My life vest is sliding over rocks beneath my back as I’m trying to lift my feet above the water so I can float easily down the Wadi Mujib water stream. I’m floating as if I’m in the lazy river at a water theme park. I’m looking up and all I see is red sandstone rocks, splashed and naturally designed with stratified colors of mustard yellow, dark hues of brown and purple on both sides of me in this narrow passage way called the Siq. The water is hugging me and guiding me in an S-shaped route all the way back to the entrance.

My two roommates and I decided to go on a very spontaneous trip to Wadi Mujib and the Dead Sea. At first, we wanted to just go to Wadi Mujib for the day, but because we lost ourselves in the east of Wadi Mujib instead of the west side, we didn’t have enough time to do the hike, so we made plan B. Plan B was to go to the Dead Sea, spoil ourselves at the royal and extravagant Holiday Inn, spend a night, and then go to Wadi Mujib early in the morning.

We rented a car, 2013 Hyundai for about 50 dollars for two days. It was a brand

new car and it was funny to drive up the mountains because it didn’t have much power. We couldn’t find the Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve, but what we did find was an outdoor cafe all the way at the top of the Mujib mountains over looking the vast view of the sandstone valley and a damn at the bottom of the valley. We were offered some tea from a bedouin who makes a living off of giving hospitality to tourists who come up this mountain. He also sold some handmade jewelry.

We took a shortcut across to the dead sea instead of going back and around on the big highways. The road we went on was an amazing joy ride. Chandler and I switched off driving and the roads were so close to the edge of the mountain. Take note that the roads were not paved! It was mostly sand and rocks. We can see the dead sea off into the horizon and we can tell because of the mist evaporating from the sea. We checked in at the Holiday Inn and the hotel room was very royal indeed. Free mini bar (juices, water, chips, and milk), free complimentary breakfast (grand buffet breakfast), their 6 pools, and the Dead Sea open to us! It wasn’t the cheapest but it was definitely well worth it.

Down at the dead sea, it’s always such a bizarre experience to float in the water. I find it hilarious that people are just bobbing in the sea water especially the big men with huge, round tummies. With the mud on our bodies and the sun shining at full speed ray, we got a pretty good spa-like experience. Our skin was incredibly soft after just 10 minutes in the water, but then our bodies smelled of thick salt water. Chandler and I took two one litter bottles to fill it up with the sea mud. There was a worker there who helped both of us fill up the whole two bottles! It wasn’t easy to fill it up, the worker was pressured to clear out by his boss because the sun was setting and it was time for the resort to close. In the end, he didn’t listen to his boss and kindly and patiently filled it up for us like it was his job to do it for us. I can’t stress how friendly and beyond hospitable people are here. It’s like a family who gives unconditional love. Hands are waved around here and there and some people pick on us, but whose family doesn’t have members who don’t pick on them?

We had dinner at ridiculously fancy Thai restaurant at another hotel. It was so fancy I felt really uncomfortable. I felt like I had to chew my food so that I don’t make a sound or a peep. As I am drinking the water out of a wine glass, I find out that the water was 2 JD (about 4 dollars) each glass. I kind of would have preferred a less posh place and with a lighter more informal atmosphere.

The next morning, we excitedly ate the complimentary breakfast at 7. It was a buffet with anything and everything imagined displayed very nicely under spotlights and beautiful linens. We took some none complimentary nuts and dried fruits to-go for our hike. Again, Haram.

Arriving at the Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve, there was just one other group that was there.. a group of archaeologists!! There were excavating in Carrak and told me they found some casted babies! Oh, how much I want to do the same as what they are doing!

Usually it’s very crowded and there are a significant amount of tourists, but because Ramadan had just started and it was early in the morning, it was only the three of us and the group of 5 archaeologists. I was incredibly jealous of what they were doing and I wanted to know about everything they had excavated. We decided to go on the shortest hike called the Siq hike which is about 2 hours, 1 hour each way. As we were walking across the metal bridge that brings us down to the stream and the entrance to the narrow passage way, we didn’t know that we were going to be walking against the stream the whole time!! It was an hour’s walk to the end with the waterfall waiting for us. As we are walking, spotlights of the morning sunshine was peeking through the red sandstone rocks above us, but we were mostly in the shade because the rocks were high above us. The stream wasnt’ straight, it was S-shaped and at every turn, my breath was taken away like how my breath was taken away by the sight of the Treasure monument in Petra. Being in this reserve was a relaxing and calming experience with a splash of adventure. It felt like nothing else mattered except for that moment and that time, my first clear experience of feeling the here-and-now moment. All my problems were just not that big anymore, seeing how magnificent the intimate scenery was kept my heart on it’s feet, pumping blood constantly reminding me that I’m alive. I just couldn’t belive what I was experiencing and I didn’t know how to soak all of it up. There were some parts of the stream where we had to use ropes and climb up rocks as the water was running down. It was a little challenge making the hike a bit more adventurous because we didn’t have a tour guide and it felt like this place was all to ourselves. There were about three of these rope climbing obstacles until the last one led us around to the corner where the waterfall was. Above us was a cubed rock that must have fallen many years ago and it was stuck between the two sides of the passage. the area right before the waterfall is shallow from one side of the rock wall to the other. There wasn’t a place that was deep enough to swim or jump, it was just a small waterfall and the water flowed smoothly down the Siq. The three of us couldn’t keep our smiles from expanding past our ears, we were ecstatic. We lied down a little bit in front of the waterfall while the water was passing us facing the stream. With a big rock underneath my head as a head rest, I was just laying there with the water streaming against my body and watching the birds soaring above us.

I hope I can go there again,

Dandelion Traveler

21 Jul This entry was published on July 21, 2012 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Jordan, Middle East, Travel. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.