I'm not sure I can really believe it, but each day I find that we are having an even more incredible experience than before! Sadly I was able only to sleep util 5:30 AM, but I got the chance to hear the Call to Prayer finally.
I'd like to take a moment to discuss a conversation I had over breakfast. To make a long conversation short, we talked about how this trip is not just to see amazing landscapes, admire ancient artifacts, and to consume delicious foods. A large portion of this trip is to be self-reflective. For example, we need to realize we are all humans. While this concept seems to be self-evident, I feel most people reflect on this less frequently than we realize. If we make the conscious effort to lift off the layers of descriptors we give each other (based on age, gender, race, etc) we find we are all part of one human race. To me, it is an honor to come to a place, meet the people, and experience a small taste of the culture in an area that is so highly media-centric back home. It allows me to have a fresh perspective and to clear my preconceived ideas of how I view the Middle East--whether I realize it or not--and to evaluate my actions and words regarding these people and locations. After breakfast we had free time, so many of us went to the streets to check out the local stores. The picture below depicts a man demonstrating how to make intricate sand "paintings" with various local stones crushed up. It was incredible to see how it is done! Next, we loaded up our luggage on the bus again and were off. We made one quick stop on the way to look back into the rugged terrain to see the areas we visited the last two days. I'm glad Rain was able to point of the main features, since for me it was almost a "Where's Waldo?" experience of searching for landmarks in the similar looking terrain! It's no wonder it took people until recently to discover its presence... (Hint: the white blotches are the viewpoints, and below and to the right is part of The Monastery facade). Our journey took us to the Wadi Rum Visitor Center, where we watched a short documentary. Afterwards, we were excorted to our new mode of transportation--trucks with open (padded) seating in the back end. We began our several hour journey through the heart of Wadi Rum, beginning with the "7 Pillars of Wisdom," as named by T. E. Lawrence in his book. We drove along the lands until we got to a flat area between cavernous wind-shaped walls to picnic in the rocks. There we were offered delicious Bedouin tea (again, always very sweet) by the drivers. It has a distinct taste to it due to production--hot metal tea kettle on a small fire. We were very lucky that our time for lunch was kept quiet and serene with no other groups around! After lunch, we rode to a Bedouin camp to enjoy tea, hospitality, and for a coffee lesson from Rain. Here I picked up a gorgeous blue and pink scarf--the man who sold it to me asked if he could wrap it for me, and proceeded to show us the wedding style. Not sure why he picked the wedding style, but none the less I was taken by the luxurious scarf. Our final stretch in the trucks took us to our camel stop. It was a strange but great experience to finally ride a camel. In order to ride a camel here are the steps: 1) Camels must lay down 2) You must swing your leg over (which is MUCH harder than one might expect...) 3) Hold on tight 4) Be somewhat thrown both forwards and backwards as the camel stand In case you've never had a close up experience with a camel, they are much taller than you might think! They also like to wander off course to grab snacks along the way...Our camels took us to a sunset viewing point and left us at another Bedouin camp for dinner. The dinner was a variety of local foods, including lamb cooked in an underground pit. It was neat to hear people singing and dancing while enjoying the dessert night. After dinner we were carted off by the bus to our hotel in Aqaba. It is important to note that the hotel there is completely modern and all white and glass...needless to say we were not only exhausted, but may have been trailing in little sprinkles of red desert sand across the pristine lobby....
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AuthorTeacher by year, traveler by summer. ArchivesCategories |