Elevation Drop

In a matter of days, we unintentionally traveled from Mt Everest Base Camp, close to the highest point on earth, to the absolute lowest spot, the Dead Sea, at 1,414 feet BELOW sea level.  We personally plummeted 19,012 feet! WOW!  If we were Grandma Shirley, this was our one and only opportunity to run and clock our fastest mile.  Less athletically minded, we took a more leisurely approach to the altitude drop.  We first explored the intricate mosaics in Madaba and then traveled up to Mt Nebo.  We walked in Moses’ footsteps to view the promise land, which in all honesty, looked a bit smoggy and bleak.  Keeping the pilgrimage to the Holy Land streak alive, we dipped a toe in the River Jordan and visited the baptismal site of Jesus.  We noted the fastest way to rise to the heavens is to swim across the River Jordan to the West Bank, where curiously, machine-gunned Israeli soldiers stood guard.  Next, we learned the term “wadi”—a dry-ish valley or ravine in the desert—and began our exploration of the first of many more to come.  Pita bread became a near constant fixture in our hands as we continue to eat buckets of the creamy and delicious Jordanian hummus.