This morning, we started the day in beautiful Amman, Jordan. It is a very modern town with everything that you would expect in a world capital. It is a very large city that sprawls in every direction for miles (or kilometers). It took us a long time just to get out of the city.
From there, we travelled about an hour to a location known in the Bible as "Bethany Beyond the Jordan". It is an area on the east side of the Jordan River. This would have been near to the location where John the Baptist baptized Jesus (as well as many others). Although it was very interesting and we learned a lot, there are some ways in which this stop was very disappointing. The Jordan River is currently flowing at a rate much lower than it was 100 years ago and MUCH lower than it was during Jesus' time. This is due to the irrigation that the countries of Israel and Jordan are doing upstream. For instance, the size of the river here is much smaller than the size of the river that we saw upstream a few days ago at the Sea of Galilee. (The opposite should be true.) Another factor for the shortage of water is the reservoir that the country of Syria has built. We saw this reservoir a few days ago from afar. According to our guide, the Syrians built the water for the sole purpose of keeping the water for themselves. They don't use it for anything. They just keep it from going into Israel. With all of that being said, it was an interesting stop.
Our next stop was at the top of Mount Nebo. This mountain, of course, is the mountain where God showed Moses the Promised Land before Moses died. The view from Mount Nebo was BREATHTAKING. Our Jordanian tour leader stated that he has been showing people that view for 27 years and he had never seen the view as clear as it was today. You could see the Dead Sea, the Jordan River valley, the city of Jericho and the mountains of Israel. I am sure that our pictures do not do the view justice. I can't wait to get back home and use these pictures as I talk to my Bible class about the Israelites and how they took the land.
From there, we had a rather long ride (about 3 1/2 hours) to our current location, Petra. Along the way, we drove the Desert Highway through the desert of Jordan. I am sure that this ride would be very hot in the middle of the summer, but it wasn't bad today. But, we would travel for a long time without seeing anything beside small bushes and dried up wadis. Then, out of nowhere, a small city of a few buildings. We stopped at one of these cities for a bathroom and ice cream break (we look for ice cream everywhere we stop). We were told to "use the restroom here because it is the last one for two hours". So, we did.
One funny thing happened while we were driving. Out in the middle of nowhere (seriously), a Jordanian police officer pulled us over. Apparently, our driver was caught going ONE kilometer per hour over the speed limit. (They are serious about speeding over here.) The Jordanian armed guard that travels with us in the bus while we are in Jordan knew the police officer's uncle. They struck up a conversation and the charges against our driver were eventually dropped. Glad to see that things work in a similar way as the US!
Well, Barry and are in our double-size hotel room tonight. For some reason, we were given a large hotel room. However, the TV is probably 25 feet from the bed. I'll need binoculars to watch TV from bed tonight. But, this large room makes us miss the kids. We would like to have a big room like this when they are with us.
That's it for today. There is another long day scheduled for tomorrow, where we will end up on the banks of the Dead Sea.
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