In (Culture) Shock And Awe

Ladies and Gentlemen!  The past 24 hours have been filled with so much it is difficult to condense it into a single post, but I am going to try.  We rode from the city of Madaba to the Dead Sea and are leaving tomorrow for Karak.  It was a day filled with many different emotions and crazy experiences. So let's get to it!

I wasn't joking about the parrot thing..

We started off with a fabulous breakfast at our hotel.  The desk clerk/chef prepared fresh food for us (which made Dad very happy) and spent a lot of time talking with us (and showing us his parrot..what?).  Highlights of the conversation included him laughing while I was talking and telling Dad that I seemed like a "very powerful" person.  He said he had never met a woman with such a strong personality.  I hope that's a good thing...?  Anyway, he was great, and whenever he described something (like the weather, for example) he would always say it was "more than wonderful" or "more than awesome".  We were one of two rooms that were occupied at the hotel that night so we got very special attention and it was a great way to start off our time in the Middle East!

Breakfast on the balcony!

Our view of Madaba City

After breakfast, we made our way around Madaba city to see various mosaics, the shrine of the beheading John The Baptist, and the oldest map of Palestine which dates back to 528 AD.

The first place we went to was an archaeological site that housed many mosaics dating back to 100 AD.  The mosaics dated back to Roman times and we even got to see a Roman road that was preserved from the Roman period.

Roman Road

We essentially had a private tour because the guy who worked at reception didn't really have anything else to do (and we were the only ones there).  He only spoke Arabic so we couldn't understand each other very well, but he was very nice and even took us to a shop afterwards to see how people today make mosaics the same way they did thousands of years ago.

 

Next, we walked to a church where we saw the shrine of the beheading of St. John The Baptist. In 1883, after the Christians from Kerak came to Madaba, Latin priests built the first church on the summit of the Acropolis of Madaba.  In 1902, parishioners broke ground on the Church of St. John the Baptist.  They named it in honor of the disciple who was beheaded in the nearby "Macherus" castle in approximately 29 AD. If you are interested in the biblical relevance of the beheading, check out Matthew 4: 1-12.  We also climbed up to the top of the steeple and got a great view of the city!

Forgive my Donald Trump hair in this picture, please.  Wind is the worst.

Catholic school kids waiting to come into the church

They were not shy!

Finally, we went to St. George's church to see the famous mosaic pilgrim's map that dates back to 528 AD. Dad was VERY excited about this.  It is important to note that this is the oldest existing map of Palestine!  It is a mosaic that was unearthed in the early 1900s when Madba Christians were building the church on top of it.  It was very cool to see biblical sites represented visually on a map that was created using tile thousands of years ago.  I couldn't get a good picture of the whole map, but these pictures will show some of the incredible details!(2 million tiles used on the full map originally!)

  

Then it was time to finally get on our bikes (I know, I'm only through a quarter of the day).  We didn't have to ride long before we were at Mount Nebo. Not only is this a place of religious significance (In Deuteronomy, Moses ascended Mount Nebo to view the promised land and died there), but it also provides an incredible panoramic view of the Holy Land.  It was very cool to see the wilderness where Jesus spent time after he was baptized in the Jordan River (which we saw later that day...it was a big day for Christian pilgrim sites).

The cycling got much scarier as we descended down the mountain.  Usually I worry about going UPHILL, but it turns out going downhill when it's really steep is much worse!  We were going down narrow roads with hairpin turns and my brakes were on the whole time.  Literally.  It was also great because my brakes squeal whenever I use them, so for a solid hour, Dad and I had to endure the high pitched sound that never stopped.  It was pretty embarrassing when there were villagers standing by and they could hear me squealing from a mile away.  I tried to get Dad to fix them but he just said that the sound meant  "the brakes are working and that's what matters".  We were pleasantly surprised by the reaction we've had from drivers on the road.  I think we received over 100 honks yesterday.  Usually I associate being honked at with Americans trying to run me off the road, but these honks in Jordan are always friendly and accompanied with people shouting "Way to go!" and "Yay Canada!" (Dad has a Canadian flag on the back of his bike and they get really excited about it).  They give us lots of room for the most part and I have found them to be very friendly and helpful to both Dad and I.  After going down about 1000 metres in elevation, we had reached the Dead Sea.  It was quite incredible to only see desert for miles and miles and then, out of nowhere, the sky turns into the sea!  There are so many things I saw on the way down that I was unable to take pictures of because I was flying pretty fast (even with my brakes on) and the idea of stopping to take a picture seemed crazy. We saw Jordanians living in traditional tents and farming sheep, 4 kids hanging out on a camel on the side of the road (so casual), and so many kids jumping and screaming as we passed by that I can't even count.

We still had one more stop before we were done for the day and that was the Jordan River.  We were going to see where Jesus was baptized and where John the Baptist lived during his ministry.  It was quite a random tour-I think Dad knew more about Jesus' baptism and the Jordan River than the guide did.  I think the tour in itself was quite useless, but interestingly enough, you have to go on a guided tour to actually touch and see the Jordan river because it is a military zone due to the fact that the Jordan River is the boundary between Israel and Jordan.

The Jordan River

Reputed site of Jesus' baptism

This picture was taken right before a woman fell in and almost drowned.  Seriously, I think that's her foot on the side of the picture.  It was crazy.

Israel only a few strokes away!

Why blend in when you were born to stand out, Dad?

 It was now about 4:00 and we had approximately 15 km to go until we reached our hotel at the Dead Sea.  I thought it would be an easy 15 km and, but it was a very stressful 15 km due to the craziness that is Jordan.  Again, I could not capture any photos because I was too busy trying to stay alive, but here are some of the highlights.

-We were chased by wild dogs (not very new for us, but these ones darted out of the woods or would sometimes wait ahead for us on the road, ready to pounce).

-Friday is a holiday here and it seems every family goes out to have a picnic/BBQ in the woods, on the street, on the highway-wherever they can find shade!  Which is nowhere, by the way.  So the shoulder that is usually available to cyclists was filled with cars and people just hanging out.  This was when we really felt like rock stars because everyone would cheer for us as we rode by!

-The service road that we were using that was supposed to have two lanes only had one lane due to the holiday traffic (AKA people just parking in the middle of the road), so there were cars driving towards each other and then randomly veering off to the shoulder (where WE were) like it was normal.

-A kid that was about 7 years old stopped traffic on the freeway as he went from one side to the other riding a camel.

-Things I nearly collided with while riding include but are not limited to: a horse, a pack of donkeys with children riding them, a kid roller blading with one roller blade on (what are you even doing?? How is that fun for you??), multiple vehicles coming at me including a man on a bicycle with an ice cream cart attached to it, hundreds of people just STANDING on the road (WHY?).

I have travelled to over 75 countries and I have never experienced culture shock like I have today.  But it's all part of the adventure, I suppose!  Anyway, we made it to the Dead Sea Spa Hotel which has been amazing.  We had a rest day today (which I will write about later because this blog post is already a small novel) and tomorrow we are headed out to the mountains again to arrive in Karak. We get to go UP the mountain tomorrow so...that will be a joy...not...Either way, I will keep you updated!

Bye for now!!

Annika