Went to Jordan, and I loved it.
The border crossing took several hours, even though the bus ride took less than an hour. It was quick on the Israel side--we were only standing around for about 30 minutes. We had a mini jam session with Tabor's ukulele (I left mine at the JC) and talked some story. We sat on the Jordan side for a long time waiting to get our passports back and started to go stir crazy. We were all starving, so we bought snacks in the duty-free store. They had a lot of wine, perfume, and cigarettes in there. Is it just me, or do they just sell tons of perfume everywhere here?
We switched buses on the Jordan side and met our tourguide, Eyad (and with him a security guard from tourist security but honestly though he was apparently with us all the time this was the only time I saw him, they are assigned to every tour group and also in booths around the big cities...). He (Eyad) was a lot of fun, and I think we all learned more Arabic from him than from anywhere else. His trademark phrase? Yalla, habibi. It roughly translates to get a move on, darlings. No offense to Brother Woods or Dr. Whitchurch but Eyad was a lot more interesting on the bus and easier to listen to while we were driving around.
We made some stops, first at Mount Nebo, where we were all exhausted and hungry. Really, really hungry. I don't know about you but...80 hungry college kids who have been in buses all day? We were like zombies squinting into the distance looking for the cities Eyad was pointing out. Lunch was the greatest part of the day. Lunch was sweet relief! We were a bit nervous about the food, but it was really delicious (or was it just that the only thing we'd had since breakfast at o-dark-30 were Crunchips and Kinder from the border?). The pita bread in Jordan...words can't describe. And they had these little dessert balls...Like a crunchy little cream puff but with honey instead of cream. They were amazeballs. Ha.
Our next stop was Madaba, where the famous mosaic map is. Pieces of this mosaic are missing, since the people that found it didn't realize that it was a mosaic for a while, but it was still pretty incredible. We had already seen a couple of copies or pictures, so it was really neat to see it in person. Hard to be quiet in the church, since we were finally fed and anxious to stretch our legs, but we managed.
Our final destination was Petra--aka Wadi Musa, the town where it's located. I posted a video of our arrival on Facebook that hopefully everyone got to see (and hopefully I will be able to add to this post when I'm home with better wifi bandwidth). There was a band playing and we got to drink some kind of orange-mango juice and eat pita. We loved it. Dr. Whitchurch made it sound like we had to stand there and appreciate it and it would be lame, but we were tripping out. It was like being a celebrity! We had dinner in the basement of the hotel, which was pretty good. All the food we eat is pretty great so this was another mediocre meal. Afterwards we went into the Siq, the famed canyon/wadi that leads to the even more famous Treasury. I suggest re-watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade before continuing.
Remember the part where Indy rides through the canyon (the Siq) on a horse? We walked that in the dark. It was pitch black out except for little brown bags with candles in them lighting our way through the rocks to the Treasury and when we get to the treasury there were hundreds of candles sitting in the sand. It was unreal. We listened to some traditional Bedouin music while looking up at the stars and the candles and the huge carving in stone in front of us. Definitely one of my favorite things that we've done so far.
In the morning, it was freezing. I'm not just saying that because I'm always cold. Everybody was shivering. It was more than a little bit chilly. I wrapped a scarf around my head for warmth and not fashion, and that's why I'm wearing a scarf on my head in all of the Petra photos. Wearing a scarf on your head is very snuggly and cozy, besides, and I highly recommend it. Eyad led us back through the Siq and when it came time to see the Treasury around the corner, we had to stare at the ground for about twenty feet and then look up, to enhance the awe. There were many cheaters, but I would say that it enhanced the awe. This is where we took our $3 camel rides around in a circle outside the treasury to get photos. Camels. Camels. Camels are my new favorite animal. They are the greatest thing I've ever seen. That was the best $3 I ever spent and also the greatest several minutes of my life. Notice how their back knee joints bend in the opposite direction as the front. Very cool. So I climbed on my camel and the guy nickered at it and it stood up. I thought I was going to fall off the back and may have exclaimed a little bit but it was awesome. Camels are so awesome. They make the most ridiculous sounds and they aren't afraid to spit at you if you piss them off. Camels are just the greatest thing.
After that, we were left to our own devices. I don't think I was the only one who felt like we were going to stumble across some Dead Sea Scrolls or have to swing across caverns with whips. There are these amazing tombs carved into the rock. It's not just one or two, they're all over the place! I went with Mckay and Matt C exploring and we made some good time. They probably could have done more manly exploring if I hadn't been lagging along, but in my defense mother nature had struck me with the red death the day before in the middle of the bus ride and it was something fierce. You're welcome, I know you wanted to know all about that. We went to the High Place first, to see the sacrificial altar. We found a pretty sweet obelisk and shouted to some guys (Steven and Phil?) making some Tarzan sounds on a cliff across from us. I was feeling the burn in my thighs climbing up to the altar, which was actually pretty lame. Just an altar with a really amazing view.
Our next destination was the Monastery, but we got sidetracked often what with the tombs around every corner to be explored. Matt and Mckay climbed down into a sketchy underground cistern, and Mckay and I peer pressured Matt into parkour jumping some stuff and almost into laying down in a tomb (but it was full of garbage and he wouldn't do it). I sang to them in one tomb that had a really great echo. Singing when you can hear yourself echo back is one of my new favorite hobbies.
The tombs are stunning. It's amazing to see the detail in these massive carvings, and how they're melting away with the elements. Before they rebuilt this mini dam thing to block water from flooding the wadi the rain would bring flash floods through. The ceilings are--I don't even know. Looking up from the inside is like looking at a painter palate. I don't know how the rock gets to be all these black and red and white swirls but it was fabulous. Pictures document the experience better than I can. The things you don't see in the pictures are our kids-in-candy-store-eyes and the jumping and climbing and general adventurousness of the whole thing.
It was a long day but it was over quickly and we were back on the bus to Amman. There's a street there called Rainbow Street which is supposed to be the hip place where the young people hang out on, but we must have been there on the lame days. We got gelato and explored a bit but there wasn't much to see aside from people sitting on couches and smoking hookah. I was rooming with Paris but all we did in the room was sleep because I've never been so exhausted or slept so well in my entire life. Plus, the hotel beds were way nicer than the ones here in the JC.
We saw the Amman Citadel, one of the best preserved Roman cities that didn't really seem that well preserved to me, but we've seen a lot of mostly-destroyed walls and, well, they kind of all look the same. We saw the Jabbok River, where Jacob struggled with the angel before reuniting with Esau. The water is gross and we were told not to touch it, but we got to sit and ponder in the sun for a while, which felt nice. It's good to have some quiet time when you're with all of your peers all of the time even if it's quiet time with all of your peers sitting around you.
We had lunch at this place that is famous for making fresh pita. There is a reason they're famous for fresh pita. That is all that needs to be said.
Next was Jerash, a really awesome Roman City. There were hundreds of columns--still standing! They have this town square that's a circle surrounded with columns and we were all joking like we'd knock them all down like Hercules does in the Disney movie. The two classes had a race in the old racetrack (Woods class one, represent!). Eyad was very proud of us because he says never have both the girls and boys beat the other group and he got to brag about it. The theater had crazy acoustics. They had circles cut in the rock where they put metal disks to amplify the sound, so all the way at the top people can hear you whisper if they're listening. We sang some hymns and then had a dance party to bagpipes, but who is surprised? It feels like 60% of the things we do end in a dance party. We went out and explored the ruined temples and stuff for an hour and I sang to a bunch of Muslim tourists in the theater. It was tons of fun!
Our last stop of the day was the Royal Automobile Museum. Lots of cool cars. Some cool stories to go with the cars. A good way to show the big events in Jordan's history. I love that their royal family does stuff like race cars. They sound like really fun and down to earth people. The Jordanians obviously love them, as everybody and their dog as their pictures up in every room.
That's all for now. I'll update with our last day in Jordan and our last two field trips later. It's midterms right now so we're busy with all of our reading and I have another paper due on Tuesday. Talk about information overload here!
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