In December, the boys had four full weeks off of school. In addition, Steve had four days of holiday - the Eid al-Adha , which combined with six vacation days could be taken as two weeks off. In addition, Steve parents were here from Nov. 30th until Jan. 10th. What better time to take a family vacation?
We chose to go to Jordan first and then Egypt (if you are wondering why, go back and read #6 in Nine Things We Learned) . All I knew about Jordan prior to the trip was from reading Queen Noor's fascinating book, Leap of Faith. Did you know that she was an American woman who married the King of Jordan in 1978? In the book she describes falling in love with King Hussein as well as with Jordan and her people. After visiting this delightful country, it's easy to see why.
Jordan is a small country in the Middle East, full of rich history and amazing landscapes. It shares it's borders with Israel, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Not exactly a peaceful neighborhood is it? However trekking around places like the Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum (the desert where Laurence of Arabia lived with the Bedouins) and even its capital city of Amman, you would never know there is unrest nearby.
We spent the first night in Amman just poking around the city a bit. Immediately we were regretful that we hadn't spent more time learning Arabic - we found a lot less people that spoke English in the shops and on the street than in Khobar (the town outside our compound in Saudi). Despite the communication issues, we found the Jordanian people to be incredibly friendly and welcoming, particularly toward the boys. They were like magnets, drawing smiles and attention from our hosts wherever we went. Little did we know at this point that it would be a recurring theme throughout the trip!
Upon recommendation of our tour operator, we ate dinner at a traditional Jordanian restaurant - think typical tourist spot, complete with buses in the parking lot. As much as we hate this kind of thing, we did enjoy being able to sample cuisine representative of Jordan without much effort. They had a set menu and in a flash the waiters began bringing endless platters of food. Dinner was amazing and even with completely stuffed tummies, we still left a shameful amount on the table.
The next morning we set out early for a 3 hour drive to Petra, the ancient city cut out of rocks and definitely a highlight of the trip. The drive took us through dry mountain terrain, with colors and textures that I had never seen before, as well as flat rocky deserts and small towns filled with olive tree groves.
Did you know that olive trees can live to be thousands of years old and STILL produce olives? Neither did I. We really wanted to see these amazing shrub/trees up close but unfortunately never had the chance to stop. I could add that as number ten on the list of things we learned: It's OUR trip - speak up and ask to see the unofficial things you are interested in.
One interesting thing we saw repeatedly along side the road was little rock piles. They are created and left by the Bedouins to mark paths, trails, wells, etc. Here is my best attempt to get a picture of those little monuments while being driven 75 mph down the road:
Experiencing Petra was almost beyond words. In an upcoming post I'll do my best to describe the our amazement as we came around the corner and saw the Treasury carved out of the stone mountain. You'll not want to miss the pictures of this ancient treasure, one of the new wonders of the world.
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