Reflections on Jordan

Jordan is a country that is often overlooked even by many world travelers who gravitate to its more popular neighbors, Egypt and Israel. However, Jordan is one of the world's best hidden treasures. Jordanians are proud of their history, their monarchy, and the country's natural beauty. We would describe this nation as regal. The men often cover their heads with the red-and-white headscarves and wear long white robes which maks even the average man look like royalty. Jordanians welcome travelers into Jordan as if they were guests coming to their home. "Welcome" seems to be the first (and sometimes only) English word. Their hospitality is refined and genuine, and the hustling is kept to a minimum.

As we arrived in the country we were offered a taxi. As we started to negotiate we thought, here we go again. No, no, we were told: these taxis are regulated fixed price. "We're not in Egypt anymore," we said, which provoked a laugh. That was just the start of our appreciation of this civilized country. At the end, just before finishing our journey through Jordan, our guide and new friend Mohammed took us to his sister's home for tea and a visit with his family. He parting words were "I am really sad to see you leave. I have enjoyed your company and know that you are good people." His expressions were so genuine we knew that he really was sad to see us go. He reminded us at the end what we learned since the beginning: "Jordanian people speak from the heart." 

The Lost City of Petra

We set off for Petra from Amman with Matt and Kristy Hall, our 6-month-round-the-world counterparts from New York who we would be travelling with through Jordan and Israel over the next two weeks. We made our way down the Dead Sea Highway, stopping along the road for pictures and short walks in what was quickly becoming incredible scenery. Due to wind erosion, the rocks and cliffs are pitted and moulded in ways that invite pattern-recognition: one sees faces, animals, and other shapes in the sandstone that must have seemed to ancient people to have been made by gods. Perhaps the centuries of carving by the people of the Middle East were attempts at emulation.

We lunched in the small 15-century stone village of Dana, in Crusaider country. Here there were excellent views of the valleys and desert mountains, and the food was authentic and plentiful. Our guide Nidal then drove us to Shobak Castle, a renouned Crusaider stronghold full of crumbling alcoves, secret passages and catacombs, Quranic inscriptions that date from the time of Saladin, and a lot of catapult boulders. We arrived in Wadi Musa at the edge of Petra, and were in luck that the "Petra By Night" excursion took place the night we arrived.

Petra is a city cut directly into the rose-colored cliffs and canyons by the Nabataeans as early as the 6th century. The Nabataeans and their great city's story remains as much of a mystery as their technology, but what was left behind makes Petra one of the most breathtaking sites we've visited on this journey. An entire city carved out of solid rock and sandstone, the city is approached by walking through a long, narrow path called As-Siq, enclosed in a looming, rose-colored gorge.

We first visited Petra at night. Our guide led a group down the gorge by candlelight and we walked with growing anticipation for nearly an hour in silence and shadows, only the footsteps audible and reminiscent of what ancient visitors to the city might have experienced. The channel ended abruptly: the gorge opened up and we found ourselves standing in front of one of the most breathtaking sites we have ever witnessed. Standing before us was Petra's treasury building, the pillared entrance seeming to emerge from the rock, towering over our heads and illuminated by hundreds of candles lit at its base. We were seated, offered a cup of hot, sweet tea - a.k.a. "Bedouin whiskey" - just as the otherworldly sounds from a lone flute began to echo through the hollows. Slowly, a man dressed in traditional white Bedouin clothes emerged from the dark quarters of the building playing an ethereal melody. We were mezmorized.

The performance continued with traditional drums, and finally an old storyteller sat before the audience and told us about the music and its role in Bedouin culture. Afterwards we talked with the storyteller before starting the journey back to the gates, reflecting that this was the kind of travel experience that is all too absent around the world.

We spent the next two days wandering through Petra's ancient streets and imagining what life must have been like when the city was thriving. Even now, it is alive with vendors and camels, grazing goats and horsemen. The cliff dwellings, collonade, ampitheater, and central buildings of Petra inspired and mystified us.

Wadi Rum and the Bedouins

Wadi Rum is a spectacular desert of infinite history, dominated by rugged jebels that jut from the multi-colored sands by day and the clear Milky Way by night. We met our guide, Mohammed, in the morning and were immediately impressed by his confidence and sincerity. We piled into his 4-wheel drive and headed out. On the way to and from our desert camp that evening we stopped and explored rock bridges, hidden maps left by the Bedouins, ancient inscriptions, rock gardens and stone formations, natural and man-made springs, red dunes and more jebels. We had tea beneath a rock bridge, went sand-surfing in the jeep, visited the house where Lawrence of Arabia lived, and saw the site where the movie was shot. At night, we danced Bedouin-style around the fire and drove out again to a sand dune to watch for shooting stars and admire the silhouettes of the dark jebels framed against the desert starscape.

After a sound sleep in our small tent, we headed for Aqaba in the afternoon to cross the boarder into Israel. Aqaba is a busy little city, where we found a CD we liked of Arabic music we had listened to in the jeep. We picked up some dates, figs and nuts and emptied the sand from our shoes. Mohammed was late dropping us off at the border, but it was only because he insisted that we visit his sister's home and have tea before we left. We will remember Jordan as much for our guide Mohammed as we will for the desert he introduced us to.