Jordan, Day 3, cont. - Petra

I knew Thursday would be a long day - little sleep in the desert the night before, a 3:30am departure from Amman that night, 5+ hours in the car, and seeing as much of Petra as possible in the middle. We were in the car leaving the desert by 8:30am Thursday, and set out on our hour and a half drive to Petra. Thankfully the road signs were clear and there actually were road signs this time, so we found it without difficulty. We had been told that you need a full day, even two days, to see Petra adequately, so we were in a hurry to get going.It really is quite spectacular - you walk through the crevice/canyon/whatever you want to call it for about a mile, and come out and see this:That is the Treasury. 2000 years ago, an Arab people group called the Nabataeans found a jungle of rose-colored rock and started carving. The place wasn't known to the western world until 1812. It's a huge place, stretching for miles, with much that lies undiscovered still. There are temples, facades of palaces built into the rock, tombs, a theater, city gates, hundreds of thousands of caves all over the area that are still home to some Bedouin families. The colors in the rock are unreal:Caves:Tombs:The colors on the inside of one of the rooms of a tomb:By lunch time we were exhausted and dragging. We had only made it three hours and were considering calling it a day. After fending off another little guy offering us donkey rides (the camels and donkeys abound!), we grabbed some lunch, hoping for a pick-me-up. We got that, indeed - and then the fun began!

So, "If you haven't been to the monastery, you haven't been to Petra," we were told. A mere 800 steps separated us from this ancient wonder, so we weren't exactly jumping with excitement. But a little Bedouin guy named Mahmoud offered us a good deal for some donkeys, and after getting him to throw in a trip to some nearby springs as well, we agreed to the ride.
What fun! Mahmoud was 18 and wanted to marry me before he found out how old I was; then we settled into a friendly companionship for the rest of the afternoon. :) Some parts of the trail up to the monastery were quite treacherous by donkey, but thank goodness for their sure footedness!Look out, pedestrians!Halfway up we heard very loud, drunken-sounding singing coming up the mountain behind us. It was this guy, who we had seen at the bottom, riding his donkey and moseying his way up:
This is Abraham, a friend of Mahmoud, who joined us at the top. Once at the top, after meeting Mahmoud's mother who was selling jewelry and figurines (a few feet away from Abraham's mother, also selling jewelry and figurines), we encountered the monastery. Wow.
Almost a replica of the Treasury far below, but wider and not completely encased by the rock around it. You can see how huge it is by the people in the photos. I spent much of the day in awe at how these things were all carved directly into the rock - how much work, time, and energy must have gone into it.
There was a great view from up there, a sign calling it "the end of the world" - looking into a huge valley with Israel on the other side. After we finished hiking around, we went back to the boys who were lounging around drinking tea. (Don't you think Abraham - on the right - looks like Jack Sparrow? It's the eyeliner, which most of them wore, to fend off the bright sun a bit.) Mahmoud and Abraham led us back down the mountain on the donkeys, which at times was even more treacherous than going up, Abraham singing all the way. He has a special mixture of Bedouin tunes and other favorites like "Happy Birthday" that just echo all the way down the canyons.

The spring they took us to was not so spectacular, but it was one of the most fun parts of the afternoon. Traveling by donkey down a dried up rocky riverbed, the rocks rising high all around us, listening to Mahmoud's plans for me to come live with his family for a month to learn Arabic "real good," and Abraham's intermittent riddles, songs, random information about the Bedouins living in the area, and his opinion on various tourists ("I love the Japanese, they just come and take pictures - Conichiwa!") was priceless. "Two Bedouins and two tourists!" he shouted to the cliffs around us.
On the way back, as the sun was going down and the park was clearing out, they hopped on the donkeys with us so they could race each other. We felt like helpless passengers as we bounced along, but I don't think we've laughed that hard in a long time. What a memorable afternoon - so glad we stayed around after lunch! :)

The rest of the night is kind of a blur - we reached the park entrance after dark, had a yummy dinner at a local restaurant, and hopped back in the car for the 4 hour drive back to Amman. We were so exhausted after our night in the desert and all day at Petra. Andrea didn't fly out until the next morning so she had a hotel room near the airport, where I crashed for about an hour before going to catch my 3:30am flight (ugh!).

'Twas a fabulous trip - the best visa trip thus far - and now here I am back in Athens, making lists of the endless things I need to do before I head to the States in less than two weeks and still trying to get work done. Ack!

(I love "Ack")

Jordan, Day 3 - the camp & Wadi Rum

We woke up Wednesday morning a little after the sun came up to look around our campsite and see the desert views, since we had arrived after dark the night before. The camp was nestled up against this huge cliff -
There were some separate two-man tents set up for "guests" ...
The two main tents were where the actual Bedouin guys slept and where the meals were made and served. The campfire was in the middle there with mats set around it to sit on...
Our tent. It was so cold!!!! The coldness of my nose alone was enough to keep me awake.A few of our hosts - they sang us some Bedouin songs around the campfire that night...Getting ready to head out in the morning with a cool Belgian couple (here's half of them anyway) -We headed out right after breakfast - we wished that we could have had a few extra hours to explore the Wadi a bit, ride a camel :) and take it all in. We could have ridden camels back to the village from the camp, but it was a two hour ride, instead of the half hour ride in the truck, and we really needed to get to Petra! What we really needed was an extra day, but we didn't know just how much there was to do here.

To be continued...

Jordan, Day 2

After a blissful 8 hours of sleep and breakfast on the patio, we went down for our Dead Sea dip. Last year in Israel, the place we swam in the Dead Sea was very rocky and hard to maneuver - many people came out with bloody scrapes (at least they were clean!). You'll also recall I didn't get any pictures last year either. So - yay for beach access to the Sea at our hotel!We floated.
They also had some mud to play in.
I met a guy floating with his teenage daughter who was from Southern California and went to Talbot (like me)! He is a seminary professor in Amman.

After a dip in the hotel pool(s) and getting cleaned up, we set out for the desert - to Wadi Rum, Jordan's biggest desert valley. We had been planning to visit this Wadi all along, maybe get a camel ride to tour the rock formations that are there. The night before we went, the idea came up to see if we could spend the night in a Bedouin camp. I am obsessed with Bedouins :) (even after my disappointment in learning they are involved in human trafficking); I just find the nomadic desert dwelling lifestyle fascinating and maybe a bit mysterious. (Not that I would ever consider it myself.)
We weren't sure how long the drive down there would take; someone told us 2.5 hours (saying "it depends on who is driving" - hmm) and the guy at the front desk told us 4 hours. Armed with our Jordan map, we set off. The roads in Jordan are pretty straight forward; there are a few highways and main roads that run the length of the country. We took one of these main roads over to the main highway, or so we thought; an hour of windy mountain pass roads and driving through towns later we were a bit frustrated and not sure exactly where we were. Finally we found our road and stopped quickly to make sure we were where we wanted to be - it was here that a guy in a passing car stopped his car, backed up, and asked where we were going. (Perhaps the huge "AVIS" sticker on the back window gave us away.) He pointed out the quickest route with a big smile and a "welcome!" (the most commonly uttered English word in Jordan) and was on his way. And we were on ours.Turns out there's a bit of a Bermuda Triangle in the middle of Jordan where a bunch of roads meet in the mountains and unidentified cities sit interspersed among the roads. (We got stuck in the middle of it on our way back, too - you are never really lost, because you know the direction you're going, but a couple hours pass without you being certain you are in the right place because the street signs cease and you are just guessing.) Anyway, by the time we finally approached Wadi Rum over five hours later, the sun was already setting. Our first item of business was the bathroom, followed by checking with the visitor's center to see if we were too late to find one of these Bedouin camps.

Fortunately, we were greeted (perhaps "accosted" is more accurate) the moment we got out of our car by Attalah, a clever little Bedouin guy around 20 who apparently ran one of these camps. Ecotourism is a growing business for the Bedouins in Wadi Rum; from climbing to overnight camping experiences to several day treks into the desert, they are capitalizing on the tourism to make a living. There were a couple recommended camps, but we decided to follow Attalah since he was here right in front of us. Another Slovakian guy was "recruited" from the visitor's center as well, so I felt more comfortable having another guy coming along. (My brain automatically assumes I'm going to be trafficked in any given situation. It's just my job.)(Photo of our drive through Wadi Rum, the next morning)

We followed Attalah to a local village, where we left our cars and hopped in a truck and took off into the desert. WOW - the stars were magnificent as we drove into the darkness, seeing only sand and desert bushes in the headlights. We drove for about a half hour, bumping along in the blackness, local music blaring on the radio, before I thought I saw a faint light ahead. It must have been something else (maybe another camp - there are several), because we turned away and finally came to a stop in the middle of nowhere.

We could make out the big black tents of the camp, which were situated next to a huge cliff. The only light was a campfire and a very faint gas lamp, all hidden from the outside by the black tents. A few "campers" already sat around the fire, drinking tea and making small talk. There were ten of us tourists (we were the only ones from any of the Americas), plus six Bedouin - brothers and friends of Attalah who helped run the camp.

They cooked the chicken over the campfire and we sat in one of the tents to eat dinner - the chicken, potatoes, the local flat bread, yogurt, tomato & cucumber salad. Luckily Andrea had a headlamp with her so we could actually find the "bathroom" and get situated in our tent that night. They had little two-man tents set up nearby, with thick blankets (I chose not to think how long it had been since they had been washed!) inside.

I knew it would be cold - but it was FREEZING! I had packed for the hot weather we had during the days, certainly not a night in the desert, so I wore almost everything in my suitcase! We didn't sleep much because of the cold, but when we got up a little after dawn, we were greeted by the spectacular desert scenes around us and were able to get a good look at the camp for the first time...

Jordan, Day 1

Monday night I flew out of Athens with great anticipation - Petra has been "on my list" and one of those things I wasn't sure I would get to cross off. How exciting to be on my way - and to be able to experience such a great culture as well!

First impression of Jordan: "I totally understand the head covering thing - I wish I had one right now!" I arrived at 2am, exhausted, had to stand in line twice to get a visa (before and after I changed money), and there was not a woman to be seen - instead I walked out of the customs area and was faced with probably 100 men all watching my every move, winking, staring. I was uncomfortable, my hotel shuttle never arrived, and the thought crossed my mind that I had my stamp for my visa, I could just go home now. :) But, I got a taxi, found Andrea at the hotel, and got some sleep - despite the toilet that ran all night, giving us both dreams that incorporated some form of water feature.

The next morning, still a bit on edge, we got a little rental car, "the Raisin." Actually, Andrea went to get it, and I ate breakfast at the hotel, the only female without a head covering, wondering what I would do if she never came back. Haha. We set off to find Jerash, a Roman city from the first century with pretty impressive ruins. The temples, pillars, theaters, and other structures stretch on over the hills, and presumably many more are still buried under the modern city of Jerash.
By afternoon, our somewhat negative (or uncomfortable) first impressions of the country were dissolving. It is amazing how friendly the people are - genuinely, not out of a creepy interest or inappropriate intentions (for the most part). A couple of times as we wandered around Jerash looking for the entrance to the ruins, people stopped us to tell us how to get there, whether they spoke English or not. This was a common theme to the trip - people were so talkative and friendly. One guy, as we were stopped on the side of the road at one point studying our map, even backed his car up after passing us to ask where we were going and point out the fastest route.

That afternoon we intended to drive to the Dead Sea, take a dip, and head down farther south toward the desert. But the sun sets early, and we arrived at the Dead Sea after dark. There weren't really any budget choices for hotels, as the clientele in this area tends to be retired travelers and new-agey health spa seekers. So we settled on the cheapest option: the Marriott Resort & Spa, which was actually very reasonable, and decided to make full use of the facilities, including the jacuzzi and a great on-site restaurant. Goodbye awkward/uncomfortable feelings - we love Jordan! :) We woke up to this:But that is for Day 2...

campfire + donkey + dust = I'm a little stinky.

Just got back this morning (and consequently haven't slept in about a day and a half, I think) from a little visa trip to Jordan. My friend Andrea from high school met me there in her jaunt around the world following 8 months in Antarctica, and in fact treated me to this little trip so that I could share the experience and she could have a traveling companion! Win-win! And I will be eternally grateful. (Or is that with grate thanksfull?)

It was a GREAT trip. A few highlights that I shall share more details and pictures about in the next few days: the Dead Sea (my second time, but first from the Jordan side), Petra, donkeys, spending the night in a Bedouin camp in the desert, and great food.