The following pics show some of our experience at the Dead Sea. I had read about the Dead Sea in a Lonely Planet book on the way over seas. What I read was that there was no life in that sea because the ratio of the salt content to water was more than 7 times that of the world's oceans. I also read that the Dead Sea has great healing powers and is commonly sought out for therapeutic purposes. Of course, I also saw those pictures of people flooting while reading (typical poser tourist pic).
What I did not read in the Lonely Planet was that if you have a cut on your leg you might as well pour salt and vinegar into it if you are thinking of jumping into the Dead Sea. Therefore, there were two things I discovered immediately after ripping my shirt off and sprinting down the beach (following a long, hot and stifling ride in a taxi in the mid-day desert of Jordan) and charging the water the way I might at my own local beach at home, diving in with wreckless abandon. One, cuts hurt, and two, I discovered that this was no ordinary body of water to move around in, it was like watered down jello. If you tried to straighten yourself in the water with your head above the surface and your legs hanging down, your legs would either start coming up in front of you or behind you, but they were coming up, and with enough momentum that your head was likely going under when your feet hit the surface. Man, after 3 or 4 times of me being like a weebles wobble guy in the water, I was getting all that salt in my eyes and quickly became blinded, and my eyes began stinging like a son-of-a-bitch. It was completely fucked up and I couldn't stop laughing at my own stupidety as I wondered how many travellers must do this everyday. If I was local, I would hang out there on my days off just to watch the dumb westerners scream once they became blinded by surprise. That would be fun for me.
Of course, my wife is no fool and got to stand on the beach pretending she had no idea who I was, as I hollared, OWWWWWWWWWWW MY EYES!!!!!!! and OWWWWWWWWWWW MY CUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After regaining my composure, we snapped some pics. This water here is well over our heads.
This was the only position in which you could stay on your stomach because if you fried to straghten your legs your head was going under. You had to keep your feet up and flap your arms like you were doing a mad doggy paddle. I was hysterical actually, you couldn't not laugh your ass off while doing all of these swim positions you would never comprehend otherwise.
Now it was time to play the role of the typical tourist and read the next chapter of my book while floating on the water.
The following day we stopped on the west side of the Dead Sea, as we had now passed into Israel. If I remember correctly, the ole lady and I were beefing over some small shit that you will beef over when travelling together in the searing desert heat. We didn't swim and wanted to move on to Jerusalem. These are the only two pics I have but the water sure looks a lot more tourquise than it did on the other (Jordanian) side.
Looking back now, it is hard to believe that my wife who I had only known and been married to for two years had only recently turned 24. I am four years older than her and would have been 28 at this time. It's also hard to believe I would allow her to travel alongside me while wearing that hippy shit!
