It has been about a week since my trip to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba. I have had a lot of time to think about what I want to say about them. I'll start with Petra. You know the place where they shot the final scenes for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. On top of that it is also known as a wonder of the ancient world. Petra is about a four hour bus ride from Amman, but there are some pretty spectacular views on the way so the ride isn't too bad. Tickets to see Petra are normally like 50 JD or something close to that so it's a pretty expensive trip unless you happen to be a student studying Arabic at the CGE, then you get in for 1 JD. But I shouldn't forget to mention that the farther south and the lower the elevation, the hotter it gets. Petra is about a 2 km walk from the entrance to the end which really isn't that bad of a walk, but if you were to walk that far in an oven then it might get a tad difficult. This place was a truly spectacular sight. The walk to the Treasury was very similar to the Wadis I have been in. It had the high and narrow rock walls that were carved out by an ancient river. Now I should mention that Petra is a place I have dreamed of going to since I first saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and when I turned the corner to see that image of the Treasury, I was speechless, in utter awe and amazement from what I was seeing.
I couldn't believe that I was there. I was now looking at something that I had dreamed of seeing. See this made me realize how startingly lucky I am. I mean I am only 19 years old and I'm getting to see a sight that most people have and never will see in person. Yet, for some reason I have been blessed with this. I really don't know why I am getting this oppurtunity, but I'm sure that God has a plan for me, and I hope in involves me getting to see more places like Petra.
Now Wadi Rum was a place that I really had very little expectations about because outside of Jordan it's really not that well known around the world. Wadi Rum is about two hours farther south of Petra, so for those of you keeping score that is now six hours away from Amman, and it is still getting hotter. Wadi Rum really isn't a Wadi at all. It really is a 100 sq km National Park. It is really right in the middle of the southern desert area of Jordan. This area is an absolutely breathtaking place. The rock formations and mountains seem to rise up out of nothing but sand. Then we were lucky enough to run into a Bedouin guy who was meeting up with some of his friends to drive th cars up this huge sand dune. So we stuck around for awhile and watched as they drove up and down this hill. It was kind of neat for awhile, but got boring until one ramped his car to pieces, but don't worry, he was fine.
After awhile we decided to explore a little. And we happened to come upon a dune that was perfect for jumping down. Now it was really the most fun part of the weekend for me, not so much for Kirby who dropped his camera in the sand and it currently is not working. Needless to say he is quite upset.
After that it was about time for the sun to set, and it was easily the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. The colors were so spectacular; the purples, reds, pinks, and oranges were some of the most vivid colors I could imagine. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the description of Wadi Rum for me.
Now Aqaba... I really don't have anything too nice to say about it. I have been told that there is a really nice part of Aqaba, but I surely didn't see it. The best way to describe it is like Panama City, except trashier, smellier, and more crowded. We arrived there at night so we had to just spend the night in a hotel, and thank God it was only for one night. This hotel was really awful. I'm sorry I wish there was a better way to describe it. I don't want to sound like I'm not thankful for having a bed to sleep on, but this place was terrible. Imagine a Motel 6, but smaller, hotter, dirtier, a few extra bugs, and a rock for a bed.
Now I realize that I have failed to mention that we are all taking a relatively small tour bus on this whole trip so all of our activities are set up for us and one of them is to go to the beach, which is the only part of Aqaba I actually enjoyed. The problem is we only could stay for like 45 minutes. The water there was amazing. It really was. I only wish we could have spent the whole day at the beach. So after the beach we piled back on the bus and went to the "Aquarium" or as I would refer to it, a small pool with a few fish in it and a guy with no shirt on smoking a cigerette in said pool talking about said fish in said pool. The guide book we had describing the aquarium said, "The Aqaba Aquarium had seen better decades." And I can say the guide book was right about that. Now we finally began the long trip back to Amman.
Well, now will be my first cultural note of this trip and it's that Arabs don't come alive until about 10 pm at night or about two hours into a six hour drive... I can say that I personally could not recall a point where I had been more tired than I was at that point. After a weekend packed with walking miles in the sun, not getting any good sleep, and being packed in the sardine can of a bus, all I wanted to do was sleep, but I should've known better. This bus had a microphone system in it and they were taking full advantage of it. This included karaoke and stand-up comedy. All of which was in Arabic so I really could only pick up a few words here and there, not nearly enough to get jokes or understand the songs, but you know it wasn't too bad... Until about two hours away from Amman. An older lady on the bus started yelling at the bus attendant for the bus being so late. Now would this normally bother me? No, not at all. But her yelling didn't just last for a few minutes. No, she yelled for two straight hours! While most people found it pretty funny, Alex, Kirby, and I were on the brink of losing our minds. But we made it back alive... barely.
Okay so now that the story of that trip is complete, I can move onto the next adventure I experienced. We went on a camping trip to Wadi Ka'rak. Wadi Ka'rak is about an hour south of Amman and right next to the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on Earth, and the rule about going south and lower elevation still applies. I went with Mr. Tiedemann, his son, Frederick, Kirby, and Alex (my German roommate). We drove down and set up the tents which, not surprisingly, we were unable to get up. Therefore we got to spend the night sleeping under the stars, which was really amazing. The stars were spectacular.
When I awoke the next morning it was about 5:30 am. We had to get moving up the Wadi before it got too hot, but it was already too late for that because it's always hot near the Dead Sea. Once we got moving I seemed to cool down and it helped being in the Wadi because there was a pretty decent amount of shade. One thing that I found really remarkable was the amount of green everywhere. There were plants and trees growing all alongside the small stream that had long ago formed the entire Wadi. I should mention that this was by no means a walk in the park. It was about a six hour hike. About two hours into the hike we came upon a small opening/clearing in the Wadi that had two waterfalls. One was about 60 feet and had pretty hot water coming from it and the other, well, it was about 180 feet high and had freezing cold water. It was incredible. It was one of the most serene places I have ever seen. There was this great breeze that was blowing through the area and it was in that shade a really quite comfortable place. But we couldn't stay forever.
The hike back to the campsite was pretty brutal. The shade we had abandoned us and we were at the mercy of the sun. The sun shows no mercy... ever.
In other news Ramadan started yesterday and everything in Jordan is pretty much shut down and the places that aren't shut down everyone is grumpy and working at a snail's pace. But I guess that's what happens when you don't get to eat or drink anything while the sun is up. Kirby and I happen to understand this feeling first hand now because we are participating in Ramadan at least until one of us quits. We aren't participating for any religious reasons or anything like that, it's just to get a little more taste of the culture, and to see who is tougher. It really is a challenge, not eating all day has it's difficulties, but it is nothing compared to not drinking anything all day when it is 100 degrees outside. But as soon as the mosque starts playing at about 8 pm the streets are empty because everyone in the city is at home stuffing their faces with food until the early hours of the morning. And that is just what I plan to do.
Well, as I have been typing this blog I am realizing that I am leaving so soon. 5 days and I'll be home. So I am not sure how I feel about that right now. I'm really torn about leaving this place. But I sure can't wait to get home and have a Zip's burger and a lot of bacon.
