A brown bag breakfast after a sluggish mile on the treadmill started my Tuesday in Cairo. Everyone had their hand out for a tip, and we were soon out of pounds. By 8:30, we had landed in Amman, Jordan via Royal Jordanian airlines, another first. More dry bread was offered – even the brittle cookie was flavorless. Then, from plane to bus to the Dead Sea Museum with distant views of Jerusalem and Jericho, while our luggage was transported to our room at the Movenpick Hotel, right next to the Dead Sea Marriott.

We quickly changed into our swimsuits and took a golf cart to the resort pool. The shallow end was all sand and the deep end had an infinity view. The surrounding tiles were so hot that you couldn’t grab on to the edge, so support bars were hidden underwater and out of the intense sunshine. After an hour, we took another cart to the Dead Sea beach. Really sharp rocks prevented a gracious entry, so we fell into the water expecting to sink but the salt kept us buoyant for a few photos. They suggested only 20-minutes in the water before “mudding up.” A lifeguard gathered some chunks of salt from the bottom, mixed it with mud in an urn, and scrubbed my body from head to foot. My wife called me “Mud Man,” a reference to an Indy 500 experience years before I met her. (See Post #2248). 

Buffets would be the breakfast and dinner options as we moved from the Movenpick – Dead Sea to the Movenpick – Petra. Before we packed to leave that first morning, I finally got in a full 5k along the Dead Sea hotel row. It felt good to be outside on a paved, flat surface and 300-feet below sea level. A falafel sandwich lunch was served in route on the bus. We also had a tour of Mount Nebo, Moses’ stomping grounds, Shobak Castle, built by Crusader King  Baldwin I in 1115, and several rocky, Bedouin camps where they tended sheep, camels, and goats. 

Excitement was building in anticipation of seeing Petra, located just across the street from the hotel. I once again got up at 5a to use the fitness center treadmill for a 2-mile warm- up for the eight-mile hike. The first half was mostly downhill with lots of uneven pavers through the narrow Siq. Once we got to the Treasury, the Indiana Jones temple, the pathways turned to mostly sand, with the exception of a steep series of steps to get to the best views of Petra. 

Our Viking tour group then climbed a less used trail above the theater and by numerous caves and tombs, distinguished only by the stairways to heaven carved  over the graves. Tombs often became homes and visa-versa that were cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Carvings in the sandstone, Roman aqueducts, temples destroyed by earthquakes, and vendors trying to make a buck lined the fascinating route we traversed. It all led to a 2-hour long, uphill walk back to the hotel, as I began to regret the treadmill workout earlier that morning.