is home to around 84 native animals which are protected in there.  No hunting is allowed and huge fines are given if you are caught.  Here in the reserve area the sandstone cliffs reach 1500 m near Dana and continues down to the Dead Sea.  Most of the reserve is only accessible by foot.  We did see a group of people making there way into the reserve.
We started our downward decent, much rugged terrain and many deep valleys along the way.  We passed through the village of Karak, which was more of a farming area, seeing many fields of tomatoes being harvested.  We stopped at the side of the road to pick some tomatoes to eat.  We asked if we could do that and Isam assured us we could.  Boy were they ever tasty. There were crates of tomatoes waiting to be loaded on trucks heading for Iraq.  The workers in the fields were Syrians.  It is really hard to believe they are able to grow anything on this hilly, stony, dry soil.  Fred thought he had stones on his fields, nothing even closes to this.
Driving along the Dead Sea (lowest point on the earth) we saw a salt processing plant, where they harvest the salt from the sea and process it in table salt and road salt.  The land in this area has such high salinity due to evaporation, that nothing can grow here.  Further down the road we made another stop at an important site to see the monument of Lot's wife who was turned into a pillar of salt.  This was located high on a mountain top over looking the Dead Sea. Isam then found a spot along side the road for a dip in the Dead Sea one of the must do experiences.  Betty, Fred and Sacha had a great time floating in the water.  It was very buoyant, even Fred was able to float here.
We left the Dead Sea going to Mt. Nebo where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land.  It is also said that he returned here to the mountain to die and is buried supposed to be buried in Madaba about 9 kms from Mt. Nebo.  We also saw Moses' Spring where he was said to have stuck a rock and water sprang forth for the people.  So much history in these parts.
To end our day Isam took us to Hammamat Ma'in, a hot spring resort.  The water was very pleasant at about 45 deg.  The water tumbles over the cliffs creating a waterfall and collects in pools for  bathing.      The waterfall massaged our backs and the steamy water made for a very relaxing 2 hr. stay.  Awesome.  We headed back up the windy, steep road to Amman where we will spend the next few days.