Ep. IV: beach, baby!

Yee-ha!

I love the beach. Located in the south of Jordan, the city of Aqaba is on the red sea. We got a chance to snorkel around the coral reefs and even see a sunken Jordanian army anti-aircraft tank (placed there for touristic purposes). Although the beach wasn't as nice as Siesta Key back in Florida, it was a good spot to relax. Unfortunately for the Germans, there were lots of water hazards - very few of them made it through the day without a wound of some sort. Christoph stepped on a sea urchin, another Christoph gashed his leg on the coral. Luckily, no one died. Despite the bakingly hot sun, we Americans managed not to get nuked. Some of the Germans got a little cooked, though - it's a little colder / darker in Deutschland. A sunburn's kinda like a souvenir: "Hey Mom, look what I got!"

At one point, this boat with two guys and a bikini-clad woman drove up to the shore and "offered me a ride" - i.e. wanted my dinars. The part that really set me off was the barefaced lying. The girl, for example, said: "I just got on, and it's great! You can see everything better from here!" as if she didn't work for the boat owner. The owner talked himself down price-wise until he was offering me 1 JD to get on. Yeeeeah . . . so they took off in search of other prey.

The city of Aqaba is a great place to hang at night. There is plenty to see and do, and the city stays open late. Plus, most items in Aqaba are duty free (tourism scheme of the King's). Hurray for no taxes.

Stay tuned for the most exciting visit of the whole two weeks: Wadi Rum with the Bedouins!