Still Trying To Love Jordan

I’m gonna be real honest – I don’t love Jordan.  Granted, it’s only been four days, but I’m pretty apathetic on the place as a whole at this point.  Believe me, this is a very frustrating feeling.  99% of the time I’m an optimist…a person who loves to dig into new surroundings, local culture, food, people etc.

Petra itself is quite a site and worthy of a visit.  However, that visit should be done in one - two days max.  Lots of people will tell you – “ah, you must stay three days…”  Alex and I have been in Petra for three days, and I assure you that three days of pretty constant hiking (with one 4 hour nap thrown in) is just too much.  I realize I sound like a real Nancy here, but the constant “Allo, you want to ride my horse.  Special price for you.  It’s included with your ticket.  Oh come and see, only 1 JD for look.”  This sort of thing – got old after about one hour. 

It makes me so sad that magical places like Petra have to be spoiled by the gypsies who’ve set up shop inside just to make a buck off the mostly European and Arabic tourists who seem to come here.  When you’re pinching your pennies for an extended trip, the last thing you want is to feel taken advantage of by the local people – and this seems to happen rather frequently in Jordan. 

This could possibly just be a bad mood or the fact that I can’t seem to get the desert grit out of my hair.  Alternatively, it could be that I’m cranky because hot water is only available about 4 hours per day in this country – 4 hours that I’m usually not around or asleep.  Maybe it’s that I miss makeup and my Chi. Whatever it is, I doubt it’s something that a nice long shower and some dinner can’t cure. 

Because we’re taking such a long trip, Alex and I set up three work in exchange for food/accommodation set ups through this site (one of my favorite travel sites ever), the first of which is in the Wadi Rum Desert with Bedouin Directions.  My fingers are triple crossed that this won’t end up being the worst decision ever.  Good news – I think it’s actually going to be amazing.  I mean, how can it not be if we’re sleeping under the stars and smoking shisha by night and riding camels and 4x4 jeeps through the desert by day? 

 

                              Asian Tourists! (Sevan, this is for you)

I have no clue how internet will pan out over the next three weeks, but my best guess is that we’ll have access to it once a week.  Think good thoughts for us and pray the desert scorpions away!  

Petra By Night

Why oh why don't I have a low light lens?  The Treasury at night all lit up by candles (candles that lit their paper bags on fire every time the wind would stir up).  Things got fiery during story time!

Getting Ancient in Petra

After a seven hour hike in Petra, we were absolutely wiped out!  We went back again on the same day for Petra by night, but I think you can skip that if you head over to Petra yourself.

Petra is absolutely enormous, as is the entry fee to get inside.  You're lookin at 60 JD (=84.73 USD) and then a few JD for the bottles of water you'll need since you can't drink the water in Jordan (and a snickers and pringles, don't judge).  You're accosted pretty much constantly by the gypsies living inside (turns out these aren't really Bedouins but immigrants from surrounding areas - creating a fair bit of friction between the real Bedouins and those who pretend to be inside).  Words like "disgrace" and "dangerous" were thrown around in regards to those inside in case you were interested in a bit of Jordanian gossip.  You'll be asked to ride a horse, a donkey, or even a camel if you wish, but just go ahead and say no to all of that.  The animals are hugely mistreated and probably live pretty short lives unfortunately, so just don't support it if you come.

That being said, the walks are very doable (but quite strenuous if you go up to The Monastery - 800 steps) - but it's worth it.  Make sure to take plenty of sun naps around noon and watch out for all the goods that folks try to sell you.  It's all straight up manufactured in India and hawked for more than it's worth...but that's pretty much true of any site you visit.

Exploring Petra is absolutely astounding.  Alex and I were mostly alone throughout the day and were free to explore anything and everything we wanted to.  You feel like Indiana Jones as you walk in and out of caves, tombs, monasteries, and spaces for animal sacrifice, all of which make Petra a perfect place to marvel/feel like a kid again with your own amazing world to explore.

Check out some of my snaps from the last view days (and please don't make fun of my incredibly nerdy teal SPF shirt) and then remind yourself that these do absolutely no justice to what the place actually looks like.  Headed in for day two of hiking now, so stay tuned for some more photos!!

First Impressions of Jordan

Alex is full of thoughts again today, so I'm givin him some air time again!  

5 hours in Jordan, and the jury, unsurprisingly, is still out for me.  First half hour was not the most pleasant.  After purchasing two visas for 40JD and collecting our packs from baggage claim, we exited customs to find that the taxi we had arranged with the hotel in Petra was nowhere to be found.  I asked the unfriendly man at “customer service” if I could use the phone and was pointed across the way to the tiny convenience store inside the terminal.  “You buy card to use phone” – excellent English; not sure he gets the idea of customer service.  I bought the 2JD calling card for 3JD, which is the beauty of a structural monopoly – if you are the only game in town, you can blatantly gouge the foreigners.  Long story short, our driver arrived shortly thereafter and things went uphill from there.

Our driver turned out to be Houssein, the exceedingly pleasant friendly brother of the man who runs the hotel.  For the first 45 minutes of our 2.5 hour drive he took it upon himself to teach us a bit of Arabic.  Then he turned on the tunes: mostly what sounded like American hip-hop remixed with an Arabic flare.  The best moment of the ride was when he pulled off on the side of the road at one of the hundreds of little ramshackle shops that dot the side of the Desert Highway.  He returned with a lit cigarette in his mouth and three little plastic cups of steaming hot tea with bits of sage floating in them.  Houssein finished his smoke and we drove off at 120 km/hr with the Yin-Yang Twins blaring.

At this point it was 9:00 at night, and Casey and I were both hungry and tired.  We declined his offers of dinner, but asked him to stop somewhere we might pick up some fruit to snack on instead.  He stopped at a little vegetable shop, where I selected some apples, oranges, and a pomegranite.  I placed the pomegranite on the scale, and about 15 seconds of Arabic was exchanged to my right.  I looked at Houssein for an explanation: “He says it is free, and welcome to Jordan!”  “Shukran!!  I have to learn a more complete way to say “thank you”.

So, why is the jury still out?  Jordan looks really rough, at least from the window of a cab on the highway.  It feels like a place that has first world infrastructure built over a third world country.  The highway is excellent, the filling stations look immaculate, and the police are everywhere.  Yet the houses and shops on the side of the road look almost bombed out.  Time for me to read a bit more 20^th century history and find out why things feel the way they do.