WEDNESDAY 7/11/12

AMMAN

We decided to stay in Amman and check out some sights close to the city. We started with Madaba, the site where the oldest map in the world was discovered. It was found on the floor of a church in form of a mosaic. Although it’s not complete, the map curiously enough, includes various sites in modern day Jordan as part of the Holy Land, which to Jordanians is a big deal. In the same church they have a picture of Mary carrying Jesus and on a certain Friday that people were praying to her and asking her for help, a third hand, a blue hand, appeared in the picture. So now every Friday and Sunday the church gets flooded with people to ask Mary for help. They do it by writing their request on a piece of paper and depositing it in a clear box. 

 After Madaba we went to a school/store. It's a school because they teach young women and others the art of making mosaics. They explained how they do the template, how they cut the tiny little pieces and how they put them together. Then we saw how they do faux mosaic on pottery. It looks just like the real thing. Leti even tried her hand on it. Maybe a new career, who knows.

 











We then headed to Mt. Nebo. They also have a staff that represents Moses' staff. From here Moses got to see the Promised Land before he was taken. What a great view! Although it wasn’t the clearest day you could see quite a bit. You could see why Jehovah chose this spot to show him the land he promised the Israelites. We were told by our driver that on a clear day you could see Dead Sea, Jordan River, Jericho and Jerusalem. At the spot we encountered a group of Muslim school girls on a field trip, check out their dress.

Something very strange happened on the way to Mt. Nebo, our driver got to this spot on the road almost brought the car to a complete stop, kind of a very slow roll, then put the car on neutral and the car started to go up the hill. As the car got some momentum, he completely turned off the car and pulled the key out of the ignition. WHAAAATTTT????? It was incredible!!!! He told us they found magnetic properties in the area and that’s what propelled the car up the hill. And it wasn’t a little hill either, the car went all the way up. AWESOME!!!!!

When  we finished with Mt. Nebo we went to the site of Jesus baptism according to the Madaba map. Their consensus is that since so many churches were built around this site, that gives proof that this is the spot where he got baptized. Now the Jordanians blame the Israelis of depleting the Jordan river of it's water. But both countries are using it's waters and leaving it dry. You can see it in the pictures. If the river was flowing the site might of been something other than that, it was kind of disappointing.

We then headed south to the Dead Sea. We got to spend a few hours floating around easily in it. We lathered black mud all over and then took a dip in the sea. I think the pics tell it best.

So the plan was to get back to Amman rent a car and start heading south to Petra. The local car rental place was trying to get me to leave my passport till we returned the car. See ya!! I might look it... We got a hotel, which was chore in itself but Mustafa did his best to get us a decent hotel. We’ll try again tomorrow.