Not the Dead Sea, Not the Red Sea...

No, my first swim in Jordan was in neither the Dead Sea nor the Red Sea. And, no, it wasn't in a hotel pool either. It was in the middle of this epic valley called Wadi Ghweir. Jamal, my fellow volunteer in Qadisiyya (a village about 20 mins from me), and I joined this very generous man named Abu Hatim on a sweet adventure into the Ghweir Valley. Little did we know, our hike would be cut short by a crazy river that flowed through the valley as a result of heavy rainfall in the week before. (Bear in mind that this all happened on Feb 7/8, and I'm just posting about a month late).

Here's our crew:
(Jamal is second from left, I'm (obviously) fourth from left, and Abu Hatim is fifth from left).

Here is one of the sections of river that we had to ford.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the craziest section of river (but a video is on the way, insha'Allah). It was 4 meters and then some deep, and Jamal and I jumped off this cliff and swam to the other side of the pass to explore our options because our Jordanian pals couldn't swim. It was awesome! So cold, but so refreshing, especially given how infrequently I'm able to shower here. Anyway, it was at this section of the trail that we had to turn back because the water was too deep for anyone but Jamal or me to safely continue.

Another shot of the shallower section of river--yours truly and Abu Hatim:

Below, from left to right: Jamal, Me, and a local teacher who joined us on the hike. He was hilarious.

As soon as I get a copy of the video of me jumping off the cliff and swimming in the deepest section, I'll try to put it up. Hope all is well!

Love,
Conor

P.S.
I just realized that my first swim was technically in a small area of hotsprings across from the Dead Sea. But, it was really shallow, and mostly like wading. Since this trip to Ghweir, I have also been to the hotsprings in Tafilah named A'fra, which were awesome. Pictures to come.