After a bit of a confusing trip to a demilitarized zone in between Israel and Jordan, our Israel guide was very generous and took us as far as he could, alerting our new Jordanian guide on the other side of the zone of our arrival. As a group, you are not allowed to cross without a guide waiting for you on the other side. I was still sick and felt like I was hacking up a lung at times.
Our new guide was adorable and excited to get us started and organized. The 7 of us from Israel were joined by 5 ladies from Ireland we nicknamed the Irish Mafia, a solo women from Hong Kong. and another from Vancouver. Our poor guide had no idea what hit him, after suggesting we go out to grab some falafels for dinner he was met with stone cold stares from the Israel group. We were about to throw falafels at him we were so falafeled out. “What happened in Israel with falafels?!” He asked us.
Our first day was a visit to Jerash, one of the largest preserved site of Roman ruins outside Italy. The auditorium still has amazing acoustics. Thankfully we started the day early as it started to pour freezing rain. This was actually the first day of bad weather on my whole trip, we were scheduled to visit another outside citadel but 1/2 of us opted to go back to the hotel as it was pretty ugly outside. The next day we made out way to Mount Nebo where Moses died and also see some stunning Byzantine mosaics and a centre that was recently opened to train disabled people to make mosaics. Their work is stunning and I tried to see if I could get the bunny mosaic from Jerash recreated.
On our way to Petra we stopped off at a smaller site known as Little Petra. It gave us a good taste of what was to come. Little Petra is very small and is filled with local Bedouin’s who make their living travelling and selling goods along the old spice trade route. They still live a very minimal life style and our guide said ‘they can live years with not much’. They have been around since 2’nd century BC and still are selling spices, frankincense and myrrh. Our guide was always trying to balance the line with keeping the local economy going and his relationship with the small vendors and being honest with us about pricing and deals. “If you see me scratching my beard and saying ‘Yes, that’s a great deal’, do NOT buy it here, there will be better deals at another shop”.
A quick stop at our hotel for an early night. It was also FREEZING outside! I thought we were in the desert!! Where was the heat?! We were going to start the day at 6am to get to Petra before the crowds. As I was cursing our guide at the early wake up time, by the end of the day, walking back from our day of hiking at Petra, I realized he was right. The mass crowds were overwhelming and you could not get decent pictures. We were the first to arrive at the park that morning and we walked through the massive canyon watching as the sun rose.
Petra is a world heritage site, and a huge archeological site dating from around 300 BC, it is accessed by a narrow canyon containing tombs, temples, the famous treasury, and has rocks that look like melted wax dripping into multiple colours. At first you are impressed with the size of everything, the colours of the rocks, and the textures. You are winding your way through the canyon for about 30 minutes, stopping to take pictures and I was curious about what was around the next corner as everything seemed to get better and better as we walked along. Then I started to feel sick. I started to speed up to get to the next bathroom and alerted our guide I would be at the next rest point. I pretty much had the canyon to myself at this point as I was ahead of everyone. Making my way through the windy formations and rocks and then…..I saw it! OMG! I saw a sliver of the TREASURY BUILDING peaking out and revealing a bit of herself to me. I had to stop walking at this point and slowly wanted to take in every moment. I knew this was a rare treat to have it almost to myself and I wanted to take in every step as I got closer to the building as she showed herself in all of her beauty. WOW! The building is MASSIVE! The scale in pictures does not do it justice. The building is still in great detail and the beauty of it overwhelmed me. After seeing pictures of it in books, adding it to my bucket list YEARS ago before I knew where Petra was, planning this trip, not really realizing the magnitude of this whole adventure and the building, and then seeing a part of my dream come true right in front of me….I lost it and started bawling.
After a long day hiking and going from freezing to boiling hot in the desert, the hike into the canyon is a gradual decrease…the hike out is a gradual increase and seemed twice as long. As we were leaving, we ran into TONS of tourists riding camels, golf carts, horses and donkeys into the canyon. So grateful our guide got our asses out super early so we could walk in with minimal crowds.
Now it was time to pack up and drive out to Wadi Rum in the heart of the Jordan desert. The entire area is covered in red sand, which is lucky for them because this is where the movie The Martian with Matt Damon was filmed. The entire area was under the ocean for years and now is a breathtaking desert. Our camp was very remote, I was wondering if our bus was going to make it off roading in the sand but it did! The camp was tucked in between a couple of mountains to make it less windy. We had wifi and power but everything was turned off between midnight to 6am. We were able to take a ride into the desert and watch the sunset, came across a huge heard of camels, goats and lambs being guided by a shepherd. Found out there are camels for milk, racing, meat and for transporting goods across the dessert. Yes, Muslims are not supposed to gamble on camels but hey, what else is there to do in the desert? They really are goofy looking animals that sound like they are grumpy all the time. The weather again went from toasty warm to FREEZING pretty quickly. This would be interesting with no heat or power for 6 hours and having to be up and ready by 5:45am for the sunrise hot air ballon ride.
After watching the sunset, we got back to camp to find our cooks digging up dinner from the ground. Like our guide said, the Bedouins work with minimal supplies, they do not cook over an open fire as it takes up too many logs, they put everything in the ground as it uses up less wood to cook. After a large dinner, it was pitch black out and we needed our flashlights or headlamps. Our guide called us out for a quick walk outside the camp…..after hiking in the dark, in the sand…we looked up.
After all the mosques, churches, temples, synagogues and a wide variety of religious sites, I can say with certainty I believe in all the stars in the universe and the Milky Way. That is my religion. I will always be grateful to Jordan for reminding me how important the stars and universe are and it’s extensive beauty. I know how rare the sight of all the stars at night is and how it touches your soul on a deep level and reminds you how beautiful and vast everything is……and I’m connected to all of it.
Now it was time to put on multiple layers of clothes, curse our guide for such an early wake up call and head off to bed. There was about 4 of our group who signed up to do the sunrise hot air ballon ride. Luckily when I got up, added more layers of clothes, it was still dark out so I was able to star gaze again before our ride came to pick us up. People asked about the balloon ride, ‘how was it?! Were you scared? Was it terrifying?!’…the drive back and forth to the site was what was terrifying! Thankfully our driver drove this sand path daily, but this was a first for the rest of us and we didn’t know if we would make it off roading in sand dunes in a pick up truck but we survived. The ballon ride itself made me grateful to be there in that moment and to be able to take everything all in and marvel at the beauty of the desert.
A few pictures of the ballon ride itself. I just about had a heart attack as our pilot took my phone, hung it thousands of feet in the air outside the bucket to take pictures. Thankfully, he knows what he was doing.
Now was time to go to a huge 5 star resort at the Dead Sea on the Jordan side. This time, the sea did not disappoint. The drive was about 5 hours and….I did not throw up! The resort was huge and has a massive spa! As we had some free time, I checked out what services they had to offer. I booked a 2 hour salt scrub, mud bath and massage for 8pm so I could just stumble back to my room and pass out afterwards in their super comfy bed! After pretty much sleeping on yoga mats in Thailand, this bed was my new best friend!
I wish I was able to bring my camera to the spa to take pictures but it’s not allowed. I got there early to take advantage of the huge pool that was pretty much all to myself and then I was called by my teeny, tiny massage therapist. Unsure if she learned massage in prison like they teach female inmates in Thailand but….what the heck.
She started by leaving me in a room with a tiny object telling me to ‘put this on’. I unwrapped it, it was plastic, with a stretchy opening. OH! It’s a shower cap! I read I had to shower after the salt and mud scrub…OK. I opened it and out it on my head. I was naked with this thing on my head. Well…..it wasn’t a shower cap, it was goofy looking underwear. Lesson learned, look to see how many holes the thing has in it for legs before sitting naked with it on my head. After all that I was a bit surprised I had on these goofy underpants as this woman was scrubbing EVERYWHERE. I then had to go shower off and get back out for round 2, the mud wrap. The table was now a slab covered in a tarp. It looked more like an autopsy room, what the heck did she do to the room while I was in the shower?! She sat me down on the tarp, covered my back in thick mud and then kept going. I was covered from my face to the spaces in between my toes in thick, black MUD. She was not shy and got that stuff EVERYWHERE. Seriously, why was I wearing these underpants again? She then made me lay down and wrapped me in the tarp as if I was a Susan Burrito and she left me to bake for about 20 minutes before checking up on me. After unwrapping me, she instructed me to shower again. Well this time the shower took a bit longer to get everything scrubbed off. This time I am sure she had to hose down the room with a fire hose, there was mud all over the walls! After getting out, she handed me anther pair of those underpants (aren’t we past that by now?), took me to another room, put me face down on the table to start part 3…the massage. She is so tiny, she got up on the table, planted both feet on either side of me, sat down on my butt and started massaging. Damn I wish I had my camera. I was going to have the best sleep EVER that night!
The next day we were back to Amman and we stopped off at the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. We have seen parts of the river in Israel and were warned. The river, like the Dead Sea and all other bodies of water here, have seriously depleted and was now an ugly creek you could hop over in most parts. The spot where we went to shares the river with Israel so we had to go trough another check point. The people on the Israel side were getting the full baptism experience in the brown water while some of our group dipped their feet in. Our guide said ‘yea people come here for the experience of getting baptized in the same place where Jesus was but…..most choose not to go in when they see it.’
I was a bit unsure about Jordan and what to expect outside of Petra. I was blown away by it’s natural beauty, people, crazy ass freezing/hot deserts. There’s much less security/military/police presence here. I loved seeing lots of young Jordan women (in various levels of dress, some with head scarfs being very modest and others very Western), out with their girlfriends celebrating, laughing. and taking selfies. In any society or country, it’s the women who are the heart and soul, keeping those ties to each other strong to build nurturing homes, neighbourhoods, communities and countries.
Now I am back in Tel Aviv for a week to regroup, rest up, try and get rid of this cough and do laundry. Tel Aviv is more of the shopping, commercial capital of Israel while Jerusalem is the religious capital, this is beside the Mediterranean and has some great shopping. I was hesitant at first as every website I visited about ‘things to do in Tel Aviv’ had day trips to Jerusalem and other parts. I was VERY close to cancelling and going to Turkey instead….but a good lesson I learned was to trust myself. I created this itinerary and this is exactly what I needed, a week in a familiar place to recoup, write and regroup before the next adventure…..2 weeks in Morocco in the desert! Again…..trust my planning and itinerary, 2 more weeks in the desert?! What was I thinking?! ; )
Lessons
- Snacks, time outs and naps are seriously underrated!
- There is an abundance of beauty everywhere
- Be open to let things unfold as they are and to enjoy them without expectation, Jordan was a wonderful lesson in this for me
- Everything will be great. Really. EVERYTHING.
- Always good to learn how to say ‘Please stop this bus, I need to get off and throw up’ in multiple languages ; )
Stats to date
13 flights, 9 airports, 42,005+ kilometres travelled (!!!)
#herosjourney #journeyisitsownreward
Susan Reboot 
I am laying in my warm cozy bed marvelling at all you have seen and done. I admit to having moments of sadness that physically my body would not carry me through this journey you are on. But then I am so grateful you are sharing it with your photos and blog posts and find myself watching for the next instalment.
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Thank you so much Roseanne. I still have a pic of you doing a 5k that inspires me!
I know I am bringing a lot of people with me on this journey and I am so grateful for you and your friendship 💕
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Wonderful pictures and commentary. I feel like I’m there with you.
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Thank you! I know I’m taking lots of people with me on this adventure 💕
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