I went to the desert on a horse with no name

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Israel


After a short and – let's say interesting – experience in the Israeli kibbutz, I packed my bags and got out of there as fast as I could. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the particular job I had to do was borderlining with slavery and I didn't come to Israel to milk cows for 10 hours a day.

And because I was in the country on a volunteer visa (which got cancelled), I had about 48 hours to leave the country. And as I conveniently booked a flight from Amman to Bangkok in Februrary, I decided to spend 10 weeks in a real Middle Eastern country: Jordan.

Thanks to HelpX, I had already arranged a place to volunteer in Wadi Rum. So I went down to Eilat and crossed the border to Aqaba, which was pretty painless. The visa was free and valid for one month, but apparently can be extended after that month. I took an expensive taxi straight to Wadi Rum, where I was awaited by a Bedouin guide to take care of me, while my real host Salem was holidaying in Egypt.

Welcome to Wadi Rum

My first days in Wadi Rum I spent in the family desert camp, along with a bunch of other tourists. I even got to go on a jeep tour through the desert. At first I was a bit overwhelmed and not too impressed by the desert, but as days went by I got to love it more and more.

After 2 days in the camp, I moved to Salems house, where I also met another fellow helper from the Netherlands.

And here I got the culture shock. It is a truly Islamic world. The other volunteer, who is a man, was not allowed inside the house and had to sleep in the reception area of the house. I, as a woman, was luckily invited inside the house and got my own room there. I met Salems wife Nora and their two beautiful little sons. After I met Nora's younger brother Mosa, I didn't end up spending much time in my room though. He is a true and sincire Bedouin who loves the desert. I went to Aqaba with him one day to buy some jeans and get some cash out of the ATM and he couldn't even be there for 2 hours and I saw how his smile gradually came back as we came closer to Wadi Rum. He took me all over the place in his jeep, far far far into the desert, where no tourists go. We found his brothers in a cave somewhere in the „white desert“, all of them named Salem (not to be confused with my HelpX host Salem, who is not only Mosas brother-in-law, but also his cousin.). A few days later we had to come back and rescue the three Salems from their cave, as their car had broken down earlier.

On one of the days, I got taken to the real Bedouins in the desert, who live in tents and make their living by herding goats and sheep. What a cultural experience!

Rum Village

Rum Village is a Bedouin settlement in the Wadi Rum desert, inhabited by one and the same Bedouin tribe. All of the approx. 2000 inhabitants are more or less related to each other. Everyone you meet is either a brother or a cousin. Only about 50 years ago, there was nothing but a few tents in the village, but thanks to tourism, which is pretty much the major source of income for the Bedouins of Wadi Rum, it has grown into a fully developed desert village. It has a campsite, restaurants, supermarkets, schools (one for boys, one for girls), a mosque and all the other civilized things that one might need. Except an ATM machine :-P

As I said, the major source of income for the locals is tourism. There are plenty of desert camps in the first few hundred meters in the desert, and it seems like almost every family has one. There is a pretty modern visitor center around 5km outside of the village, where tourists are being picked up and from where jeep tours, camel rides, hikes and every other thing you can imagine that one could do in the desert can be booked and arranged. Apart from that, there is not too much to do in the village. If I was not in the desert, I saw myself getting bored very quickly.

Bedouin hospitality

Bedouin hospitality is one of a kind! I think there are only few parts in the world where people are still so open and welcoming to strangers. I get invited to drink tea (Bedouin whiskey) about every 5 minutes, people invite me to stay their houses, to take me to the desert and ask me for help with emails. Even though all the Bedouin men speak perfect English, their ability to read and write it is very limited, so they need European help with the Latin alphabet.

People are generally very friendly and welcome me to Jordan with a big smile. That it where it ends though. I made exactly one friend in Wadi Rum, and even with him, communication was very limited. People are very friendly and welcoming on the outside, but a true friendship seemed merely impossible, especially if you can’t speak Arabic. I was being left out of conversations for hours, I was never given any specific information on where we are going or what we are doing or when or if we would return to the village… The first few days/weeks I found that pretty exciting, but once I got used to it, it just annoyed me immensely.

Women in Wadi Rum

This is a difficult issue. Because even though Bedouins are quite progressive, and very welcoming to strangers, their traditions are very old and very Islamic. It's hard for me to even realize that I am in a country where polygamy is still perfectly legal. In Rum village, I rarely see women on the street and even more rarely I see them without a male escort. And if that happens, they are completely covered in a Burka. Inside the house I see Nora wearing perfectly normal clothes like T-shirts or nice skirts, no hijab (head cover) but as soon as she goes into the reception area, she covers up. And then it seems like the Bedouins are perfectly accepting Western women wear whatever they want. I guess as a western woman you enjoy a lot more priviledges than anyone else, as I was allowed to see the women’s world, as well as the men’s world.

Goodbye

After 3 weeks in Wadi Rum, I can say that I’ve had enough. The Middle East is a difficult place to be as Western woman, and Jordan is probably one of the easiest countries of the bunch. But Wadi Rum is just a completely different world. It seemed like a different planet from time to time, with me being the extraterrestrial. The culture is interesting to experience, but nothing for me to deal with long term.

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Comments

[Anastasia78]

Wonderful blog!
I'm so glad I found this! I love your stories of the Middle East and your photos are really beautiful. Looking forward to following you!!