Jordan

Jordan- Day 1

Today we arrived in Jordan, our last stop in the Middle East. The head of the a Demetrios store here, Ramez, picked us up and took us to see the sites. The first was Petra.As seen in such films like Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade and Transformers 2, the Al Khzneh temple in Petra is an incredible structure. It is so old, yet at the same time so well preserved, huge and magnificent. However, there were hundreds of other thinsg to see in the ancient city of Petra besides this temple. There were other temples, tombs carved into the walls, a Roman amphi-theater and much more. (We took a horse and carriage to traverse through the passages through the mountains to arrive at the picturesque ruins. Turning the corner and seeing for the first time this temple was truly mesmorizing. Afterwards, we rode camels to see the remaining ruins and structures deeper into the city.
After seeing the dead city, we headed back to our hotel. We drove through deserts and mountain ranges, both beautiful in their own right. While drving through the country I saw many children playing soccer in the streets and many people working the farms and fields. It was a drastice change from my previous destination, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was an immensly rich nation, with beautiful manshion and many developed areas. Jordan on the other hand was much poorer, had less developed and seemed as if it relied on agriculture much more than its neighbor to the south.
Before we got to the hotel, we stopped to take pictures in front of the Black Sea with the sun setting behind it. We then went to the hotel where Ramez's family was waiting for us to give my dad and uncle flowers. (They were extremely happy that they had finally visited Jordan.) We then went to our room or an hour and watched the IOC choose the next host city for the 2016 Olympics; I was happy with the decision. ( I mention this because I always follow this kind of stuff). We then went to dinner where we were introduced to a man who works at the Greek Embassy. He also brought his son and his son's two friends so I could eat with them.
I went to eat with them in an American sport themed restaurant. Ironic how I'm half way around the world, and I am forced to eat in an American bar with pictures of football and baseball surrounding me. The kids, Joseph, Steven and Omar were good kids, but a but eccentric aka they were kind of strange.
After dinner we walked around the hotel grounds, going down to the Dead Sea and then I went to sleep.

Jordan- Day 2
I woke up at around 10:00 and decided to go swimming in the Dead Sea with my uncle. Before entering the water, we covered ourselves in mud, which is supposedly good for the skin.
The water was so amazing. It is so salty, 8.6 times saltier than most other seas, that people float immediately. In the deeper parts of the water, I tried to touch my feet to the ground and walk, but it was impossible because of the salt. After swimming in the Deas Sea for 2o minutes, we ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel and went to swimming somewhere else. This time we (actually it was just me who swam) in the Jordan River. Before swimming in the river, we took a tour of the area. We saw the place where Jesus was baptized, a Greek church where John the Baptist's bones are at rest and many other ancient structures and holy sites. There were Churches from all types of Christian sects (Catholic, Russian, Greek, Armenian), some dating back 1500 years. An important thing to mention is that the place where Jesus was baptized is now dried up because of dams and controling of the river.

After the tour we walked to the river, where I was able to go swim. The river seperates Jordan from the West Bank and Israel, and while in the river, if I took 3 more steps to the west I would have been in Israel, that is how close it is.

After our excursion to the Jordan River, we went to Mnt Nebo, the place where Moses showed the Israelites to the promised land and where he supposedly died. This was cool as well. There were ancient church and religious monuments, and we could also see Israel in the distance at the peak of the mountain.

The next stop was a Greek church, (St. George's Church). I do not know why we went there, but it had really beautiful art inside. On the floor of the church there was ancient mosaic map of the region. It was pretty big in its current form, but a man told us that in its original state it was 24 by 8 meters in size, spanning from Syria to Egypt and beyond.

This was the last sight- seeing destination, so we drove back to Amman and went to our hotel. From the hotel we went to the Demetrios store. Ramez went so far to make a grand entrance for my father that he made a huge poster of my fathers face, a sign that said "Welcome Boss" and fireworks all outside the store. Inside the store there were flowers, decorations, cake, pastries and many people, including members of the press, photographer and many of Ramez's friends; he was acting like my father was a celebrity, it ws pretty funny. We took a lot of pictures and danced and sang to Arabic and Greek music.

After the mini-party, we went to dinner with members of the Greek Embassy. We were several minutes late, and the consulate left because he did not want to wait for us. (It was kind of obnoxious) Since he left, we went to visit him at the embassy the next morning, which was cool.

Jordan was an amazing country, where I was able to experience incredible history and see extraordinary sites.