Mass atop the Mount Overlooking the Promised Land

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We awoke in Amman in our side by side twin beds reminiscent of an “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy (or in my case Sharon) sits up abruptly at the start of an episode shouting “What was that?” as the call for morning prayers reverberates through our room from the nearby loudspeaker at about 5:15 AM this morning. Can you imagine waking up to this cacophony every single morning? It would give me a surly disposition for sure; but, at least they don’t need donkeys.

I sampled some hummus, red and green pepper salsa, pita, corn flakes and cocoa puffs and was going to try some juice but Sharon warned me about Dennis fearing about sanitary conditions for juicing the fresh fruit. Sharon is suffering, there were more soft boiled eggs but she did wrangle a nice slice of bread and some butter. We should be okay on eating something we shouldn’t as we both just finished our booster Hep-A shot. We had gotten these for our trip to China, only to find that the full inoculation requires a booster six months after the first shot. So we weren’t fully covered in China, but should be okay now.

We assembled by the busses to identify our bags for loading, indicating our bags by raising the handles. Sharon was telling me, go lift our handles, go take a picture of this or that, get me some hand sanitizer, I finally just looked at Erin if Sharon was bossy like this when she was a kid. Erin corrected me, “Sharon was no boss of me as a kid.” But Sharon remembered it differently, claiming to be put in charge on a few occasions, even using the “B-Word” that Erin flatly refused. It certainly seemed that Erin was never aware of any such times, so I postulated that it was done behind her back with a wink-wink nod-nod.

We drove to the Citadel in Amman. We took some pictures, explored the Temple of Hercules. We learned how the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan came into being, after leaving the sphere of control of the British Empire at the end of WWII. In 1956 the UK stopped providing economic aid to Jordan and to replace this the United States began providing aide. A famous story involving the Citadel involves King David who was having an affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. King David sent Uriah into a battle which he expected Uriah not to survive; and, indeed he perished on the walls of the Citadel. We also explored a palace by the temple. Leaving the temple, Jihad told us the significance of the colors of the Kufiya headdress that men wear. The red and white ones were favored by the King Hussein who came to power when the Hashemite Kingdom was formed, and wearing this colors shows allegiance to him and his family. The black and white one honors Yasser Arafat. I later heard that blue was for the local region. We notice that many but not all girls were wearing white scarves on their heads; but, not all of them. Jihad said that some don’t wear them because they aren’t Muslim, some may come from families aren’t “practicing Muslims”. The girls or women aren’t required to wear scarves, but most do, and then Jihad noted that it’s really up to the girl, then he searched hard for the word, the “opinionated” ones don’t wear scarves. I told Erin that I had a girlfriend once who was extremely opinionated and I once told her that she was very “dogmatic”. She had looked at me puzzled and then two days later I hear from behind me “I am not”. That’s when I hear from beside me “What girlfriend was this, “dear”?” Isn’t it amazing what can get conveyed in tone or inflection of words?

We then headed to the Jordan River to visit the baptismal site of Jesus, where he had been baptized by John the Baptist. As fortune would have it the Jordanian military has a base near and around this site. In 1994 the Catholic Church bought the land at the actual site and it’s been developed as a pilgrimage site ever since. The region approaching the river was barren and arid. We saw a number of Bedouins with their tent homesteads and livestock or camels. This land is what the Bible often refers to as “The Wilderness”, as John the Baptist wandered in the Wilderness eating nothing but locusts and honey and baptizing all that he could. There are a number of churches clustered together, including a Greek Orthodox Church, and a large Catholic Church that is under construction, and a site recently visited by a pope. We took a hike through this Wilderness area occasionally catching a glimpse of the Jordan River. Erin was able to do the side excursion to see some ruins on her scooter; but, Sharon and I got mixed up who we were following and wound up with the Blue group. We heard later that Jihad was a bit miffed that his flock was diminished and Imad the Blue Group guide seemed proud that so many wanted to join his group. We didn’t realize that Erin and Dennis had gone back on their own, and we soon found ourselves separated from both groups. We headed back through a maze of paths through this wilderness, and did find our bus before it left us there. We then went to the area where those who wanted could be Baptized again. The Archbishop had anticipated that clean water from the Jordon River would be available for renewing the baptismal vows; however, the stone font (whose name escapes me right now so I’ll leave it to my properly schooled Catholic editors to provide that) was dry. The river itself was very muddy and low lying parts of the concrete platform in front of the tiered wooden seats had recently been flooded with mud. Instead of baptizing with water from the Jordan (I sort of feel short changed, that is, until you’ll hear about the lengths one lady went to do just that), the archbishop announced that he’d just use a blessing instead. Can he really make up the rules as he goes: Is that what Moses did in times of drought? I’m just saying. Well, when our ceremony was over one lady from our group did step down into the muck of the Jordan River and received a proper baptism in the water, thigh deep in that brown yucky ooze.

We got back on the bus, and again we put our cameras away. Because this land is bordered by a military post, and we pass through a military checkpoint to gain access, we’d been warned not to take any pictures from the bus. Once out at the site, we could take all of the pictures that we wanted walking around; but, none from inside the bus. We again passed by many Bedouin and refuge tents, but no massive camps, just an isolated tent or two or three. It was time to journey to Mount Nebo. Our bus had quite a trip from the depths of the Jordan Valley to this mountain top peak. Away from the river the land became increasingly bleak and parched. We arrived where we would be having mass today, at the site where Moses would see the Promised Land after 40 years “in the wilderness”. Because Moses had displeased God, he had not allowed Moses to enter the Promised Land. Moses had spent the first 40 years of his life living in the lap of luxury for Egyptian royalty after having been found floating in the reeds of the Nile by an Egyptian princess (set adrift their trying to save his life from a purge of slave babies). The next 40 years of his life were spent in exile, trying to escape the reach of the Egyptian authorities, and the final 40 years leading his people to the Promised Land. The land atop the mountain was purchased by the Franciscans from a Muslim landlord. At first he had been unwilling to sell, but eventually relented with the proviso that his descendants would be employed maintaining the land. Work on buildings and walkways were underway, and Dennis noted one sign saying that work had started in the 1990’s (and still wasn’t finished). And from the condition of the men’s bathroom I’d say that the maintenance agreement wasn’t working out too terribly well. I was told that the Women’s bathroom had a male attendant and a row of urinals. The Chapel was quite cozy, if not terribly big. And the mass was quite appropriate, coming on a Sunday and the readings and homily tying in with John the Baptist. After mass we walked around the grounds and saw the Serpentine Cross (which is essentially the symbol used today by medical folks), a large artistic rendering of Jesus on the cross with an imposing view over the approach from the Jordan River, the Promised Land, and in the far off distance Jerusalem. Our viewing was somewhat hampered by the desert haze that obscured clear viewing in the distance, so this really was one of those tourist guide moments that Sharon and I sometimes have, when the guide maintains “Trust me, It’s out there… really!” Still, what we did see was a breathtaking view.

We then drove just a few short minutes to the Talet Nebo Restaurant. Again, they had Mediterranean fare served buffet style. I guess it’s the Chinese equivalent of the Lazy Susan, and it will be interesting to find-out at the end of this trip which Sharon prefers. She thinks she’s going to lose lots of weight. I thought that the chicken was excellent. And one thing was for sure, the restroom was much nicer than the one I’d just visited.

Our next stop was at a mosaic workshop and store. The meticulous work was fascinating to watch. The shop employs handicapped people (I think he also said they were working with the University students to learn the trade)who work with pieces composed of various sized mosaics. The mosaics are all stones that are naturally colored. A single piece made with the smallest pieces may take the artisan three or four months to complete. There are also pieces with medium, large and even very large pieces. Some pieces use ceramic tiles crafted to provide 3-D high relief effects. In the shop there was a beautiful depiction of the Last Supper. I’m told that cost about $30,000. One of the specialty items that they produced were these large egg-like objects(ostrich egg shells), about six inches from end-to-end, where the surface had been covered with a micro-fine mosaic design. One that I examined cost 500 Jordanian Dinar, or about $750 US. Dennis and I tried the complimentary tea with honey that had been poured for whoever wanted to try some. We went out to the bus since our departure time had arrived. And we waited. It was already dark, and we were hungry, and we were late, and the bus waited because while the rest of us had some tea, the clergy with us had enjoyed some cognac. Father Jan had bought two ceramic chairs for brides and grooms married in his church. And the Archbishop had bought something for the office at the archdiocese. When Father Jan got back on the bus, he said that he’d gotten a very good deal; but, that his business manager was going to kill him. I’m not sure but there might have been one or two pilgrims present who wished his business manager was here. Our clergy finally did return to the fold and our bus pressed on to Madaba to see the famous mosaic of the Holy Land. Again with the mosaics. This mosaic encompassed much of the known world around the Mediterranean giving incredible details of locations and associated stories. The city of Jerusalem was depicted uniquely from other features, showing a view from above looking down on the city. Features included Egypt and the trek of Moses and his people to the Promised Land could be followed with this map.

The architecture continued to be that boxy sometimes half-finished look with rebar extensions; but, the colors here were not just white, but also yellow and tan pastels. The reason for the half-finished look is just that. A family, which might include a patriarch and then the families of several children often pool their resources to build a house for all of them, paying cash for the construction. When the money runs out, the building stops in that half-finished state until in a few years, additional funds will be pooled for construction: and the building continues.

We finally arrived at the Taybet Zaman Resort Hotel, and I must say, this is one of the most unique hotels that I’ve stayed at. They were ready for us when we arrived with packets and keys and luggage stickers spread out in envelopes on a table with our names on it. This was much better than the previous hotels where several people were calling people’s names, when some people hadn’t come in from the busses yet. We quickly found our way through a maze of outside stone pathways between buildings designed to look like they were made of the sandstone of Petra. We followed room pointer arrows to our room. Meanwhile, Erin and Dennis were among the last to get their keys and stickers, and as Erin scooted toward her room one of the porters asked which room was theirs. She responded “119”. “No, no, no,” he exclaimed. “This I must change for you.” And he got their room changed with the other remain couple, yet to go off to their room. He explained, “There are too many steps to this room.” There were still steps to negotiate, but nowhere near the number to room 119 (there were apparently 37 steps to room 119, an accurate count from the exhausted lady that wound up with this room).

Our room had an interior courtyard, and was a spacious quarters with a separate changing quarters and a sunken tub. And did I mention the king sized bed. How long has it been since I’ve seen one of those? It did have an interesting button for flushing the toilet, one that you had to press and hold for over five seconds before any more than a trickle of water would pour into the bowl sufficient to flush the toilet. We were pretty tired getting to our room about 9 PM, and needed to head right over to the dining room for another typical Mediterranean meal. They had all of the standard hummus, pita and other condiments, and as I recall I just nibbled at my food.

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