Indiana University Joneses: Easter Weekend in Jordan!

So I just need to give up on the whole up-to-date blog thing, and just do my best, in between hanging out and school and an extracurricular or two. I should summarize my weekend in Jordan, though, although the best summary are my pictures posted on Picasa. Also, some of this is a rehash from my previous entry, but please bear with. I was on a roll.

Getting to Jordan was a little complicated. A group went ahead of us, but since AJ was coming from Notre Dame at 10:30 PM, it was too late for the 10:00 bus, so myself, my friend Kyle and AJ left on the 6 AM bus to Taba, Egypt, where we crossed the border into Israel without too much trouble, just interesting questions at the border. . . My friend Ayesha, a Pakistani-American who was a part of the first group was detained for 3 hours, though only interrogated for about 10 minutes of that. I’ll post a link to her blog soon so you can get her side of things. It’s an interesting and enlightening story.

We took a Taxi ride through Israel for all of 20 minutes to the Jordanian border (Born and raised in America, the idea of being able to be in 3 countries in the span of an hour is absolutely beyond my imagination). Our taxi driver gave us an earful of Israeli nationalism, which was an interesting side of things. We paid a 70 shekel ($23) departure tax, and crossed into Aqaba, Jordan, where we took another taxi to our hostel, the glorious “Bedouin Garden Village.” When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that our accommodations were none other than a bamboo hut, without doors, without an actual roof, a light bulb for electricity. See the picture for details. It was roughing it, and that was fun for a while, but when we started waking up to progressively more and more bug bites (we suspect flies), I came to understand why my parents never took me camping. Once again, when you pay $8 a night, you get what you pay for. The bathrooms were also quite sketchy, but alas, it was an experience and ON THE OTHER HAND, through our doorway I could wake up in the morning and see the light hitting the mountains across the Red Sea, so the view and the 5-minute beach access made it worthwhile.

The beach was SWEET. The Red Sea is bright blue and perfectly clear, so if I went out like 50 feet into the water, I could see beautiful coral reefs and fish I’d only seen in aquariums or books I also found a dead blowfish, who I named Hootie, and had a lot of fun chasing the boys with him, since apparently I was more of a 3rd grade boy than they were. There’s nothing like seeing things with your own eyes that you only could imagine as a child, yet it’s right there in front of you, to be experienced and photographed, you could hold it in your hands and avoid the stings of jelly fish and sea urchins. Amazing.

The first full day there we went to Petra, which is an amazing ancient Arab city, full of Greco-Roman architecture but carved into the red rock of this canyon. It’s now one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, so I can add another to my short list of 2. You have to see it to believe it, and if you’ve seen Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade, you HAVE seen it, since that’s where they ride to in order to find the Holy Grail. AJ, Ayesha and I got separated from the larger group, and took a donkey ride up to find the Monastery, which is another feat of architecture (I promised my mountain climbing days were over but I lied, mostly because donkeys are awesome and so surefooted), and sang the theme song all the way up, except when AJ was freaking out. Trust me, I have video. Petra is huge, and it’s hard to imagine what it was like in its prime, at the height of a very unique and sophisticated civilization, but it would have been sweet to see. You MUST go to Petra. Also, check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra. Then we saw another gorgeous sunset.
That evening in Aqaba, I saw the WORLD’S TALLEST FLAGPOLE, bearing the Jordanian flag, of course. Also, I spent the best 1 dinar of my life on an INFLATABLE PENGUIN, which has since been dubbed “Bad Bat the Bedouin Benguin,” based on too many inside jokes to explain. He’s going to be my new best friend, photographed in every country I ever visit. Stay tuned. On a side note, Jordan is very interesting in that every establishment, hostel or restaurant or tourist destination, has pictures of the royal family, especially the Prince and his wife posted. They seem to love the prince. It was a reminder that monarchies are alive and well in the 21st century.

The next day we bummed on the beach in the morning, then went to Wadi Rum, a famous desert in Jordan where Lawrence of Arabia once had his stronghold. We saw the amazing scenery that I couldn’t photograph enough because my camera was dying, but I saw another amazing sunset, had a great time with my friends, saw ancient rock carvings and climbed rocks, which my childhood prepared me well for. Amazing.

The next day was Easter Sunday, and since we needed to get into Israel ASAP in case Ayesha was detained again, there wasn’t time to go to Church. Ayesha was only questioned for like 15 minutes this time, so we went to a shopping mall in Elyat Jordan to pass the time till our bus came, and unfortunately shopping in the Holy Land is about as close as I got to being religious, given the circumstances of traveling and national security and all that jazz. Being in Israel is very strange. I couldn’t speak Arabic anywhere near the border for fear of drawing suspicion, and it’s being back in the first world again, with rather nice bathrooms and a ton of infrastructure, and Europeans everywhere. Having spent 2 months in Egypt, I felt very out of place in the first world, and looked forward to being back in Egypt. It’s definitely starting to feel like a second home.

Then we crossed the border, decided not to take the bus and found a Minibus driver who would take us for 40 pounds each. After much delay (and arguing with him) we headed back from Taba to Cairo, and our driver Hassan was going literally 90-100 mph almost the whole way, when converted from kilometers. It was terrifying and crazy and awesome. I was glad to make it home alive, but exhilarated at the same time. "Travel Young" is my new motto, because I’m experiencing this so much differently than I ever will in 10 years or more.

And then we applied lots of cortisone cream and slept, then woke up for 8 AM class. Life goes on. And Life is good.
New Vocabulary word: Alhamdulillah, Praise be to God

Especially this time, you need to totally check my other pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/CrazyDaisyLady/Jordan. It's the next best thing to being there, and obviously, looking it up on Wikipedia. Also, AJ's awesome and I miss her already. Anyone else bored and have a few hundred bucks lying around, COME VISIT, I promise I'll make it worth your while.

In Peace, Laura