It is quite hard to write this post. Tomorrow Tad and I will depart for Egypt, and this is the end of my time in Jordan on this trip. It has been quite a time, and I have enjoyed it immensely. If Tad comes back to Jordan in the future I will be sure to pay him a visit. Tad and I have done quite a lot, from climbing waterfalls in Wadi Weida, to an ex-pat party in Amman, to spending time swatting flies and killing ants in al-Mazra. There have been many quiet periods, which has been nice, and many adventures as well. Most of all it has been great to spend time with Tad. Watching him teach English in Arabic and being so patient with his students is a great inspiration to me. We ... read more

On the next day, the group of us from the hostel headed out to the West Bank. There were two Brits and two Americans. We took a sherut to the Bethlehem checkpoint, and as usual, it was unclear what to do in crossing into the West Bank at the checkpoint. After we crossed through, we were accosted by Palestinian drivers wanting to show us around the West Bank. We began to walk away, and finally a decent driver talked with us, and offered us a good price to go to Hebron and Bethlehem. The driver ultimately was what made the trip to the West Bank so successful. Our first stop in the West Bank was the “security wall” that Israel erected in order to supposedly protect itself from the people living in the West Bank. On ... read more

So this summer Tad is working with the Zikra Initiative, a Jordanian NGO that is working with the people in the South of Jordan in order to give them a source of income, a sense of pride and share their way of life with travellers from the west and Amman. I think it is a pretty awesome NGO and really well thought out in order to avoid many of the negative externalities that commonly arrive from "development" aid. Since it is stinking hot in the Ghor during the summer, during the summer Zikra is looking to find an alternate location to bring tourists. So they are opening a site in the mountains in a village called url=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mukawer&hl=en&ll=31.544052,35.654883&spn=0.02231,0.045447&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.310334,93.076172&t=h&z=15 Mukawir . Through Engag... read more

Tad and I went to the most surprising place I could imagine in Jordan. Jordan as a whole, and the Ghor in particular is incredibly arid. There is very little water visible anywhere. But there are magical pockets distributed in and amongst the rocky hills. Tad and I went to one of these magical valleys and it was so cool. We had been told by one of the workers at the NGO that Tad works for that we should check out Wadi Weida, but before I arrived Tad hadn't been able to make it Wadi Weida. We got a ride in a taxi up to the entrance of the Wadi. As you walk in it feels exactly like Myst. There are water level controls that look like they are from Jurassic Park and there is water ... read more

Well, the last few days have been quite an interesting time. I'm currently in Ghor Al-Mazra (Ghor Farms) with Tad and we are trying to stay cool. Its... ummm.. rather warm. Actually right now it isn't too bad, since we are inside and it is getting later on in the day (6pm). Even so, it is still pretty hot. I guess a bit of a recap is called for. Jordan Day 1: Amman On the 21st I arrived in Amman with a flight with Royal Jordanian. The flight itself was nice, but the luggage handling was rather slow in Amman. In this case it worked out well since Tad had arrived at the wrong terminal, and came over to meet me just in time. At first I was like "uh oh" but it all worked out ... read more