Hello from the Holy Land! I am currently writing this from a rooftop in the old city of Jerusalem, where Jim and I just passed the night at a hostel who makes the best use possible of their roof - covering it with mattresses and blankets in order to sleep under the stars and overlook the entire city at night time. What a great idea! So we woke this morning to a church bells ringing and the sun rising over the Dome of the Rock.
Jim thinks he's so funny pretending to be a sacrifice on the altar. :)
Speaking of helpful, our hostel owner drove us down to Aqaba the next day, which is a resort town right on the Red Sea. It borders the city of Eilat in Israel, and it’s where we were to cross from Jordan into Israel. But due to Shabbat closing down Israel on Saturdays, we opted to stay in Aqaba for the night. That afternoon, we took a bus to a beach, rented snorkel equipment, and went for a swim.
I’ll fill you in about our time in Israel so far, but we are going to Bethlehem, so I’ll have to do that later! More soon!
But I am quite ahead of myself. I haven’t had good/any internet for the last several nights, so please excuse the delay in updating you all on our journey. The last post was written in a drowsy haze upon our arrival in Petra after a rather long day of traveling... sorry about that. I was exhausted and needed to get some sleep for our next big landmark... Petra!
Petra, an ancient hewn-rock city, is probably most famously known for the Treasury that appears in Indiana Jones with the wonderful Harrison Ford.
However, there is a lot more to it than the Treasury, amazing though it is. There is the monastery, a Roman amphitheater, a high place with altars (complete with carved channels for the spilled blood of the sacrifices to flow through), a Byzantine church, several impressive temples, and lots of amazing carved stone facades in the sheer cliff faces that follow the windings of the valley. The color patterns in the sandstone tend to be the normal sandy tan to deep red that you might expect, but sometimes the striations of the stone also reveal bright whites and deep purples and blues. And boy, that Nabatean society really knew how to carve! We probably walked at least ten miles that day, including the long hike up to the monastery and the other hike up to the sacrificial high places. What a truly amazing place. Jim is of the opinion that Petra beats the pants off of anything to be seen in Egypt. I’m not quite sure I can fully agree, as I really loved seeing the fabulous remains of ancient Egypt, but it’s true Petra would certainly give any of them a run for their baksheesh!
Me in front of some of the city's "apartments."
We spent a full day meandering through the wonders of Petra and then returned to our hostel rooftop overlooking the city of Wadi Mousa for a dinner consisting of pita, hummus, falafel, rice, shawarma, and french fries.
We had had the same meal the night before, and shared the meal and the evening with a fellow traveler from Japan, Sho. The meal was so great we had it again after Petra. Actually, all of the food we had in Jordan was great. And if the food was great, the hospitality has been ten times better. I’m sure our experience was thrown into much greater relief by the contrast of our experience in Egypt with our experience in Jordan, but Jim and I are fully convinced that Jordanian hospitality and friendliness are second to none. Let me relate several experiences that led us to believe so. First of all, Jordanians will politely ask you if you want their products and services and when you decline, they respectfully withdraw, while most Egyptians would shove something in your face and yell louder. To be fair, I am sure that there are plenty of wonderful Egyptian people out there, but we had the limited pleasure of meeting only 2 or 3 of them during our stay. Egyptians are very focused on what you can provide for them (in the form of money), but Jordanians are extraordinarily friendly and seek to be helpful for the sake of being helpful. The owner of our hostel graciously provided a more private room for us when he learned that we were married. We met a new friend, Rafat, at the bus station who gave us the direction we needed and then gave up his seat on the bus for us (as there were too many people) and said he’d wait for the next one, even though he had been waiting longer than us! While in Petra, we met several Jordanian men, Khalid and Mahmoud, who were bringing their sons/nephews to Petra. We struck up a nice chat with them and by the end of our conversation, they had invited us to their homes in the north of Jordan to stay with them for a few days. Jim was invited to speak at a youth camp one of them was leading in a few days and one of the men said his wife was pregnant and that he hoped to name his daughter Sarah after me. All of this happened within the space of about 45 minutes. I know it sounds far-fetched, but I don’t believe that they were merely flattering us. If we had had the time to accept their hospitality, I think they actually would have whisked us away to their homes and laid out the proverbial red carpet for us. Such gracious and agreeable fellows! Even after we declined their generous offer due to our own time schedule, they took us in their bus and drove all over Wadi Mousa until they could drop us off at the door of our hostel and bid us a kind farewell, with Jim getting the manly three cheek-kisses from the men. :) Jim and I could not stop saying “I love Jordanians!”
So delicious.
We had had the same meal the night before, and shared the meal and the evening with a fellow traveler from Japan, Sho. The meal was so great we had it again after Petra. Actually, all of the food we had in Jordan was great. And if the food was great, the hospitality has been ten times better. I’m sure our experience was thrown into much greater relief by the contrast of our experience in Egypt with our experience in Jordan, but Jim and I are fully convinced that Jordanian hospitality and friendliness are second to none. Let me relate several experiences that led us to believe so. First of all, Jordanians will politely ask you if you want their products and services and when you decline, they respectfully withdraw, while most Egyptians would shove something in your face and yell louder. To be fair, I am sure that there are plenty of wonderful Egyptian people out there, but we had the limited pleasure of meeting only 2 or 3 of them during our stay. Egyptians are very focused on what you can provide for them (in the form of money), but Jordanians are extraordinarily friendly and seek to be helpful for the sake of being helpful. The owner of our hostel graciously provided a more private room for us when he learned that we were married. We met a new friend, Rafat, at the bus station who gave us the direction we needed and then gave up his seat on the bus for us (as there were too many people) and said he’d wait for the next one, even though he had been waiting longer than us! While in Petra, we met several Jordanian men, Khalid and Mahmoud, who were bringing their sons/nephews to Petra. We struck up a nice chat with them and by the end of our conversation, they had invited us to their homes in the north of Jordan to stay with them for a few days. Jim was invited to speak at a youth camp one of them was leading in a few days and one of the men said his wife was pregnant and that he hoped to name his daughter Sarah after me. All of this happened within the space of about 45 minutes. I know it sounds far-fetched, but I don’t believe that they were merely flattering us. If we had had the time to accept their hospitality, I think they actually would have whisked us away to their homes and laid out the proverbial red carpet for us. Such gracious and agreeable fellows! Even after we declined their generous offer due to our own time schedule, they took us in their bus and drove all over Wadi Mousa until they could drop us off at the door of our hostel and bid us a kind farewell, with Jim getting the manly three cheek-kisses from the men. :) Jim and I could not stop saying “I love Jordanians!”
Speaking of helpful, our hostel owner drove us down to Aqaba the next day, which is a resort town right on the Red Sea. It borders the city of Eilat in Israel, and it’s where we were to cross from Jordan into Israel. But due to Shabbat closing down Israel on Saturdays, we opted to stay in Aqaba for the night. That afternoon, we took a bus to a beach, rented snorkel equipment, and went for a swim.
It’s really very pretty there and the richness of the underwater life belies the almost lifeless rocky desert just above it. I did have some difficulty, as the water was full of purple jellyfish. They are kind of pretty creatures and their movement can be rather mesmerizing, but I have had a jellyfish-phobia since I had a nasty run-in with some long stinging tentacles a few years ago. So, my attention was a bit distracted from the beautiful corals and vibrant fish as I steered my course for the least nematocystic path. It was still a really neat experience, and we saw both a shipwreck and some really neat sea creatures (including two moray eels and some hefty sea cucumbers).
We were very sad to leave Jordan!!
I’ll fill you in about our time in Israel so far, but we are going to Bethlehem, so I’ll have to do that later! More soon!
I can't believe you'll have a little Jordanian prodigy in a few months! You must have really made an impression. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you guys are having a good time! And I'm glad everyone's taking such good care of you over there. You need to get back safe!