globalmidtown

lovely jordan

it is the al isra wal meraj  holiday in the muslim world. al isra wal meraj honors the miracle of when the prophet mohammed (pbuh) descended into the 7 heavens –  at this time God spoke to him and revealed the practice of praying 5 times per day. for me, this translates into a long weekend! abu dhabi is so central a 3 or 4 day weekend means you can go somewhere! a friend and i decide that we should take the time to see the nearby country of jordan. we leave school early on wednesday and head straight to the airport in the city. on our flight from abu dhabi to amman  we sit with a jordanian man who is currently living in the uae. he is very friendly and helpful, sharing many insights to jordan and ‘must sees’ with us.  he eventually gets a bit overly eager,  telling my friend that he is available and looking for a lady friend … “i can be your sister or your friend, maybe even your mama,  but not your lover” is her response. it is at this point that i realize i have chosen a good travel companion!

the red sea

“hubbly bubbly” (shisha) cafe

it’s just after sunset when we land in aqaba and make our way to the hotel where we are upgraded to  a sea-view suit. the view from our room is a stunning vista of the deep blue waters of the red sea. we drop our bags and hit the streets wandering the city of aqaba, stopping for shisha at a lovely outside cafe. the night is warm with a gentle breeze and the soft lights of the city streets illuminate our first views of life in jordan.  aqaba is a  beautiful city, with palm lined avenues that follow the coast of the red sea, there are street markets and little stands selling handmade art work. coffee and shisha cafes line the streets, lit by lanterns strung overhead and white lights wrapped in the palm trees.  a man walks his beautifully dressed camel through the middle of the street hoping to sell a ride.  the jordanian people are beautiful and friendly, and the culture appears to be a mix of traditional arabia and modern western. there are men in long kandouras and women in abayas and head-coverings sitting with ladies dressed in shorts and tank tops. there is music everywhere, which is also an interesting mixture of the traditional arabic music of string instruments and high-pitched singing and the modern pop music of the west.

downtown aqaba

in the morning, after a quick tour of aqaba by daylight, we catch the hot, crowed, and very lively city bus to petra. the town of Wadi Musa just outside of the ancient city is built into a rocky hillside  with winding switchback streets. There are people on horses riding up the hillsides while the aroma of cardamon laden arabic coffee wafts through the air and artisans peddle their goods from stands on the narrow, winding street. after checking into a quaint hotel, we spend the afternoon exploring the town. lunch is at a local pizza cafe where we are treated to pizza with the twist of arabic spices, a very interesting new flavor for me!

just after sunset we make our way to the gates of the ancient city of petra where we are greeted by droves  of tourists and dozens of tour guides offering their services. the gate is busy and i am a bit concerned about the crowd. the walk down to the city is on a dirt, rocky path lined with candles in brown paper bags to light the way.  i feel along carefully with my feet and try to stay close to my friend in the darkness.  the long, winding walk  through the siq opens up to the narrow canyon that is the entrance of petra and the view of the looming treasury illuminated by hundreds of brown bag  candles on the ground in front. we are guided to straw mats lining the ground in front of the towering grecian temple. here we sit and are served tea while we listen as a bedouin plays  the qanun (a traditional arabic string instrument), followed by a beautiful flute serenade. the evening is peaceful and serene, interrupted only by the occasional cry of a child or flash of a camera.

petra by night

the next morning we find ourselves at the gates of petra before the sun is high in the sky where we pay our surprisingly high entrance fee.  our guide shows us to a stone wall, where we climb up to mount our horses with trepidation. my horse is a beautiful, shiny brown arabian named rambo and i remind our guide that i am less than comfortable on this large, willful animal as i ask “why is he named rambo?” the horse carefully picks his way down the siq to the canyon of petra where our senses are  flooded with the sights of camels, carriages,  grecian facades carved into the rose colored rocky outcroppings,  blooming oleanders, horses and donkeys kicking up dust trails, hordes of little bedouin children selling tourist trinkets and donkey tours to the monastery,  and swarms of tourists. the sight is   overwhelming, exciting, and exotically beautiful.  we spend the day trekking through petra, climbing the huge rock faces, meandering dusty trails, investigating caves, talking with local bedouins, and taking silly pictures. the local bedouins of petra look dramatically different than the city dwellers of other areas of jordan, with their shiny black eyes hooded by long, thick lashes, wavy locks of thick, dark hair and deeply sun-tanned skin. as we explore this beautiful ancient city, we spend time talking to the local bedouins to discover that approximately 25 families still reside in the caves of the rock city, while most of the community has relocated to the bedouin village just outside of petra. we meet raami, a bedouin who speaks impeccable english with a new zealand accent. raami sells us the book, married to a bedouin, written by his mother. we spend a fair time chatting with raami learning about the local culture and his experiences growing up in the caves of petra with a bedouin father and a western mother. finally, when we have reached our limit of mid-day heat, our brains are saturated with historical information, and our feet and calves are trembling with fatigue, we begin the search for a carriage to take us back up the siq to return to the town of wadi musa. at the entrance to town we find the cave bar – literally a bar carved into the side of a cave – and delicious cold beer.  with fully bellies and fuzzy heads, we decide to hop in a car and head down to the dead sea for the night – the bartender has a brother who will take us!

thrirty minutes later, kahlid picks us up at our hotel and we head out on the king’s highway towards the dead sea. kahlid shows us the sights along the way – the palace of the crusaders – a 2,300 year old building of white stone on a hill-top near the shobouk village – a village of rock homes deserted over 100 years ago, the danah reserve that  sits above the danah valley where we look back over the 100+ kilometers towards petra from the cold, windy bluff. khalid tells us the current woes of his country with a deep sadness in his voice – jordan has the lowest water table per capita in the world and is now being inundated with refugees from syria, palestine, and other surrounding arab countries. unemployment is high and the cost of living in jordan is relatively expensive.  the country tries to find new ways to create jobs and make money through mining for “potash” from the dead sea. potash is a white chalky, potassium-rich substance that comes from salt and is used for electric and batteries. this practice is quickly draining the dead sea, as over 20 meters has been lost over the past decades. when we reach the bluffs of the dead sea, i can see the losses that khalid speaks of as the water marks on the bluffs are much higher than where the salty waves crash into the rocks.

the danah reserve

the dead sea

we check into our hotel and set up a time to meet with kahlid the following day. we spend the evening watching the sunset over the dead sea, smoking shisha, and enjoying good food and beer on the beach.  the next morning we are up early, covering our bodies with mud from the depths of the sea. the mineral properties of dead sea mud are said to work wonders on dry or irritated skin. i bake the mud into my skin sitting in the hot sun. when i am a walking mud pie, i wade out deep into the waters of the dead sea. here i quickly discover that i have very little control over my body. the salt content of the sea is so high that no creatures, not even the smallest ameba, can live here. this high salinity  makes this water extremely buoyant, i think this must be what it is like to be in zero gravity as my legs pop out from under me and i am floating with almost no control. i am completely unable to push my feet back down to the bottom and i bob around like a cork in the water. i could stay in this water all day if the salt content didn’t cause my skin to burn intensely.  i spend the day alternating between bobbing in the salty sea and showering to swim laps in the hotel pool.

mud from the dead sea

that night we return to aqaba where we spend the evening meandering through street markets and perusing outdoor cafes. we meet a spice shop keeper who greets us with tea and gives us a full lesson the many different arabic spices used for cooking, medicinal purposes,  teas, and coffee. the shop is an incredibly aromatic place, full of rich colors – a true sensory overload.

it is our last day in jordan and i don’t want to go to sleep… i want to soak every bit of this lovely arab, muslim country in. this country is so unbelievably different from the gulf nation in which i live. the weather is crisp and sunny with cool breezes and chilly nights. the sand is white and riddled with scrubby plants and small trees. there are flowers along the roadsides and prairie-like grass fields in the mountains. i am awed by the different version of islam that i am witnessing, the amazing physical beauty of jordan – with its rocky outcroppings that remind me of the american southwest,  and the genuine and open friendliness of the jordanian people.

sunrise over aqaba