Welcome to Jordan, You are Welcome

I'm sorry to condense the past week of travel in Jordan into one blog entry--internet access was a bit difficult--and I won't be able to do justice to the place. We started off in Amman, a busy city that seems designed for hot summers. Most people were glued to their televisions watching what was going on in Egypt. Those in the hospitality industry assured us, "Jordan is safe. We love our king. He already made the changes in the government we needed. He is like our God." But people were obviously inspired, empathetic, and on edge. Travelers at our hotel gathered around BBC in the evenings to see what was going on. BBC in Jordan has weird commercials.

Amman was one of those places where it is hard to warm up in the winter until they start feeding you massive amounts of rice and meat. This picture on the left shows a dish called mensaf. I like most desserts but loved the sweets, variations on baklava, some with shredded wheat, some with cheese, another that was sort of cornmeal dumplings soaked in honey. As far as we could tell, they didn't have different names for the different sweets, and thought we were strange for asking.

We spent a great day visiting Roman ruins in Jerash and Umm Qais, and the Ajlun Castle Islamic ruins in NW Jordan. Those arches really hold up.

Hadrian's Arch at Jerash

Next stop was Wadi Musa and Petra. I expected Petra to be cool but figured it was a big tourist trap and the crowds and cheese factor might take away from the experience. But it turned out to be an easy place to get lost and escape from donkey and camel rides and kiddos wanting to sell ugly jewelry. Petra was more than cool, often I could barely believe what I was seeing. The natural geological phenomena alone were incredible, and the Nabataean sandstone monuments seemed to be growing right out of the rocks. As with Angkor Wat, millions of years of archaeology grad school did not give me much of an enlightened perspective on this site, but I was grateful to have had the chance to experience Petra.

The Monastery at Petra

From Wadi Musa we traveled to Wadi Rum (Valley of the Moon) and had a 4 x 4 tour of the desert there. Wadi Rum is a protected area and you need a guide to take a camel ride, 4 x 4 tour, or backpacking trip there. Some similarities to the North American Great Basin--juniper trees, something that looked like rabbitbrush, and the Bedouin make sage tea though I didn't notice any growing there. Sandstone and granite rock formations--in some places, the sandstone looks like it is being melted by the wind.

We're on a natural bridge, not looking down.

Melty rock.

The last place we visited in Jordan was Aqaba--an easygoing seaside town where you can drink coffee, eat fish, and watch families enjoying their vacations. Our hotel room had a view out over the Red Sea to Eilat, Israel.

Matt here - If you are only going to learn one bit of English, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a better piece of language to master than "Welcome to Jordan, you are welcome!" Ok, maybe "Welcome to Jordan, where there is as much free beer as you want!" but you get the picture.