Abu Samir's path

25th
Wow.  OK here we go, an attempt to talk you through the most formidable day of my memory.
In Madaba the previous day we met Abu Samir. to change his name to 'Father of Samir' one already knows how proud he must be
of his family.  A Romanian! He called himself.  He was beduin, so that was dubious from the beginning, but between Daoud's
Romanian, my arabic, and his fluency in all three languages (including english) he was pretty easy to communicate with.
We organized with him a day trip to three special sites.  Anna and Andrew are on a strict budget which is great because
it means I feel less frugal (in comparison) while we live a budget lifestyle.
First stop = Herrod's castle.  We were positioned at the top of one mountain, beside an even taller one, upon which stood two pillars.
In the spinning desert heat, all I could see clearly was that no spot of shade lay on our path.
  But it was special.  We found fossils depicting shells, from over 350 million years ago when the land was beneath the sea.
Moreover, it was Herrods castle where Salome danced.  Young Salome, dancing in competition For Herrod's hand so that she could fulfill
her mother's selfish desire to behead John the baptist.  The mountain was covered in tiny caves which had been caved over,
however it is known that the mountain had an underground system once (which is currently being researched).
  Back into Abu Samir's car, where we quickly noticed that he plays the same three Romanian club hits on repeat.  And he loves it.
It's hilarious.
  So Daoud and I had already gone to the dead sea, however it cost us 16JD as it was made into a tourist site.  Tourists are contained
into one tiny, modernised segment so no one can swim over to the Israeli side of the sea easily.  Abu Samir however is a man
of happy business.  Nothing bothers him 'smoking it's OK for me' said the man who chain smokes.
  We arrived at a part of the dead sea carpeted in salt chrystals and dipping ourselves into the thick salty brew heartily.
The patterns on the surface the sea are like a glittering petrol and we twisted into them as we slowly relaxed into it's
mood.
Next stop: The azarta ma'in.  So the hot water springs are also an expensive tourist attraction, however Abu Samir knew
where to find the springs which LED to the main springs.  A three hour hike through a grand canyon following a crystal clear
powerful creek.  The orange red green cliffs shot powerfully into the blue, though my head was lowered to my path sop that I
didn't slip on the mossy rocks.  Up the river, the water became hotter and hotter (and although we wanted cold water) we eventually
just collapsed into a hot pool by a (one of the many) slide where the water sucks you into the mineral pool so that you
resurface with a wild grin.
The end of our path was the waterfall.  By this stage we were out of drinking water but it was still fun.  We jumped from the highest
rock into the pool, swum into the cave behind the waterfall (like a sauna), and showered beneath a sister waterfall.
Beneath the fallic rock formations we splashed and laughed and the gaety shared was probably a good week's worth.
The camera fell into the water tragically but no worry no worry the memory card still worked.

On our way home Abu Samir took us back to his family home, and although he grew up in caves (being a beduin) he has now
built himself an impressive house in the outer Madaba where his Romanian wife and four children live with him. (on average
Abu Samir's siblings have around 12 children :O which is normal :O)
  We were too hungry to stay long so after the coffee and cakes we went back to our hotel.
I have mentioned the huge families who inhabit Madaba, well in the car we saw police men and army tanks scattering the streets,
and fire trickling along the roads.  Abu Samir explained calmly (although it's very uncommon) that a married muslim woman
had cheated on her husband with someone from another family.  The man she had the affair with was killed by the husband's
family.  Traditionally, When one person is killed from a family they thus can kill 4/5 people from their family.
So it was pay back time.  By maybe 1000 all the shops on the street were closed and our hotel advised that we didn't go onto
the street.  We were starved after the long day, yet resolved to eat the breakfast leftovers and drink David's birthday
present (Thai whisky).  I didn't know Jordan could be so silent.