Jordan: Dead Sea (10/26/2023)

Thursday, October 26, 2023 (continued)

Next our motor coach descended from the Abarim
mountain range toward the Dead Sea, causing a few hearts
to flutter when looking down sheer cliffs

Now we could really see the Dead Sea -
actually a lake with no outlet, with a salinity
of about 34% that is not conducive to [aquatic] life

Our stop was the Dead Sea Panoramic Complex (2006)
where most people headed to the restaurant for lunch on our own

We went to the Dead Sea Museum, with its "footprints"
showing how the Dead Sea is shrinking

Argya squamiceps/Arabian Babbler

Cinnyris osea/Palestine Sunbird

Model of the Dead Sea area, with the Jordan River (lower
right corner) as the boundary between Jordan and the
West Bank that includes Jericho (under Palestinian
National Authority since 1994) and part of Jerusalem
(which is occupied Palestinian territory since 1967);
the yellow dot is the Dead Sea Panoramic Complex

Sodium chloride/Salt is harvested from the Dead Sea

Copper

At last, I have a photo of Pahoehoe/ropey lava

Gastropod fossils

Close-up of the gastropod fossils

The "pergola" leading to the restaurant

Shisha/hookah pipes

This morning the hotel gave us breakfast boxes,
and we still had plenty left over for our lunch

Our lunchtime view over the Dead Sea

Bougainvillea glabra/Bougainvillea in yellow

Panoramic viewpoint where we still are 500 m/1,640'
above the level of the Dead Sea; since the Dead Sea
is 427 m/1,401' below sea level, we are
only 73 m/239' above sea level

A table with a lazy Susan and lamp posts?

Brilliant pink bougainvillea; the white is the flower,
surrounded by pink/colored bracts

The Aloe vera Walk

Museum courtyard

The Panoramic Complex restaurant with the pergola to the right

Now the motor coach takes us down to the level of the Dead Sea

Our room at the Dead Sea Marriott near Swemeh, Jordan

The hotel room bathroom

Hotel room bathroom

View from our hotel room

We had to walk down past three levels of swimming pools,
a couple sets of steep stairs, and down a driveway to the sea

Kent and Tamiko floating in the Dead Sea

Tamiko and others slathering on the 
Dead Sea mud; why - "it accelerates the skin's
detoxification process, draws out excess oil,
tightens, and exfoliates to remove dead skin"

Most people were enjoying the hotel swimming pools

We heard music and found a belly dancing
performance; many Slavic women are
the professional belly dancers now;
I think this is Jasmin (Tatiana Kladova)!

Next: Madaba Mosaics.