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WOAH. 2 thingsto start off with:
1-It is Election Day in the U.S. I have never felt this invested in a Presidential Election before. But then again, I have not been able to vote in a presidential election before. I hope all of you who can vote did. It'll be interesting watching one of the most important elections in the US from a different (and Middle Eastern) country.
And 2- I have not updated in quite some time. Sorry 'bout that one. And sorry about my last post. 'Twas a slightly traumatic experience, and I was freaking out more than a little bit. As for my news on the computer front, they were able to ressurect Templeton (that's my computer's name) and reinstall a new system on him (strangely lacking in applications like iPhoto, iDvd, and iMovie). There is still a crack in the body (above my battery...and it has gotten bigger). My external harddrive also doesn't seem to like being plugged in anymore, so that's a problem. AUC is paying for the repairs and my cab rides to get my repairs (fortunately fairly cheap), and they are currently figuring out who will be paying for it. I have made my case for them buying me a new computer, as mine is permanently damaged. I was supposed to hear back Thursday morning at the latest, but, of course, they haven't gotten back to me/Kim Jackson yet. It's going to take a lot of hassling from me and a few other people to get an answer (and my money) from AUC, but I think it'll happen.
So. Back to where I left off.
Jordan. My unexpected new love. Ma Cherie Amour...okay, I'm done with the absurdities. For now. Anywho, my trip to Jordan far exceeded the few expectations I had. I was naturally most excited about going to Petra because I major in Old Stuff, but there were some other incredible sites we visited. I'm not really sure which one was my favorite. Hard to decide. But I ramble.
Our adventure started out with a bang. We took an overnight bus to Taba, Egypt, which is right on the border with Israel. In typical Cairo cab fashion, our cab driver took us to the wrong station, where about 3 different people read our tickets and told us we were in the right place. After we asked the person actually selling tickets if we were at the right place, he told us that we were, in fact, in the wrong place. So Brian, Elena, and I hopped into another cab that took us to the correc t station.
The bus itself was about 1/3 filled with AUCians going to either Israel or Jordan for the break. The bus ride was largely uneventful-except for one of the people in our group, Emily, discovering that she had left her passport. Since we were, in fact, crossing not one, but two borders to get to Jordan, she had to get on the next bus back to Cairo to go get her passport and come back. Which added up to an extra day of traveling. Somehow she managed to find us (at the entrance to Petra, no less), even though no one's cell phones worked while we were in Jordan.
So we got to the border about an hour earlier than anticipated and watched the sun rise over the mountains and the Red Sea as we walked about 1 km to the Egyptian border with Israel. Crossing the border was relatively painless, although my friend Trish and I were given contradictory information about whether we had to purchase and apply for new single entry tourist visas there or on the way back. Little did we know how that little hitch forshadowed our crossing back into Egypt. But I get ahead of myself.
Upon entry to Israel, we took a cab across to the border with Jordan. Not surprisingly, our dealings at the Israeli borders were a bit more intense than our encounters at the Egyptian and Jordanian borders. Our Lebanese-Syrian American friend Gabe Ghazal had a bit of a hard time due to his ethnicity. And also because he asked them not to stamp his passport. They stamped it anyway. With a brand new, bright red inkpad.
It was funny how I immediately felt safer and more comfortable once I crossed into Israel. It may be the most dangerous state in the Middle East, but I was still most comfortable there than in either Egypt or Jordan. Even seeing the soldiers on the beach or waiting at a bus stop or smoking sheesha with their large semi-automatic weapons didn't alarm me. I think part of it may have just been that as a woman, I never feel completely at ease when I'm walking around Cairo. In Jordan it was to a slightly lesser extent, but you still notice the stares.
We went directly from the border to the Wadi Rum gate, where we were met by Shakr, son of Muhammad, who runs the Sunset Bedoiun Camp in Wadi Rum. After we went into Muhammad's house and drank tea with him, we discussed our proposed itinerary for our day and night in the desert and then we were off! Shahkr was our driver on our whirlwind jeep tour of Wadi Rum. We hit up the highlight of several Nabatean ruins and carvings that are scattered around the area. In addition to those, we went to the Lawrence of Arabia sites...the natural spring he showered in, the spring he would take his horse and camel, the outpost "house" he often spent time in, and we drove past the area where the film was primarily shot. Muhammad's grandmother apparently knew Lawrence and remained in touch with him. It was this Lawrence-themed itinerary that largely inspired my K-Ho of Arabia photo shoot and videos througout our trip in Jordan. We also saw and climbed the rock bridge (scary but awesome!) and the Chicken and Elephant rock, which looks like a Chicken from one angle and an Elephant from another. We also stopped for a tea break at one point, and made some friends with adorable Bedoiun children who came to inspect us.
We made it to our camp just in time to watch the sun set (while drinking tea, of course). It was one of the most relaxing and peaceful things I've ever experienced; to just sit outside and watch the sun set for as long as we wanted. After that, we sat around drinking more tea and listening to traditional Bedoiun songs and waited for the last group staying at the camp to join us. When they finally did, we had a delicious, delicious dinner and, you guessed it, drank tea. I've never had so much tea in one day before. It was delicious. It had cardamon and lots and lots of sugar in it.
We sat out and enjoyed the incredible view of the stars before heading off to sleep (or journal and then sleep, as some of us did). We thought about sleeping outside under the stars, but it was a bit too windy to do that.
The next morning we woke up and watched the sun rise. We climbed up to get a better view this time, and it was breathtaking watching the sun's rays spread out and gradually touch each rock and patch of sand, bringing out the extraordinary rose color.
We ate a simple but tasty breakfast and then hopped into a jeep with Muhammad and he drove us back to camp. We stopped at one point to take pictures of a camel herd that was cruising by. That was pretty awesome.
Muhammad had arranged for a van to drive us to Petra and the Petra Gate Hotel, which was run by a friend of his. It was a great choice. They gave us advice on how best to do Petra in two days, and packed us lunches and made us dinners and breakfast, and it was quite cheap. The owners were wonderful.
So then we did Petra. The first day we stuck to the first half of the site and saw the Treasury and the Theatre and we hiked up to the High Sacrifice Place, which has breathtaking views. We sat up there for at least an hour and just absorbed it all. Petra is an enormous site and you could see most of it from up there. We took a different trail down and then hiked out of site and back up the mountain to our hotel (that climb was difficult, and I did it several times over the course of 2 days). Before dinner was ready, we heard the call to prayer. I got a good recording of it that I'll try to post to the site later.
The second day was the most intense hike. We climbed up to the highest point in Petra, the Monastery. The hike was quite long and pretty intense (although they had steps carved into the rock. Those Nabateans loved carving rock), but more than worth it. The Monastery is one of the most impressive buildings I've ever seen. It is massive and entirely carved into the cliff-side. We ate our lunch perched up on a rock in the shade (and were harassed by some small boys) and then watched some crazy people take a trail up to the very top of the monastery. I almost did it, but I did not. I sort of regret not climbing up there while I had the chance, but oh well. I'll just have to go back and study the Nabateans and excavate there.
A few of us went to some of the viewing places where you could look out onto significant parts of Jordan. Again, it was incredible. You could see beyond the mountains to the sudden flat expanse of the desert (that was the view towards the Rift Valley, I believe). So we stood up there for a bit (I bonded with a donkey who I decided would be my trusty steed as K-Ho of Arabia. A bit more modest than Lawrence's camel AND horse, but I'm on a bit of a budget), took some pictures (I was not aware of how silly I looked in my kaffiya and sunglasses, but that's okay. I tend to look silly anyway), and then started hiking back up to the hotel for dinner.
Not long after we finished dinner, a few of us went back down to Petra in order to do Petra by Night, which was incredible. The pathway into the sight and the entire length of the Siq (the long canyon that slowly descends to the city and acted as an entrance) was lit solely by candlelight and moonlight. And we walked in silence (except for the idiots who wouldn't stop talking behind me. But we got away from them soon enough) and then sat in front of the Treasury (also lit by candles) and listened to traditional Bedoiun music and story-telling while drinking tea in silence. Elena and I then sat there for awhile and talked about...life in general and our futures and enjoyed the sight of Petra lit by candles as I'm sure it was thousands of years ago.
On our hike back up we stopped at a little market to get something to drink and some ice cream. The cashier gave us chairs to sit outside while we ate and then he came and talked to us and gave us some free postcards with our names written in Arabic on them (except he thought Elena had said "Erena"). He randomly asked "McCain or Obama?" at one point. He seemed pleased with my "Obama" response. As we continued our trek up to the hotel, we found our friends at one of the bars and we hung out there for a bit.
The next day we headed up to Madaba, which was our base for the next two days. Our rather pushy van driver drove us around for the next few days, which was convienient but also a little annoying. Anway, we drove up to the top of Mount Nebo and looked out upon the promised land as Moses did. It was strange to look out upon the lowest place on earth (the Dead Sea was in view), and out on Israel and Palestine (you could see the River Jordan which defines the border).
After some time up there, we went and hung out in the Dead Sea. It was such a strange experience to be floating so effortlessly. And when they say it will stings and burns, they do not lie. It was the saltiest water I've ever encountered (makes sense). We watched the sun set (and I got a picture of me floating in the Dead Sea at sunset...not too shabby), and then went back to our hotel and hung out for a bit before heading to bed. The next day (our last full day in Jordan), we went to Bethany-Beyond-Jordan, where Jesus was baptised, said a quick hello to Palestine just across the river, and then headed back down to Aqaba by way of the crusader castle Karak (it was pretty sweet).
The next morning we split up into those who wanted to get the earlier bus to Cairo and those who weren't in as much of a rush. I was in the latter group, and we hung out in Eilat in Israel and had a leisurely lunch on the shore of the Red Sea and enjoyed the luxuries of a developed nation (namely, nice bathrooms that have toliets you can flush toliet paper down). We got some news from Trish at the border, though that made our afternoon a little more ridiculous. She was having problems getting into Egypt because she didn't have a visa and they didn't want to let her buy one at the border (which is why we had tried to buy them upon exiting the country earlier in the week). So we decided to try and get my visa before leaving Israel. This involved a lot of running about and then a ridiculous hike up the mountain (with no shade and a full pack) to get to the Egyptian consulate, which was more like a large house. I had to do a little bit of...forceful speaking and a little bit of baksheesh (bribes), but I got my visa. I think they took pity on me because I was literally pouring sweat. I actually left puddles on the ground and on the table and a little bit on my visa application.
After I got my visa, we hightailed it to the border where we got stuck behind a large tour group and barely made our bus back (when I bought the bus tickets, I once again was pouring sweat due to our 1 km hike/jog from the border with a full pack). But we made it on the bus and back to Cairo without much incident.
And that is where I will end this blog post. I will post again soon and bring you up to date, insha'allah, but now I must go watch the poll results come in.
Ma'Sallama!
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