Cyber Ethiopia

Over the last two weeks we visited Petra and other sites south of Amman. We continue our journey in Jordan this week Moses and Mount Nebo Jordan is inextricably linked with the tales of the Holy Land, and one of the most important links is Mount Nebo, from where Moses gazed into 'the Promised Land'. Although like most biblical sites there is some uncertainty and controversy about whether this is the true site of Moses gazed from, the level of description from Deuteronomy is greater than that for most other places. One of the nice things about Mt. Nebo is that it is a holy spot for all the Middle Eastern religions. Roman Catholics from the Franciscan order bought the site in 1932, and erected a monument that

rather narrowly describes Mt. Nebo as a "Christian Holy Site". The best thing to do at Mt. Nebo is naturally to gaze across into Israel. There is a nice signpost that indicates the direction and distance of various places, including Jericho (27 km away) and Jerusalem (46 km). Although a big gray haze obscured most of these sites, the Dead Sea was clearly visible, as well as communities on both sides of the Jordan River below. Although there is some green next to the river, the rest of the landscape was brown and desolate looking. It is a bit hard to imagine this as 'the land of milk and honey' over which there was so much fighting and killing. In 2001 the area had suffered from drought for 5 years, which certainly affects the lushness, but the area is characteristically dry. Perhaps 3000 or so years ago when Moses arrived the climate was different or the land less degraded. Apart from the view over the Jordan, the top of Mt. Nebo has some old Roman pillars, and several monuments. One of the most interesting was mad of a giant wheel like stone used as a fortified rolling door of a monastery. These massive and heavy stones – this one must have been at least 5 tonnes – may help to explain the story of the stone being rolled away from the front of the cave in which Jesus' body was interred. The Byzantine Church By far the most impressive and significant site on Mt. Nebo is called 'The Memorial of Moses' on the summit. There are actually 3 churches and a small monastery excavated in the Mt. Nebo archaeological park, but only St. George dating from 536 AD is fully rebuilt and functioning. Although unimpressive from the outside, the inside of the church is quite wonderful. There is an interesting mix of the old and the new in the church, with ancient mosaics competing with modern stain glass. There are large displays of the sites of Mt. Nebo, with interesting narrative in several languages. The side areas with the ancient mosaics are protected with wooden railings, but still very visible. Despite the multipurpose use and the large number of visitors, the church somehow maintains decorum and civility and is a pleasant place of worship. At the front the service area has a set of semi circular stone seats – I don't know whether they are traditional or added later, but it is nice to think that we are still looking at the setting which was used for worship almost 1500 years ago. The big stone altar is complemented by potted palm trees and a post modern lectern for the minister – a metal sculpture with elaborate twists. The church corridor is lined by the remains of Roman pillars and stone block walls. The whole building is surmounted by an unfortunate corrugated iron roof on metal supports, but it's better than letting the rain in. The mosaics are fragmented but still very impressive. They are part of the floor on both the outer sides of the church. On the left hand side the large mosaic can be fully viewed from a little wooden bridge cleverly constructed to protect the floor while accommodating visitors. The floor has receded a bit, so there is an alarming indentation in the mosaic, but it is very well preserved. It depicts hunters and animals, including lions, warthogs, wild boars, bear, bucks, ostrich, zebra and camel. The variety of wildlife in the area then must have been much broader than now!! There is also a large inscription in Greek. Amongst the visitors to the church has been Pope John Paul II. A small stone monument with a brass plate commemorates the visit on 20th March 2000 (if my Latin is any good). Photos of the huddled little Pope are also kept in the church. I hope the Pope enjoyed the visit as much as we did. It was a truly inspiring holy site. We followed Moses in gazing at the 'Promised Land' but not visiting – Israel and the West Bank in particular were in the throws of the latest round of the Intifada. The Dead Sea Down a steep and winding road from Mt. Nebo you descend to the Dead Sea, 400 meters below sea level, the shores of which are the lowest dry land on the planet surface. You expect to go through altitude adjustments as you go up, but what happens when you go down? Not much. I suspect if you were on dry land 1000 meters or more under sea level it would take some adjusting, but 400 meters is not enough of a change. 400 meters under water doesn't bear thinking about. There are a growing number of resorts on the Dead Sea (actually a salt lake and not a sea) which cater to your needs. I'm sure it's possible to get to the sea at some uninhabited spot and splash about, but the need for a shower after the salty swim is unforgoable. We chose a moderate resort for beach, showers, beach chairs and shade, and swimming pool at 10 JD per person. This was more classy than the beach rest house with only showers, but not the fancy resort spa Movenpick (25 JD). The Dead Sea has become a high class health spa, with huge spin off industries in Dead Sea products – skin creams, shampoos and so on. The sea has the legendary floating property of the 20% salt content (sea water is 5%), which does really allow you to float high enough in the water to read a newspaper. I was quite surprised, based on my superficial knowledge of the Dead Sea beforehand, that the black mud you plaster all over yourself is found at the lake bottom. Wading out you confront stones of various sizes, mixed in with slippery patches of salty mud. This dark mud is then slathered over the willing bathers to give a medicinal mudpack. I tried it, although it made me feel like some flaky new age hippy at an alternative rock festival. It was remarkably refreshing, especially when it was being washed off. It made me feel tingly and smooth. Small herds of Germans and Italians wandered up and down the beach coated head to toe in mud – looking very African! The water was warm but not hot – refreshing but not brisk. The salt was great, although the inevitable splash of water on my lips sent them into a twitchy pucker. The weight of the salt in the water even makes it hard to wade – it's easy to lose your balance. Swimming is also laborious – visitors are warned not to go too far out because it is so exhausting to get back in. With the combination of the Dead Sea and the large swimming pool at the hotel (with water slides!) kept the whole family occupied and happy for many hours. Although it was warm, it was not overbearing. It is a bit more difficult to breath at that low altitude, but not too bad. One advantage of the low altitude is that ultra violet rays don't penetrate so there is no risk of skin cancer – or so we were told. Another unusual feature of the Dead Sea is that there are no birds – kept away by the sulfur fumes of the surrounding hot-springs. Unfortunately the same can't be said for flies, which were around the salty lake in large quantities. A column standing on a high ridge above the lake is called 'Lot's wife', famously turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There is also a National Park, with animals like gazelle, fox and wolves. The Dead Sea is rapidly receding, it has lost more than 5 kms of coastline. The reason is obvious as you get further south, there are large refineries which pump water from the lake to retrieve potash and manganese. The Jordanian side and Israeli side compete with each other to drain it faster, with rival extraction plants on both sides of the Dead Sea. Both sides also have plans for replenishment of the lake from the ocean, with the Jordanian plan of pumping water up the Rift Valley from the Gulf of Aqaba seemingly the more viable.