This weekend we were able to get out of Amman and go visit the famous sites of Jordan. Our study abroad group took three busses full of people to Dana Nature Reserve, Wadi Rum, and Petra. We left Friday around noon and didn't get home to Amman until around eight at night on Sunday. Our first day we took a three hour bus ride to Dana nature reserve which is South of Amman. This area is a protected environment where we went on a couple of hiking trails. Since this area is a protected place not all 135 of us were able to camp down in the reserve so some people ended up going to a hotel. I was able to camp which was neat to eat outdoors looking over these big rocks. At night it did get a little cold but inside our tents it was comfortable. At night there was a group of us who were in the main tent playing cards ( I taught them "Up the River, Down the River"). The next day we woke up and made our way to Wadi Rum.
On the way to Wadi Rum we stopped at a castle by the name of "Shoback Castle." This castle is the first crusaders castle built in Jordan. It was not completely intact but you could definitely see a lot of the castle. I think the neatest part of this castle was the view it provided since it was located on top of the tallest hill around. After this we made our way to Wadi Rum.
Wadi Rum is essentially a vast deserst but with huge boulders/ mountains. It kind of is like Picacho Peak in Arizona but with more mountains, more sand and less greenery. Plus at some places the sand was a bright red color. This place is well known by people who are familiar with Lawrence of Arabia because the fact that he named the famous mountain (seven pillars of wisdom) one time on his travels. After eating at the visitors center restaurant we went in the back of trucks and went "four wheeling." We didn't get that crazy and it was more like driving out in some sand dunes, but of course with a better view. We did stop along the way multiple times to climb, have tea, and take pictures. At one of the stops there was writing on the mountain that indicated to the caravans (which was real common way of transportation in the old days) on which way to go. After "four wheeling" for about two hours we pull up to a bunch of camels. Before getting on the camels they gave everybody a ( كوفية ) "Kuyfea" which is the head scarves to protect from the sun and the sand. In Jordan the color of these "Kuyfea's" are white and red while the Palenstinain version is black and white. I had already been wearing one both days which was nice becasue "four wheeling" it did ge dusty. Riding the camel I think was the best part of this trip. So to have camels in big groups like that does mean that some will be cranky and not want to cooperate. Luckily my camel was one of the best camels that was there in the group. Getting on a camel is easy considering the fact that they are laying down. So you just sit down and than the person leading the camel tells it to get up which sometimes is done be pushing its feet. Most of the camels had some sort of saddle that did look similar to a Western saddle but without stirrups. Going up some people were freaking out because the fact that they don't go straight up but insted back feet first and than front feet, so for a brief moment it seems like you might fall off going forward. The way the camels work is that a Jordanina owns a a few camels and they lead you along. So essentially your camel is tied to another camel. My ownere had two camels so it was just me and one other person for most of the time, and towards the end he tied another camel to the other side. It costs a lot of money to own a camel (around 2000-5000 Jordanian Dinars). My person leading us along was the son of the owner so he was about fourteen years old. About five minutes into our two hour long camel ride he gave me the reigns and let me drive the camel the rest of the way. He basically was tired of leading and I guess it looked like I knew what to do. It is actually quite simple and is like a horse except for the fact that camels our fatter and taller than horses. Camels do go slower but at some points we did get it going quicker. After the camel ride we had dinner at a Bedouin Camp where we were sleeping that night. The dinner is a traditional Bedouin way of cooking which is they cook it underground. After dinner they showed us how to do a Bedouin dance which we weren't that good at. After that a couple of us walked outside of the camp to lay down and look at the stars. The next day we rode a bus for about an hour to arrive at Petra.
We pulled into the visitor center and walked down a ways along the souk in Petra. This area was basically where all the caravans went through onto the various places. Plus this area had many people living there and staying for many years. The Monastery (which is the main part of Petra most people know about) is the first big building you see, but to get there it is about a two mile walk through this canyon. Along this canyon our tour guide pointed out various objects. Once getting to the Monastery that is the beginning of the buildings and from there it is another three mile walk to the restaurant at the end. Along the way it basically was houses, tombs, an amphitheatre, and places like. that. In fact Petra's history is only about ten percent known because it is all in fact underground. For them to start excavating it would mean closing down the tourism for many years. They did close it down at the beginning of the Iraq War because people were not coming to Jordan and they found three important tombs directly underneath the Monestary. After eating at the restaurant we had two and a half hours of free time to do what we wanted. Most of the people climbed to the top of the mountaing right by the restaurant (it ended up being about 900 steps) to see the view and there was also a building up on top of the mountain. After this free time we made our way to the bus and proceeded to make our way home to Amman.
It was a fun weekend and now we are back in the city. Not hearing all the traffic and honking of horns for a couple of days was a nice bonus of the trip, but now we are back at school with the sound of horns and traffic not far off. Need to start preparing to write an essay for one of my area studies class. I will discuss food next post, but I figured I should share my weekend adventure first. Will post pictures of some of the food and my house today, and will eventually post pictures of the trip after downloading them on my computer. Will write later this week. In sh’Allah. ( إن شاء الله
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