Jordan

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People: Tour ended yesterday so everyone said their goodbyes. It was a great group of people and we all had a great time!

Activities: OK, since I was a little short on time last time I couldn’t type out everything I wanted to. So, in between Cairo and Dahab was the Suez Canal. We went under it in the truck. It wasn’t anything special, really. Just a tunnel. But when we got to the other side it was interesting because it was just flat desert and then a giant ship. Flat desert and then another giant ship.

Back to Mt. Sinai…it wasn’t an easy climb, that’s for sure. I’d say the climb was probably comparable to the more difficult parts of the Tongariro crossing that I did in New Zealand. It was only 2km, so obviously it wasn’t nearly as long but it was very steep the whole way and the ‘path’ was very uneven so you had to watch your footing at all times. It was also made a little more difficult because you had to skirt the mule and camel droppings that were all along the trail. The descent was (thankfully) much shorter and easier. There was the option to go down 3000 stairs instead of taking the same path we did down but we agreed as a group that we weren’t going to be crazy and try that.

The next day started early and that’s when I sent the previous e-mail. We set out early, like I said, and drove to the port of Nuweiba we were warned beforehand that this would be one of the most frustrating and draining days of the trip. That proved to be true. First we had to go and get our exit stamps for Egypt.There were three queues with about 25-20 men standing in them and Kim (the tour guide) led the way and just jumped in front of the whole line. She said not to feel bad, that this was what they did here and if the Egyptians were in our place they would have done the same thing. Still, it felt wrong to do that. Anyway, the clerk didn’t seem to mind the girls jumping ahead but as soon as one of the men in our group went to get his stamp he told them all to get to the back of the line. So the girls waited around and tried to ignore the leering stares of the men surrounding them while the rest of the tour group finished getting their passports stamped. Then there was a 1.5 hour wait to get on the ferry even though we could plainly see that it was just sitting there doing nothing for the entire time. After that we got to jump the queue again (all of us this time) and board the ferry with the knowledge that it was _supposed_ to depart at 2:15pm. We were still waiting until 4:45pm before we left the port. According to the guide and driver this is fairly normal. The crossing took about 2.5 hours but we weren’t able to get off the boat until about 9pm. Following that we had to wait around for another hour before hopping onboard the truck again and going to the town of Aquaba to purchase dinner. A short drive at night to Wadi Rum where we began to set up another bush camp at about 11:30pm.

The night was cold. There was a thin layer of ice all over the blankets, sleeping bag and backpacks when we woke up. Now, Wadi Rum is an ancient riverbed. This means that it’s all rock and sand and that the sand has a thin crust that is hard(ish) and is otherwise very soft underneath. So, as we were driving away from the campsite our 17 tonne truck got stuck in the sand. Kim called our Wadi Rum tour guides to come by with their 4x4s and help. We tied one to the truck and dug under the wheels to place rocks. For about 20 meters it was very touch and go with the truck alternating between seeming to move and seeming to get stuck again. But after much exertion we got free!

After that we got on the uncovered back of the 4x4s for our tour of Wadi Rum and the wind proceeded to freeze as we made our way to the various sites. Just as we were about to leave Lawrence Spring our driver noticed one of our tires was flat and had to change it. After he changed it we noticed the next tire was also flat and it had to be changed again. After that we were finally able to proceed but a new Jeep met us halfway through the tour anyway and we switched vehicles. Lots of car issues that day.

The scenery in Wadi Rum reminds me very much of the Grand Canyon. It’s also enormous and despite the fact that we passed about a dozen Bedouin campsites it still felt empty and isolated. The rock walls were very good at producing echoes and our guide took us to a place where you could hear five or six separate echoes. I say again, it was damn cold on that 4x4 but it got worse.

Headed back to the truck and then we began the drive to Wadi Mussa and Petra. It got colder as we continued to ascend and we eventually hit the cloud level where there was snow on the ground. As we drove into Wadi Mussa there were some spectacular views of the Wadi and the city that could be seen in below the cloud line.Next stop was the hotel. We had been warned prior to this that the hotel would be cold. As we were the only guests staying there the hotel refused to turn on the heating for the floors we were on because they were making too little profit. That’s the story anyway. The truth is that I’ve never, ever, been in a habitated building that is this cold. You can see your breath in the room. We measured the temperature at between 4 and 6 degrees!!! The plus is that the hot water works. The minus is that once you get out it is FUCKING COLD! That shower and proceeding dressing is the coldest thing I have ever done. While getting dressed I put on 6 layers of clothes and would have put more on if I had any.

After that I asked Kim about ‘Petra at Night’. It's when they light up the Treasury in Petra with candles and it's a great photo oppourtunity. After much humming and hawing on my part (I was still freezing and didn't really want to go outside) and once another member of our group decided to go with me we both ran upstairs to get our cameras. Just as we got back to the main floor Kim told us they had cancelled Petra at night because it was too cold and there wasn’t anyone down there. I was secretly relieved. Although I didn’t get to do something I’d been looking forward to I was also not looking forward to freezing my ass off for however long it took and I wasn’t sure that my photography abilities or camera would be up to par in regards to capturing the pictures I wanted. Since pictures had been my only reason for going I wasn’t overly disappointed. There was slightly good news to offset the bad news though. The hotel said they would turn on the heating in our rooms! This turned out to be not as helpful as we thought because they turned it off after about 2 hours anyway.

At night everything was good. I was under three blankets and a sleeping bag and I was actually warm (hot even!). Then at 1:30am the fire alarm went off. We (Robbie and Shannon and I) were all startled out of bed and Robbie went into the hall to check the situation. The alarm stopped after about 30 seconds and Shannon and I were prepared to dress really quickly to get out if necessary (we didn't want to move out of bed unless we had to). Kim checked things out downstairs and assured us that everything was fine but we never got an answer from the hotel about what set it off.

Onwards to Petra! It was just as cold as we expected and as an added bonus, it was raining. So, it was about a 500m walk from the parking lot to the siq. The siq is the old riverway that leads into the city of Petra. It was 2km downhill before we saw the treasury of Petra. Along the sides of the siq are water channels that brought water to the city of over 40 thousand people. It was originally paved but floods have since washed most of it away. The treasury didn’t have any treasure inside, it’s called that because the building itself is the most beautiful and most well preserved. We were so cold on our walking tour! Our guide lead us to the coliseum and through much of the excavated city. At the end the shop we stopped at lit a fire for us which we all thankfully clustered around. After our guide left us the five of us walked up to the monastery. The hike up was not as bad as Sinai but it was lots of uphill and steps (and more donkey mess) again. We got to the top and were pleased to see what we hiked for was worth it. After we climbed down we walked over several hills and mounds and got to see the mosaic floor of an old church. Next we decided to hike up to see the High Place of Sacrifice. That climb was entirely stairs for about 30 minutes. Getting cold so back to the hotel after that.

At the hotel we all decided that our sweaty, cold clothes needed to be changed and we’d have to brave the shower again. If the coldest thing I’ve ever done was that first shower, the second coldest thing was doing it again. It was just as bad the second time and I could still quite easily see my breath in the room.

Got out of bed, froze, got in the truck and took pictures of snow on the hill! Gradually got warmer as we drove along the sides of mountains and headed to the Dead Sea. Walked down to the beach and took pictures of the strange salt formations. It was WARM! Such a nice change from frozen Petra. Back to the truck for a last delicious soup lunch and then we were about to leave when the truck broke down. So we hung around outside the truck for another hour before Drew got everything working again.

Short drive into Amman where we all got off the truck and took our stuff to our hotel downtown. We all went out for a last dinner and had traditional Jordanian food before heading out again to grab desert. It was like a cheddar cheese with a deep fried honey glaze on the top sprinkled with pistachio nuts. After that we walked back to the hotel and took a last group photo before saying our goodbyes to each other.

Food: Tried some arize? Kinda like a flatbread with spiced meat in it. And had kofters! Kofters are good. Fig jam and nutella were also things people on the tour introduced me to that I enjoyed.

Weather: I know it's not as cold as Canada but it still felt miserable. Still, everyone got through it and we all laughed about it later.

Observations: I know I'm in Jordan but one last observation about Egypt...At the monuments, museums, ports, temples, and even hotels there are security gates like in the airport. With one exception. When the security gates beep no one checks you. When you put your bag through the scanner often there is no one watching the screen. Or, once or twice, there wasn’t even a computer attached to the machine it was just on and that’s it. So yes, we’ve been quite amused by the Egyptian ‘security’.

Jordan seems to be a mix of Europe and Egypt. There are still people who hassle you but it's considerably less and the 'security' is actually legitimate. The people at the shops also don't try to rip you off just because you're a tourist. It's a nice change.

Also, I've learned not to take hot water for granted.

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Photos

Burning Bush with Fire Extinguisher
I think this is hilarious.

Rock Carvings
Depicting how the Bedouins lived and worked with their camels.

Rock Bridge
I walked across! Unfortunately, I have no photos of me doing that.