the dead sea: side 2

DON'T PUT YOUR HEAD UNDER WATER.

If I let anyone go to the Dead Sea without giving them that advice, I ought to burn in Hell. Kindof like my eyes did. Augh.

With that said, man do I love the Dead Sea! This side is pretty much like the other side, except here you make cracks about swimming to Israel and getting shot instead of making cracks about swimming to Jordan and getting shot. Most women on the public beach we went to were fully clothed and in hijab, hanging out and smoking nargilah. (They call it "hubbly-bubbly" alot, after the British. It just kills the gang here, who all use the Arabic name "shisha".) So we felt a little self-conscious in our swimsuits, but I was of the "if we're going to swim, let's just get on with it and not stress" school of thought, particularly since we had all brought conservative swimsuits anyway. It was pretty fabulous...we spent a long time swimming and joking around (no splashing, though...AUGH pain and suffering). Hmm what else is there to say? You float so well that you get stuck on your stomach, because you can't swing your legs down under you again...you have to sort of roll over sideways. Egg-beaters are sweet. The salt actually cakes on your forehead in the sun.

I myself am super-skeptical about the therapeutic powers of Dead Sea mud. I mean...it's mud. Ok fine, salty mud. I can't help but feel that it's some sort of epic practical joke that somehow managed to sucker prissy adults into covering themselves in mud. We did it anyway, though, just for the activity.