Vipond Adventures: Dead Sea

Well today was quite the day!

We woke up early and headed to Hammamat Ma'in Hot Springs; They are natural hot springs that are located 200m below sea level at the bottom of a gorge along the Jordanian Plateau. There are a series of waterfalls that are VERY hot to touch. You just get into your swimsuit and head on in! The water is beautiful and when you stand underneath the waterfall the water just pelts down on you giving you a lovely warm massage. Everyone loved it and felt excellent as we jumped into the car and headed off to the Dead sea.

We got to the Dead sea Coastal highway and decided to find our hotel. As we drove through the Hotel area of the Dead Sea and stopped to ask for help several times we realized something was wrong... nobody knew of the "Lot Hotel". I (Kelly) was feeling rather suspicious because the conformation email had the initials "il" at the end of the email address....

Ryan and I walked into another hotel to use the Internet to try and solve the mystery location of our hotel booking. My suspicions were correct as we were appalled to find out we would be unable to reach our hotel... because it was in ISRAEL! Needless to say we all tried to come up with a new game plan while we soaked in the Dead sea and aimlessly floated in the battery acid... I mean the really salty water.

The water was great but you need to rinse instantly when you come out since you are covered in salt and all your cuts and scrapes are stinging like crazy. My hair was covered with white chunks of salt as I emerged from the chilly depths of the marine-animal free water. The Dead sea is a salt lake between Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 420m (1,378ft) below sea level and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land. It is also the worlds saltiest body of water at 8.6 times more salty then the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where no animals can flourish hence the name, dead sea.

We decided to go into the souvenir shop and ponder our action plan further when we started up a conversation with some local Jordanians. We ended up borrowing one of their cell phones and hooking up a deal with a local Hotel that is about 1/2 a kilometer away. We ended up booking into the Royal suite of the Dead Sea Spa Resort and this is where we will call home tonight. Oh darn! Life is tough when you are stuck in 5 star hotels in the Royal Suites!