Today is June 18th, the sixteenth day of the 64-day trip. Our destination this morning is to Wadi Rum, the second most visited tourist site in Jordan. In Arabic, “Wadi” loosely means desert. “Rum” is the name of this particular wadi, the largest in Jordan, about 280 square miles and owned by the Bedouin tribe. These nomads have existed for thousands of years and are basically goat and sheep herders who travel around the desert with no fixed home other than a tent for a week or two before moving on. These days, tourism has mostly replaced herding and the several thousand Bedouin descendants live in Wadi Rum village. They are all related, some have several wives and all the males work in support of the twenty or so tourist camps spread out within the Wadi. We are staying tonight at Memories Aicha Luxury Camp.
Our camp in the distance 
At 3:00pm, we have signed up for a four hour “jeep tour” of the desert. Soi Soi (pronounced Sue Sue) is our guide and driver. He is an 18-year-old Bedouin, born in the village and has no plans or aspirations to ever leave. The “jeep” is actually a clunker pickup truck with seats and a prayer rug roof in the truck bed. It’ll work, though. The tour takes us through a part of the vast desert with just unbelievable scenery … a mix of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Mars. In fact, many movies have been filmed here including the recent The Martian staring Matt Damion. Most of the stops include walking and climbing up and down the cliffs which gets old pretty quick for Bill. The last stop is the most interesting, the original stone ruins of the house of T.E. Lawrence, the British officer turned writer who wrote Lawrence of Arabia right here, and the movie was also filmed here in the early 1960’s. The tour ended at sunset with Soi Soi building a fire in the desert sand and preparing a pot of tea, Bedouin-style. A memory was made here!
Red sand dune
It was a tough climb
Bedouin guide 
The face in the rocks 
The face in the background and camels resting 
Man, woman and child 
Deep in the canyon
Tough climb to this arch
Celebrating that we made it!
Just some camels passing by
We opted out of the climb and enjoyed the photo op from the truck.
Looking dapper! 
Back at camp, our room is actually a geodesic dome that at night, when the overhead curtains are pulled back reveals an entire glass roof with spectacular views of the stars.
Dinner and breakfast are both included (since customers are in the middle of nowhere) and it is buffet style but really pretty good.
At 9:00 the next morning, we are loaded up in the back of the pickup truck and taken back to the car park area.
Something you would never see in the USA. 
Continuing on, the destination this Sunday morning June 19th is Petra, Jordan about 50 miles north and the top tourist destination in this beautiful country. Petra is one of the seven new wonders of the world, although it certainly is not new. In the five-hundred years from 400 B.C. until around 100 A.D., it was the capital of the Nabataean empire of 30,000 people and is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was a major stopping point in trade between the Egyptians and all points north. Somewhere in the tenth century the place's location was lost, but not to history and was finally found and rediscovered in the 1800’s. The unique thing about Petra is that the entire city of buildings is built and carved out of the mountains and hidden within a single entrance of a crevice in the mountains. Today, the area is controlled and inhabited by Bedouins most of whom live in caves (yes, caves) in these mountains.
Our base for two nights is the Marriot Petra, a beautiful property about 5 km from the entrance to Petra. It faces a mountain range where Aaron, the older brother of Moses is buried and a mausoleum was later built at the burial site. That night, we had an absolutely stunning dinner that consisted of a traditional Bedouin dish, called Zarb, which is cooked underground in pots for hours. We ate in a Bedouin tent overlooking the mountains at sunset and listening to a Bedouin guy play his Oud and sing Jordanian love songs. We topped it off by smoking a Shisha (Hookah) and conversing with two new friends. We shared a bottle of Arak, a distilled spirit of the anise family. The next day came awfully early.
Where our dinner, Zarb, was cooked. 
Salads before dinner
Dinner! 
Dinner music played on an Oud
The next morning, the hotel provided a shuttle to and from Petra so we got an early start to tour this place. From the entrance it is about a 2 km walk downhill through the mountain crevice to the beginning of the ancient city. The first building, called “the Treasury” comes into sight and it is truly magnificent. Probably 150 feet tall from the ground, this 2,000-year-old structure still maintains the accurate and intricate carvings that from a distance, appears as though it was built from marble, not carved into the sandstone mountain. No one knows how in the world they built\carved these structures ... sorta like the same questions about the Egyptian pyramids. Unfortunately, from the beginning of our walk and throughout, we are besieged by hawkers selling cheap trinkets and jewelry, camel\donkey\mule rides and ice cream. It really would take weeks to explore every nook and cranny, but there are about a dozen primary sites spread over a few square miles. Since the crown jewel “the monastery” is about nine-hundred fifty winding steps practically straight up on 2,000-year-old and very narrow stone steps, we opted to spring for two mules, “Suzy” and “Jackass”. We learned from our mule ride at the Grand Canyon last year that mules and donkeys are extremely sure-footed animals. It truly is amazing. What also is amazing is the Bedouin guide that maneuvered two mules with people on them up those steps, keeping everything moving and almost running most of the time. The other thing that was amazing is that except for his small size he was a DEAD-RINGER for Actor Bradley Cooper. Even though he made $140 off us, he could make a lot more in Hollywood as Bradley’s double. Oh, and he lives in a Petra cave with his one wife (at least one for now) and five kids.
Mosaic on the floor of the Petra Church
After a pretty grueling walk back UP to the entrance to catch the return hotel shuttle, we opted for a few beers and a good ol’ American Burger and fries in the Marriot bar. And, after three weeks of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food, it tasted very good!
Wow, what an amazing adventure!! You guys are funny and very trusting (not sure I would have went on that 4 hour tour) the pictures are beautiful and priceless !!
ReplyDeleteLoving every post! AMAZING TRIP!!! COUSIN LYNDA
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