In the morning we got up at 6AM and went snorkeling at the Japanese Gardens, an area which has been planted with coral and which is stunningly beautiful. I left my underwater camera in the car, so I don't have any photos of the coral. It was even more beautiful than the beach in front of our hotel--lots more fish and even more coral. Plus at 6 AM we were the only ones there. We didn't see anyone else the entire time we were snorkeling.
After that we went swimming at the beach with most of the family. Mid afternoon we decided to head back without our guide and his family since he was still waiting on repairs to his vehicle. We stopped at the Dead Sea so that those of us who had not experienced it could at least see it, then we drove back to the relatives' house. The house was full again with relatives waiting to say goodbye. We got to bed by midnight and were up again before 5 AM. Turns out that many of the relatives had stayed up all night to say goodbye. When we first arrived, the women had greeted us with a handshake, but now that they knew and like us, we got the full greeting: a hug, a kiss on the right cheek then two on the left, then another hug and a pat on the back depending how much they liked us. Some of the women were even crying when we left. One aunt had gone out of her way to help with the shopping, both where to go and bargaining for the right price. We had looked unsuccessfully all over Jorden for a clay cooking pot, but she had found one at the market in the nearby town of Zarqa. So we bid everyone an affectionate goodbye, promising to visit them if we come back to Jordan. Then we left for the airport where we underwent a very thorough screening process multiple times. The flight time to Montreal was a little over 11 hours. After most of the people on the plane disembarked--including my daughter who is currently working there--we had an empty plane to Detroit.
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