Deserted in the Desert

After visiting Petra, we headed to Wadi Rum, a desert made famous by Lawrence of Arabia.  While you can trek through the wadi, considering that it was summer and Stephanie freaked Brian out when she passed out in Myanmar/Burma because of the heat, we opted to tour the desert via 4x4 and then planned on spending the night in a Bedouin camp.

The tour was fantastic - we saw camels at their watering hole (did you know there are black camels?!), ran up a sand dune, and spotted ancient Thamudic "writing" on rock walls.  

A lizard sun bathing.

A mama camel and her baby.

Exploring an oasis.

Stick camels!

Or are they horses? Maybe donkeys?!

Brian atop the sand dune.

Nothing but desert for miles and miles.

A very cool rock formation.

Atop another very cool rock formation.

Brian playing football with some kids who were
also exploring Wadi Rum. They lasted about 5 minutes
before they had to take a break from the heat.

Everything was going great … until we finished our tour and got dropped off at the camp.  Our driver said that the boss would come by in a few hours and then he left.  Our tent had been closed up and was extremely hot so we went over to the main tent where we met Kellie, Kevin, and Stephanie from California.  They were there as volunteers in exchange for room & board (a great way to see the world on the cheap!) and told us that they had been dropped off the day before and hadn't seen anyone until we showed up.  And that's when we realized that we were probably going to be on our own.  We took stock of our supplies - the California crew had some pita bread and tomatoes and we had humus, dates, water, and candy - and then we whittled away the time reading, swapping stories about our adventures, and napping.  

Our sleeping quarters.

Brian lounging in the Bedouin equivalent of a living room.

Before we knew it, 12:30 became 19:30.  Once it was cool enough to go explore, our group set out to find a good spot to watch the sunset.  Mission accomplished.

Brian scoping out things.

Kellie's vantage point.

Only thing missing was ... nothing!

As we were perched up on the rocks saying good-bye to another day, we spotted a 4x4 heading toward our camp.  Kevin & Brian scampered down from our look-out - not quite as gracefully as billy goats but pretty close - and thankfully caught up with the vehicle before it drove off, taking our dinner with it!

It wasn't the boss, but a replacement.  Although he couldn't speak much English, he spoke enough to be able to teach us a game that involved leapfrogging stones to get them all in one person's pile.  We spent the rest of the evening by the fire playing the game and star-gazing.   In one hour, we saw 13 shooting stars, more than I'd seen in my entire life!  Unfortunately, our camera isn't high-tech enough to be able to capture the night sky, so you'll just have to trust us when we say it was the most incredible night sky we've ever seen. 

Playing with sticks and stones.

The next morning the boss finally appeared to take us back to the entrance of Wadi Rum where we could catch a ride to the bus depot in Aqaba.  While we didn't learn as much about Bedouin life as we were hoping since the boss deserted us, we were thankful to have made new friends, to have witnessed a lovely sunset, and to have fallen asleep under a dazzling blanket of stars. 

The Plums & the Cali Crew - Kellie, Kevin, and Stephanie.

The Plums & the Last Crusade

One of Jordan's most famous attractions is the world renowned ancient city of Petra and we couldn't wait to see it.  Petra literally means rock and considering the city is literally carved into the pink sandstone hills and canyons of the Wadi Musa (aka Valley of Moses), it's a fitting name.  Petra is dated to 2000 years ago and was the capital city of the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe who were in the area after the 6th century BC and whose kingdom flourished from the 2nd century BC.  Petra prospered as the center of the spice trade, but fell to the Romans in 106 AD.  It was later captured by Muslims in the 7th century and then crusaders in the 12th century.

After doing a bit of research, we learned that there were two ways we could get there - either via public transportation on the unexciting Dessert Highway or by hiring a driver & car and taking the scenic King's Highway.  Although it cost us more and took longer, we opted for the King's Highway.  It was totally worth it.  We passed through wadis (valleys that remain desert-dry except during the rainy season), by Roman ruins, and got to take a lunch break at a castle! 

One of the many beautiful vistas. 

Our driver had a little too much fun playing photographer.
He insisted that this was the perfect pose. 

It's a long way down from Karak Castle.
Probably why it was built up here. 

The black blob is volcanic sand! 

A Bedouin camp.

Brian and our driver-turned-photographer.

We made it!

When we arrived at our hostel, Gale, the manager, asked us if we were going to Petra by Night.  Intrigued, we asked what it was and she explained that the Bedouins who live in Petra light everything with candles, play some traditional music, and serve tea.  We figured it would either be really cheesy or really cool, but memorable either way so we bought our tickets and showed up at the park gates at 8:00pm.  Once it was dark enough, one of the Bedouin men came to get us and we started the long walk to the Treasury, the most well known building in Petra and the one featured in the Indiana Jones movie.  

As we followed the path of the luminarias, I lost all sense of time and space.  I didn't know how long we'd been walking and I hadn't the faintest idea what was to our left or right, behind or in front of us, above or below us.  Every now and again I'd catch a glimpse of the stars and the evening sky, but then it would disappear.  And then all of a sudden the path opened up to a yard filled with rows and rows of luminarias and we were face to face with the Treasury.  As the Bedouin men proceeded with their performances, we just stared at the dimly-lit burnt orange Treasury and tried to soak it all in.

Even the sign was lit up!

We refrained from posting a ton of pictures during Petra by
Night in case any of you ever decide to see it for yourselves
(in other words, our night shots didn't turn out too well), but
here's one of the luminarias to help fuel your imaginations.

The walk back to our hostel wasn't nearly as magical (especially because Brian was starting to feel under the weather), but when we retraced our steps two days later at 7:00am, we were in total awe of what we'd passed through the night before.

Steph playing tour guide.  Thank goodness for
being able to save webpages to reading view! 

Heading into the Sikh!

In the Sikh!

Forty-five minutes later we caught our
first glimpse of the famed Treasury.

We spent three days discovering as much of Petra as we could and still felt as if we only scratched the surface of this legendary place.  Each trail that we followed piqued our curiosity rather than satiating it.  

In case you're wondering, you cannot walk
around inside the Treasury ... but you are able
to see inside.  Indiana Jones got it wrong.

Word on the street is that people used to think
the urn atop the Treasury held actual treasure
so they shot at it to try to break it open.
If you look closely, you can see bullet holes.

Brian walking around the "newer" part of Petra, the Roman Road.

That's a pretty bold claim...

... but probably true.  The building behind Brian is the Monastery.

The Royal Tombs are up ahead.

Atop this mountain is where Aaron, Moses' brother,
is buried. The trek there takes a couple days,
so we're saving it for next time ;-)

Here's a fuzzy close-up of the tomb.

This cat cuddled up to Steph at the High Place
of Sacrifice. Luckily for the cat,
Steph wasn't making any sacrifices that day.

Another fantastic vista in Petra.  The rocks
behind Brian are covered with caves!

The lion fountain.  One of the biggest surprises
about Petra was discovering its
extensive system of water supply channels. 

To give some perspective, I am standing in the doorway.  

Who needs paint or wallpaper when
you've got these incredible designs?

This trail along Wadi al Mudhlim was our favorite.

The view from the roof of our hostel.  From here,
you'd never know about the treasure in the hills. 

The City of Brotherly Love & the other Bible Belt

Back in Denver there was a mini-market in our neighborhood run by Ahmed from Jordan.  When we told him we were leaving for a round-the-world adventure, he suggested we visit his country.  Eight months later, when we finally started to plan where to go after Southeast Asia and Nepal, we remembered Ahmed's recommendation and decided to put Jordan on the itinerary.

On July 20, 2014 we left Luxor, Egypt and headed for Amman, Jordan.  We arrived right as the sun was setting so we weren't at all surprised when we couldn't find the driver from our hotel right away (we figured he was praying and breaking his Ramadan fast).  What did surprise us, however, was how many people offered up their personal cell phones to call our hotel to make sure the driver was on his way (and by people I mean people who were at the airport waiting for their family/friends to arrive…not airport staff).  Jordan was quickly growing on us and we hadn't even left the airport!

The next day we set out to see what Amman, Jordan's capital, had in store for us.  We headed up to the citadel, a settlement & fortress with artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age, and along the way passed an ancient Roman theater and some colorful stairs.

Once at the citadel, we were greeted by stunning views & the Temple of Hercules.  We also learned that Amman was once known as Philadelphia - no wonder everyone in the original city of brotherly love was so friendly!

Brian showing his Herculean strength at the Temple of Hercules.

The views from the top!

Amman wasn't the only city in the region we explored with an intriguing history.  We also toured Jerash, one of the best preserved ancient Roman cities in the Middle East.  Jerash (known as Gerasa back in the day) has been occupied since the Bronze Age and it was visited by Emperor Hadrian in 129-130 AD.  

Then there was Madaba, home to a 6th century map of Jerusalem (discovered in the late 1800's) and some other beautiful mosaics.

Don't let the fancy decor fool you.
This is the public bus from Amman to Madaba.

The map of the Holy Land.  And it's a mosaic!

One of the many other beautiful mosaics in Madaba.
This one was the floor of Apostles' Church.

And finally, we visited the biblical sites of the Jordan River (where Jesus was baptized) and Mt. Nebo (where Moses saw the Promised Land for the first time) and we took a dip … or float …  in the Dead Sea.

The site where Jesus was baptized.

Brian washing in the Jordan River.

I asked Brian to strike a cool pose that demonstrated how he truly
was floating in the Dead Sea.  This was what he came up with.

The view from Mt. Nebo.

We found the people to be lovely and the historical sights fascinating, but what solidified our fandom of Jordan was the food.  We can attest that the saying about winning people over through their stomachs is 100% true.  Our friend Anwar, whom we met in Egypt, introduced us to Hashem, which remains our favorite restaurant of our entire trip.  At this gem of a place we feasted on the most delicious pita, falafel, hummus, fresh tomatoes, mint sweet tea, and french fries.  I kid you not - we enjoyed this simple yet superb meal several times a day.

Visiting with Anwar at Hashem. We can't thank him
enough for taking us here!

Our favorite meal.

So good we had to share.
Enjoying yet another meal at Hashem with Heather & Curtis,
fellow world travelers whom we met during our tour of Jerash.

We also have to give a shout-out to Kareem, our other friend whom we met in Egypt while he was on holiday from his studies.  He and his friends (all from Central and South America but with Palestinian heritage and studying Arabic in Jordan) invited us to a birthday party and we had a blast dancing to Latin music and conversing in Spanglarabic, a mix of Spanish, English, and Arabic (they all speak Spanish and Arabic, some speak English, Brian speaks Spanish and English, and I just speak English).  Thanks Kareem!