The Lowest Place on Earth
Jordan • Dead Sea, Shobak Castle & Mount Nebo • March 2006
Our last full day in Jordan, and we weren't about to spend it resting. We'd already done Petra, one long, very full day covered everything, even with our two-hour mountain hike, and had the whole day free before Petra by Night that evening. We popped into a travel agency the night before and arranged a car to the Dead Sea for $65. Our driver picked us up at 7:30am and his name was Ferris.
Ferris was not entirely pleased that all we'd seen of Jordan was Petra and the King's Highway, which is essentially a desert freeway clogged with oil trucks. He asked if he could take us the longer way and show us some things. Of course we said yes.
First stop was Shobak Castle, more than 1,300 years old, sitting out in the landscape with this quiet, ancient confidence. From there Ferris took us on a scenic route that revealed something I genuinely hadn't expected: Jordan is not just desert. There's a canyon that honestly reminded us of the Grand Canyon. Rolling green hills. Completely different landscapes bleeding into each other. If you only take the highway between Petra and Amman you miss all of this. Jordan is much more beautiful and varied than its reputation suggests.
We arrived at the Dead Sea mid-afternoon having made no plan to swim, which meant no swimsuits. Fortunately, there are vendor stalls right near the beach. Unfortunately, every single swimsuit available appeared to have been designed in 1987 featuring colors that should not exist on fabric. I eventually found one vendor with a one-piece for 7 Jordanian dinars and that was that. Wearing a swimsuit when you've already been stared at for days as a white woman in Egypt and Jordan is a whole different level of being stared at. I just want to acknowledge that out loud.
But the Dead Sea. It's 30% salt. Nothing lives in it. It's the lowest place on earth at 1,300 feet below sea level. And the floating is unlike anything I've ever experienced. We'd heard about it. We were not prepared. You literally cannot sink. Getting your feet back to the ground to stand up is an actual physical challenge because you just keep bobbing back up like a cork. We did what everyone does and grabbed handfuls of that mineral-rich mud from the bottom and slathered it all over ourselves. There's a gift shop on site selling it in bags for $10. You're standing in the free version. It's a funny world.
I kept my hair dry. Matt, less successfully, emerged from the water and got saltier by the hour as his hair dried. Salt appearing on his face, his neck, his ears. Every time we wiped it off, more salt appeared from somewhere new. Endlessly salted. Highly entertaining from where I was sitting.
We had four military checkpoints on the drive. Israel is right across the water, less than 20 miles away, and Jordan takes this seriously. Four soldiers in full gear, Hummers with mounted machine guns. Each stop, the soldiers seemed genuinely pleased we were American. One wanted to see our passports almost as if to double-check our driver wasn't making it up. Jordan hadn't felt particularly intense up to this point. This was a reminder of exactly where we were.
We finished the day at Mount Nebo, which is where the Bible says Moses climbed to see the Holy Land before he died. There's a monument and a beautiful church with mosaic floors. I stood there looking out toward what would be Israel in the distance and tried to feel the weight of that history. It's everywhere in this part of the world, unavoidable in the best way.
That evening we had Petra by Night. And then we flew home.
Walking away from this trip, if there's one thing I want anyone reading this to take away: don't be afraid of this part of the world. What you find is a country that is cleaner and calmer than you expect, and people who are SO genuinely excited to see Americans and tell you so. "Americans in Jordan is very good!" We heard that constantly. What you find is Ferris, who went out of his way to show us the Jordan that tourists don't see because he was proud of it. You find connection. You find history that makes your own life feel like a footnote in the very best way.