Jordan

Well hello there. It's so good to see you guys again. If you are here from reading my previous entry on Israel, then this is what you guys have been waiting for. If you are new here, welcome, come on in, get cozy and let me take you through a virtual trek though Jordan. While traveling in Israel I crossed over to Jordan and explored the cities of Jerash, Petra, Wadi Rum.

I would like to start off by saying that Petra has always been at the very top of my bucket list since day one, so naturally, when I decided to go to Israel, I knew that I would be going to Petra. I had no idea what I was in store for, but I knew that that greatness would ensue. Months before the time came, I would literally pray that nothing happened to me until I got to Petra. These prayers would sound a little something like, "Dear God, please don't let me die or hurt myself before I see Petra in November. Let me die in Petra if it's in your will that I die, but not a moment before." That my friends, is how you know that you have a serious heart and passion for exploring the world. Only now do I realize that me praying like that just sounds absolutely ridiculous. God was probably looking down on me shaking his head and sighing thinking where did he go wrong with this one. 

I decided to book a three days and two night tour to Jordan through  Abraham Tours. Like I mentioned before in my Israel post, I highly recommend all of your tour needs though Abraham Tours. They are phenomenal and not like other tour companies that spend tons of time talking and talking and not giving you the freedom to explore off on your own. They are also very affordable and offer a huge variety of things to do. Their guides are the best. With that being said, this is not a paid promotion of any kind. They are just very good!

Moving right along. I arrive at Abraham Hostel in Tel Aviv early in the morning and check in for the trip. The driver and tour guide comes and gathers everyone to board the bus for a short ride to the Israeli/Jordanian boarder. As we get to the boarder, we gather our belongings and get off of the bus that we were just on and wait for another tour guide to come and take us through passport/immigration control. Our new tour guides name is Amina. She is a local Jordanian woman who will be escorting us though out our time in Jordan. 

Immigration Control going into Jordan.

Everyone, meet Mia from Canada with the green and black scarf, Thomas from Prague in the black, and Giuseppe from Italy with the back pack on. These guys are now life long friends of mine. Meeting these guys made the trip so much better.

Once we get through immigration control and exchange currencies, we board another bus and begin making our way to the ancient city of Jerash. This city sits just north of Amman and is known for having some the best preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy. As we enter the city and come upon the ruins, I am immediatley taken back to another time in history. Everything has been preserved beautifully. Nothing like any ruins that I have seen before. I imagine what it must have felt like to live back in the time when this city was thriving and day to life was happening. I start to drift into my own little world. I find myself peeling away from the tour group and lingering around certain spots just a little longer, making small exchanges with one of the locals, even if it is just a smile.

 A local Jordanian man with his daughters and horse. 

Ruins in pristine conditions.

Roman Ruins of Jerash, Jordan 

Standing on the steps of the colosseum in Jerash.

After exploring the ruins of Jerash, we head out and begin our long drive through the dessert highway and onward to the Seven Wonders Bedouin Camp where we'll be staying for the night. The drive is long. Our bus driver is escorted by a Jordanian police officer that rides along with us the entire time. At the time, I thought he was only with us as we made the journey through the dessert highway. No, he was here to stay. And something that I noticed towards the end of the trip was that there was no clip in his service weapon. No ammo? What tha? Sir, how do you plan on securing us if something happens to us with no ammo. I guess I am lucky that I didn't get to see how that would go down this time. And just to clarify, the dessert highway is just a very very long stretch of highway the goes though the Jordanian dessert. There isn't much to see other than dessert scenery, wild camels here and there, and scarcely scattered palm trees. 

Jordanian dessert scenery from our bus ride through the dessert highway.

Wild camels. Much different than the ones you will see dressed with colorful fabrics and tourist sitting on top of them.

Since we are a little ahead of schedule for our arrival time to the camp, our tour guide decides to surprise us and takes us to a local olive press where olive farmers press their olive crop and turn it into olive oil. Olives are such an important part of life for many of the Jordanian people. Its their livelihood. Farmers harvest the olives year around and they make their money buy turning it into olive oil. Once the olives are turned into oil, the people from all over the Jordanian region come to buy the oil. Olive oil is not sold as it is here in the states. Its sold in bulk in huge containers. People use it not only to cook with, but for medicinal purposes, cosmetic purposes, to light lanterns, tons of things. Olive oil is a huge part of Jordanian life. And I must say, the olive tree is very abundant in Jordan. This was such an amazing thing to experience with the locals. We were the only non Jordanian people there. This is exactly what I live for when traveling, true authentic, off the beaten path experiences.

A man carrying two large containers of olive oil fresh from the presses.

People come with their harvested olives and stack them in a line and wait for their turn to use the press. It is an all day process. In one cluster, that belongs to one person. They will then press all of those olives into oil. That will be theirs to keep or sell, or both. 

Fresh olives on the pressing machine. Ready to to be made into olive oil. Pure and unadulterated.

Locals waiting on the other side for their olive oil. 

By the time we arrive to the Bedouin Camp it is late. The sun has gone down and the temperature has dropped significantly. Luckily for us, the camp was set up beautifully with an dining tent and a bedouin style fire to keep you warm. We get our briefing about the camp and the facilities and our guide explains the logistics of how tomorrow is going to go, because, ya know, tomorrow is the big day. The day we go to Petra. 

Guys, how beautiful is this bedouin camp set up in the middle of the Jordanian dessert. 

One of our host preparing tea over the camp fire to keep us wam until dinner is ready.

It isn't long before we head into the dining tent and eat a traditional bedouin feast. They have prepared, chicken cooked over rice, fresh hummus, yogurt sauce, hot pita bread, a salad mixed with tomato, cucumber, parsley, onion, and feta cheese. A true gastronomical treat for the senses. As I sit back and take it all in, I can't believe this is my life. 

Tomorrow is an early day so I head to my tent to gather my things for a shower. While this is indeed a bedouin camp, they do have hot shower facilities and restrooms, which may I add, were of outstanding quality. Way better than any field shower that I had while in the army or Iraq. This was familiar to me. I was familiar with sleeping in tents in the dessert and showering in trailers, but this, this was a different experience. I felt so at ease. My soul was at peace. Something was happening to me. I was in my element.

I finally get myself situated inside my tent for the night. There was an option to share a tent or stay in one alone. I opted for the tent alone. Lucky for me, my friend Mia was right next to me in the tent over. All I had to do was yell her name and she would be right there. Pretty comforting to know. I anticipated on being anxious and scared that night, but I was pretty okay. I had my flashlight for when they cut the generator off, and the rest, I just put it into Gods hands. They cut the generator at 11:00 p.m. and by that time I was just getting ready to fall asleep. I slept like the dead. I hadn't slept that well since I was a child. Something about being under the dessert sky. Once they cut the generator off there is no noise pollution, no light pollution, nothing. Just the sweet lull of the dessert wind helping drift me into an even deeper sleep. 

The path to our sleeping tents.

My personal tent. #25

Inside of my sleeping tent. It was rather cold so I used all of the blankets on the spare bed and kept nice and toasty. 

Have I mentioned how well I slept. Ughhh, my soul craves to sleep like that agin. 

I ended up waking up somewhere just at the crack of dawn because my bladder had decided that enough was enough. I peel myself from under the several layers of warm blankets and feel around until I find my flash light. I cut the flash light on and find my shoes and get ready to make a mad dash to the bathroom. I open my door to my tent and step outside and look up. The first thing I notice and hear is the Azaan, the Muslim call to prayer. It was loud enough to hear off in the distance, but faint enough not to be heard through the tents. The sound was beautiful as it bounced down the dessert mountainside behind me and into my ears. I look up and it's almost like I am dreaming still. I can see a million stars and a sliver of the moon. I was breathless. Have you ever seen the stars under the blacked out dessert sky where there's no light for hundreds of miles away. I die. I stand there completely ignoring the fact that in any minute, my bladder will explode all over the place and I will be standing in a river of my own urine. I had butterflies in my stomach. I wanted time to stand still for as long as possible. I didn't want that moment to end. I looked up and thought, God, I know you're right here with me right now. Look at all of your majesty. May I never forget this moment as long as I live. I brake free from the trance that I am in by looking up at the bright moon and stars and run quickly to the bathroom and then back to my tent. I lay back down until my alarm goes off, which is only like 45 minutes. 

A view of the dessert sky while the sun is trying to crawl to the horizon of Earth and the moon still hanging out.

The day has arrived. This is the day where I go to Petra. This is the day that I can't believe is about to happen. I get ready and head to the breakfast tent to eat a good breakfast before heading out. There is an array of delicious foods spread out for breakfast. Hard boiled eggs, bread, jams, honey, yogurt, fruits, you name it. It' all there. I eat and drink and use the restroom. Before you know it, we were boarding the bus and heading to Petra.

Early morning at the camp.

Seven Wonders Bedouin Camp

This is where the Bedouin people sleep. They have tents to sleep in as well, but they prefer to be outside most time if the weather isn't harsh. 

Inside of the Bedouin breakfast tent. 

Everyone, meet Abdalah. He is one of the local Bedouins that helps out at the camp. He can also be found in Petra helping tourist navigate their way through the ancient city.

It takes us only 20 minutes or so to arrive at Petra. Our tour guide gathers us like little sheep in her flock and we're off, beginning our trek down inside the ancient Nabatean city of Petra.

Going into the entrance of Petra. I can't believe that I am actually doing this (squeee)

A few thing that you should know before hand. Wear comfortable shoes. Petra is massive and cannot be concurred all in one day. The hikes and paths to get to some of the main sites are killer. You need to be able to walk a pretty good distance. It doesn't seem like you're walking a lot at first when you're starting out, but its the return that will break you off. At the end you will be dead dog tired. And lastly, DRINK WATER! Bring water with you and buy it there. They have places to use the restroom and places to buy snacks, food, and water. And one last very important thing. Do not ride the animals. They have donkeys, camels, and horses. They do not take care of the animals and they are in poor condition. Please be a responsible tourist and don't support this. They will harass you every so often to ride. Just say no and walk. There will also be little Bedouin children asking you to buy things. They are very persistent, our tour guide suggest you buy one thing and walk away, if not, you will end up buying everything and a lot of it is not authentic. Okay, now that we have had that talk. With out further ado, I present to you ladies and gentlemen, Petra. 

Making our way down to the main part of the city that leads to the Treasury.

These caves that have been carved out were actual places of residence back in ancient times. Some even burial sites.

The Siq. 

A local Bedouin and his daughter. When ever I see children in other countries I can't help but wonder what their every day life is like. As a little bedouin girl, it is likely that this way of life will be all she ever knows. If only I can see life through her little eyes.

I can hardly take the suspicion of what lies beyond. 

The only way to get to the treasury is through the this narrow canyon called the Al Siq. I held my breath for so long standing there at the first glimpse of this beautiful ancient site. I am still in awe to this day when I think about it. I was actually there standing on that ground, the same ground as whats in this picture. A dream come true.

Is this even real right now. There are a lot of other tourist around but my senses block them out. It's as if I am there alone, making this discovery all on my own for the first time. 

The best day of my life thus far....well, thats a hard call, but it's definitely high up there on my list. A girl like me, never in a gajillion years would I ever think that I would get to explore a place as magical as Petra. Thank you God! I am forever grateful for this experience.

Guys, the pictures are good, but I promise that the pictures don't do it any justice. My words trying to describe it don't do this place any justice. Petra is magical, an absolute must experience for any serious traveler. Do not die before coming to Petra. Okay, I am getting carried away, but you get what I am saying.

Petra is a UNSCO world heritage site. It is considered one of the newest Seven Wonders of the World. If this looks familiar to you, you may have seen this site on the film Indiana Jones, 'The last Crusade'. The movie was filmed here in Petra. The city of Petra is all carved out of sandstone. It is said that Petra will not be here forever due to the gradual deterioration and fading of the sandstone.

Moving right along. Once you get to this point their is a space to use the restroom, get a snack or drink, and move right along to the next path/hike that will lead you up to the Monastery. Some people usually decide right at this point if they want to hang around here or go up further. The hike up to the Monastery can be tough on a really warm day. It is all up hill with slippery footing form the smooth sandstone and and loads of steep steps. Not an easy task at all, but worth it for sure. I got about half way up and thinking; what have you gotten yourself into Kellee. I pushed through one step at a time, stopping several times along the way to breathe. I thought I was going to have a legit heart attack. I would see people coming back down from being at the top and they would look at me say, "you're almost there, its just a few more steps up."

These are people who persistently ask you to ride the donkeys all the way up to the Monastery. Just say NO! The animals are not taken care of and can not bear the load of a human going up the step path. 

Trecking along to the path to start the hike up to the Monastery. 

Yeah buddy. Getting pretty high up there. 

I discover a lone donkey off on the path up. 

Finally, I make it up to the top and I am out of breath and just shy of collapsing onto the hot dessert ground, but then I took one look at the Monastery and I quickly forgot that I was dying and out of breath.  

The Monestary

I can't believe that I actually made it up there. That, no doubt, was hard work. But, its not even the tip top. You can keep trecking further up to discover even more of the ancient city. I decided that this was my stop point. I would rest here, use the restroom, hydrate, eat a snack, and prepare for the treck back down. At this point we were about 5 miles in from the city gates. We'd have to make the trek back to the gates in time to get on the bus. 

A resting place atop where the Monastery is.

My friend Mia captured this image of a little bedouin girl. We had seen her all over Petra at every stop we made. How she scales those steep sandstone cliffs and hills so quickly with out skipping a beat is beyond me, but this is home for her, she is on familiar land.

Photo credit for this image goes to Mia Dungo.

More views of the city on the way back down headed towards the Treasury and out of the gates.

Passing by the treasury on the way out, I snap a candid photo of the guard that is standing by one of the shops. I wonder where his mind is in this photo. What was he thinking with his arms crossed, foot semi cooked, and a hazy daze on his face. 

The hike back down was no easy feat either. Going down some of the narrow slick sandstone steps were super scary. If you didn't step just right and balance, you'd hurt yourself for sure. By the time we reached the bottom we still had a ways to go. We had to pass the Treasury again and then go through the uphill path through the gates. Yes, uphill again. You don't realize that when you're entering, you're actually going downhill. I thought I would legit pass out before I reached the gates to exit. All you see on the final stretch is tourist stoped over on the sides catching their breath and willing themselves to just take one more step. One foot in front of the other. My head pounding, muscles literally shaking from fatigue, and out of breath. I was spent. But ask me if I would do it all over again. ABSOLUTELY! Petra is a once in a lifetime experience guys. If you ever decide to make the trip. Push yourself. Get ready ahead of time so that you can cover as much ground as possible. It is so totally worth it. I walked for months before coming on this trip and I still got broken off. You will be tired, but you will have epic memories of a lifetime. And besides, how many people can say that they've been to Petra.

One by one our group starts to find their way back to the bus and we return to the Bedouin Camp for the night. I eat, shower, and sleep. I was exhausted. Nothing and no one could keep me from sleeping that night. The next morning, we wake up, get dressed, eat, and head out for the final day of our time in Jordan. This final day, we spend it in the Wadi Rum Dessert. The Wadi Rum dessert is like something that I have never seen before. It gives the feeling of being on Mars somewhere. Am I still here on Earth. This is amazing. This world never ceases to amaze me. Like I said, some things you have to see up close and personal. You have to experience it with all of your senses. We load up on the back of small 4x4 pick up trucks in groups of five and set out to explore the Wadi Rum dessert.

Annaline, Mia, Giuseppe, me, and Thomas ( not pictured)

Have you ever in seen anything like it in your entire life.

A herd of camels with their owners taking a break in the cool shade.

As we finish up with our tour of the Wadi Rum Dessert, we set off to have one last lunch, bedouin style, and we start our long journey back to the Jordanian/Israeli border. And that, my friends, is my epic Jordanian experience. I felt most welcome and safe the entire time in Jordan no matter where we were. Please don't let the media scare you into never leaving your own back yard people. The key to safety anytime when traveling is to have situational awareness, follow your gut, be smart, do your research, and most importantly, go with God. I hope you guys thoroughly enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you. My heart will forever be under the Jordanian sky. It has not been one day since returning home that I do not think about Jordan, the people, the dessert, and Petra.