Whata lota Musa

Musa who? Well Musa is the Arabic for Moses. And we had a lot of Moses today. While mostly a traveling day we did pass Wadi Musa on the way out of Petra. We had an early morning breakfast and then on the road. Wadi means valley so Wadi Musa means valley of Moses. There is a spring in the valley that is called the spring of Moses. This not because Moses had anything to do with the spring but since he had been in the area they named the spring after him. One of the reasons we left early was because there was a potential problem with the Allenby Bridge crossing and we wanted to ensure that if we couldn't cross there we had enough time to get to one of the other border crossings. Our first stop was Madaba. We went to a Greek Orthodox chruch that had a biblical map of the Holy Land done in mosaic art. Very interesting. I also found it interesting that when the pope visited in the 60's he refused to call Israel Israel. He called it the Holy Land. Fortunately things have changed in that respect.

Lunch. I had a banana and a coke for lunch. And free wifi. When one has been off grid for two days you take free Internet whereever you can get it. Someone did't want their tinkie so they gave it to me. I did not complain :) I also discovered on the way back to the bus that the Mesha Stela that I have taught about in Bible school was found in the area. Unfortunately I would have to go to Germany to photograph it :( The Mesha Stella records the revolt of Moab against Israel which is also recorded in Scripture.

From there we took the bus to a mosaic factory that makes many of these mosaics into very many uses. Table tops are fairly common. One of the Australians was wondering where to get rid of his dinars and I told him to wait for this spot. He ignored me and later when we got to this point I heard him lament that he could have gotten rid of his cash here. No comment.


They usually employ disabled people who then live off the work that they do. Not my scene though.

We started the day with Moses and we ended our Jordan visit with Moses. We went to Mt Nebo where Moses saw the promised land before he died.


The site was in a similar state to the last time except that there was much more construction scaffolding on the site. The small chapel that I took pictures inside was closed. The day was even more hazy than the last time so there was little to see. We didn't stay long. I noticed a picture of the Mesha Stela that I had not noticed the last time and I took a picture.

We're off to see the border, the wonderful border or Jordan. Yes, we got the paper we needed and could cross at the border we wanted to. Drove down the pass to the border post and encountered a place where the magnetic field of the earth allow it to pull the bus up hill while it is in neutral. That is unless it's a trick :) Who knows?

The border was a piece of cake. It was what I had come to expect from my previous trip. We then went straight to Kibbutz Kalia which was our rest stop for the next two nights. We had dinner at the usual time and it was a decent spread. Nothing has yet beat Nof Ginosar for food but it was very good none the less. We had a good evening chat outside one of the rooms before bidding the place a good night and making our way to bed.

On the flash business I was told that the airline had no idea where my flash was because I had not reported it as lost property. Which it wasn't. Seems the baggage tag I was given wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. I really hope the travel insurance will cover it because I hadn't had time to insure it myself. I doubt I will see it again. El Al are a bunch of theives. I hope I can get the chief of security arrested when I get home but I doubt it.

More tomorrow!

-- Post From My iPhone