Day 2: November 6

We leave the car in the parking lot and head to the beach. There are few people here. There are practically no tourists. There are a few locals. At first, it all looks a little off-putting. We walk farther and hide in the shade of the beach “mushroom.” Volchiy goes to explore the sea, and I wait for him on the shore. I don’t really feel like swimming just yet.

Volchiy comes back delighted, saying there are so many fish and a coral reef there, and that we should go swimming together. He says he even saw a little moray eel. Volchiy takes our backpack to the car (it’s scary to leave it unattended on the shore), and we go swimming.

The first 30 meters from the shore are very, very shallow, so much so that you practically brush the bottom with your stomach, but we still make our way through this stretch by swimming with our masks on. And then suddenly — the start of the reef and deep water. And right away it feels like you’ve entered another world — there are so many fish of different colors and shapes here, too many to count! The corals themselves are also very beautiful.

The water is cool, I get cold quickly and swim back without really having seen much. We warmed up a little in the sun and go swimming again. This time I swim for longer. The mask fogs up and gets in the way a little of enjoying the underwater world. Every time I forget to wash it properly at home.

We lie in the shade for a long time, warming ourselves. It’s nice and quiet, we already like it here. We go for a little walk along the beach. A young Jordanian comes up to us to introduce himself, and shows us his son Mohammed; his face practically shines with joy when Volchy shakes his hand.

We leave the beach only after lunch. We drink tea with dates on the balcony. We rest a little, and before it gets dark we go for a walk around Aqaba.

There’s not much to say about the city, really. There are lots of cars here. All the women wear burqas. The buildings are ugly. Everything looks pretty shabby overall. It feels as if there’s construction everywhere. Poverty sits side by side with luxury. Marble steps suddenly end in sand. And it’s like that everywhere. It’s as if they’re trying to beautify things little by little, but then abandon everything halfway through.