JordanPetra

ACROSS THE GULF OF AQABA

Nuweiba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan

Take the ferry if you can figure out what time it departs. We arrived a 10 AM thinking that we would be leaving at noon. Thankfully, our Bedouin taxi driver knew where to purchase ferry tickets...at the little window stuck in the side of an apartment building. Scooter was told to hurry to the port and through customs to catch the ferry. So we hurried located the customs hall found several lines with hundreds of people. As foreigners, we were picked out of the crowd, which wasn’t too tough, and guided to the front of the line, showed our passports and led to a bench. We received some instructions in Arabic and just sat on our bench with the other thousand people. Then there was a flurry of activity everyone grabbed their parcels and rushed to the door and jammed onto buses. At the urging of some locals we followed the crowd. The bus ride ended at an over crowded slow ferry. We had purchased more expensive fast ferry tickets, but we were here and the fast ferry did not leave until 3. We chose to keep moving. Because we had the fast ferry tickets we were told we could go to the first class lounge, we passed the 5 hours eating, napping and bugging each other. The whole thing was a lengthy business sailing, disembarking, and customs in Jordan.



Once we had our passports returned and tried to pay our Jordanian visa fee of 15 Jordanian dinars according to our trusty guidebook. Standing in front of the immigration officer was when we were told that it had been increased to 33 JD (50$) each we told him that we did not have enough money! We dug in every nook and cranny of our backpacks, looking for any forgotten currency in pockets and purses, currency from any country that we could take to the exchange office. There was no ATM in sight and we could not leave the port. After unpacking our backpacks in the immigration office much to the delighted but unsympathetic officer we still came up 3 JD short. We asked a fellow traveler who we had met minutes earlier to borrow the money. One hour and one hundred dollars later we were in Jordan. Jordan is another one of those countries that until now I could not have located on a map.

At this point Scooter and I had planned to call it a day and locate a hotel in the coastal resort town of Aqaba since it had been 48 hours that we had a shower and proper sleep. We had just spent the night on top of Mt.Sinai. We had just met the two other foreigners on the boat , a Korean and a Mexican they seemed to be rather inexperienced independent travelers trying to get to the city of Petra tonight, which was still another 2 hours away by taxi. They seemed needy so we thought we could help and get a cheaper taxi ride to Petra. The four of us loaded into a taxi for 30JD for the 2.5 hour ride but first a detour to a dark alley for a gas refueling from someone’s private stash. The temperature had dropped significantly and we were freezing and tired. Our taxi driver grabbed some blankets out of the trunk and we were on our way to Petra. When we got close to town we asked the taxi driver for a hotel recommendation and he dropped us at the budget Valley Stars Inn. Coincidentally, sitting in the lobby huddled around a space heater were the same couple that we had run into twice before on the Hurgada ferry and again in Dahab and now again in Wadi Musa. We were happy to see Mark and Shivana because if they were staying here we knew it would be a reasonably priced decent place to stay. We checked in without even looking at a room. Maybe we should have, it was really cold, lacking a toilet seat and hot water.

It was 10 PM and we were starving. Our over solicitous hotel manager/owner had a full dinner prepared for us. It was one of the best meals we’d eaten in a year. All middle eastern food, 3 courses, really fresh for 3 JD each. We were well taken care of, I think it had something to do with the instant crush the manager had on our single female Mexican travel mate, Patricia.

Jordan is a kingdom ruled by the much loved and respected King Hussein and Queen Noor (American blonde). He is said to be a directly traceable descendant of Mohammad. It is a predominately Muslim country, although many religions mix and mingle, and socially conservative. Conveniently, English is the second language making it easy to converse with the locals.

Currently, were in the town of Wadi Musa, 5 km from our today’s destination, Petra, a formerly lost city. 8th century BC Edomites started this ancient town on the trade route then taken over in the 6th century BC by the Nabateans who carved temples and monuments out of the cliffs. It was home to 20-30,000 people. Now it is still home to a few Bedouin but mostly a world-class tourist destination. You may think you have seen it before, because it was featured as the lost city in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. At some point during breakfast the subject of a guide came up, Patricia, Scooter and I decided we wanted one, even though it would be costly. The 45 JD we spent turned out to be totally worthwhile. Sami Moammar is a super guide, speaking excellent English that he claims he picked up watching too much American TV. He is actually a student of English literature and archeology. He was knowledgeable about Petra, his country, and his religion. Scooter spent the afternoon grilling him on all the above topics.

We purchased a two day pass for 25 Dinars-one day spent with Sami and the other to be hiking around on our own. Sami walked with us all day, the site is really spread out and we only saw a fraction. One of the most spectacular views is right at the start. A 1.5 km walk through a narrow gorge with a magnificently carved mausoleum at the end made out of rose colored sandstone. As the Brits would say ‘brilliant’. The rest of the day took us to the 7,000 seat Roman theater, many huge tombs, and up to the Ad-Deir, the monastery. Then we had to hurry back, so that Sami could get home by sunset for his family’s Ramadan dinner celebration. Scooter and I fasted all day too, just to see what it would be like. It is not as hard as you would think because no one around you is eating or drinking. Enjoyed another awesome dinner back at our hotel.

The next day we left early to try to catch good sun for video but the day was overcast. We climbed to the High Place, visited the museum, and the Byzantine church. By 2:00 we were done and headed back to our hotel, since Pizza Hut was closed--we sure were not going to fast for the whole month of Ramadan. This evening we made plans to travel with Mark and Shivana through Jordan and into Israel. Celebrated Ramadan with a big dinner followed by special sweets. Sami brought over small pancakes filled with cheese or nuts and covered in syrup. Then the hotel brought our more--it was a feast.