And so, as if these sort of changes happen suddenly, I only have ten days left in Jordan. Am I already getting sentimental and emotional? Obviously. A sappy wrap-up blog post will follow my return to Santa Barbara...
In the past three weeks I have said "goodbye" to my mom and brother and said "hello" Raffi. Sharing my experience with people so close to me has been a true blessing. With each turn I would find myself offering some sort of explanation of anecdote. Why are the streets wet on Wednesdays? Why does that truck carrying gas tanks sound like an icecream truck? Why are some women veiled, but others not? What is the difference between the white, silver, and yellow taxis? I know the answers to these questions - and it has been such a joy to re-live the initial excitements and challenges with all of my visitors.
The last two weeks have been filled with hiking the highest mountain in Jordan, snorkeling over coral reef in Aqaba, sleeping under the stars in Wadi Rum, eating imported Lakota cookies, and seeing Petra by night. Here are some photos...
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| Raf driving in Jordan!! |
Petra by night was truly spectacular. We waited at the gate until about 7:45 until they let us through. Raf and I hung back to let others pass so that we could soak up the candle-lit siq in relative quiet. Every 4m or so there are paper bag luminaria lighting the path down to the Treasury. At the Treasury the whole area expands and is filled with more candles and a bedouin man plays a flute-like instrument. We sat on the floor and immersed ourself in the warm candlelight and floating music.
Next day we explored Petra by horse, donkey, and foot.
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| Donkey ride up to the Monastery |
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| The Monastery |
Raffi brought cookies from my favorite bakery - Lakota in Arlington, MA. We enjoyed them in Amman but couldn't resist bringing a couple for a hiking snack. They look pretty gross, but the melted chocolate was amazing after climbing down from the Monastery!
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| Lone Donkey |
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Made a friend in front of the Treasury on our way out of Petra.
We shared water, milanos, and lots of smiles - the perfect ingredients for friendship. |
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| Final glimpse of the Treasury |
After our long day hiking throughout Petra, Raf and I drove down to Wadi Rum and met Souliman at the visitor's center. Souliman was our guide when I visited a few weeks ago with my family and Savannah. Driving in to Rum Village I immediately felt a deep calm wash over me. We parked the car and hopped in the back of Souliman's 1970's Toyota Land Cruiser and I couldn't help grinning like an idiot as we moved off of asphalt and on to sand.
For me, Wadi Rum is a thin place and I am completely addicted to it. During my last semester at college, my mom sent me a NY Times article written about these "thin places." I read it once, taped it up to my wall, and continued to read it throughout the semester. A "thin place" is a place, "where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we're able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent or, as I like to think of it, the Infinite Whatever
." It's a beautiful article and a beautiful term...take a read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/travel/thin-places-where-we-are-jolted-out-of-old-ways-of-seeing-the-world.html?pagewanted=all
After a stunning star-filled night sleeping under the stars we began a steep hike up to the highest mountain in Jordan, Jabal Umm al Dami.
Here, the boys are being boys and kicking/throwing/chucking large rocks down the steep edges of Umm Dami. I admit, it was really fun to watch the huge rocks
tumble over and explode as they hit others.
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| Ancient carvings in a protected canyon |
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| Crocodile in Wadi Rum!!! |
Next morning, after another incredible star-filled night, I woke up and could only find one of my sandals. I wandered around camp and couldn't find it anywhere. Souliman yelled out to me from where he was preparing breakfast, "Maybe a fox took it!" I thought he was joking, but no, he wasn't. We found the sandal up the hill, next to some little foxy foot prints. Apparently the cute little desert fox we had seen the evening before loved the taste of my leather sandal!
We spent our last morning doing a jeep tour around Wadi Rum, stopping to check in on Souliman's family's camels and run down giant sand dunes.
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| Camel Kisses |
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| Absolutely coming back someday... |
In other news, Ramadan is (
finally) over and Rainbow Street is once again constantly buzzing with people and noise. Life has returned to the daylight hours and everyone is enjoying the sun. I've seen several couples holding hands or linking arms as they walk down Rainbow. Perhaps they haven't been able to see each other for the month and are feeling especially bold post-super-heavy-religious time.
For my own news, I have several prospects in the pipeline...I am taking the GRE next Sunday and have sent in my application for the Masters of Visual Anthropology program at USC. I am also applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Morocco and interviewed last week for a teaching position in China. Send me your crossed fingers or prayers or good luck!!! Life is great, isn't it?
