It’s a Small World

After weeks of no rain our luck changed. I absolutely love rain, it just makes things a little awkward when most of your days are spent outdoors. The thunder in the night was a gorgeous sound, and we woke up to a wet world. Quite a relief for Abu Dis, as they have been in a water crisis this winter. The plants outside were looking happier, and the dusty buildings and streets looked much cleaner.

We were headed South today, with the evenings destination Wadi Musa, Jordan. The plan had been to take a short hike or two and visit the Tabernacle at Timna on the way, but as we drove that all got cancelled. Rain in the desert wreaks havoc very quickly and hiking trails were all closed. They were threatening to close the road as well, as all the riverbed crossings were filling up and water was starting to cover the roads.

The mountains looked indescribably beautiful with the rain storms sweeping across them. There is something so cozy about driving on a rainy day, for sure in the company of good people! We managed to make it before the water got too deep and rolled up to the Jordan Border a few hours ahead of schedule.

That border is a pain. Interesting, yes, but a teeny bit frustrating. We couldn’t take our van across, so we all walked, lugging our backpacks and suitcases and dancing around large puddles. To exit Israel you must stop at 4 checkpoints to show passports, pay exit fees, get stamped out, and then show proof that you did all that. Even here you “exit through the gift shop” tho in this case it’s the duty free shop. Then you follow the signs to Jordan and start the checkpoint process all over. Stop at the gate to wave passports, continue to baggage scan, possibly get your bags searched and searched, possibly get ignored, go to room 8 to fill out a paper manifest with all your passport information, take that to 14 to get stamped in, walk and walk to the exit where you get your documents checked one last time and voila! Welcome To Jordan.

Welcome to absolutely hilarious taxi drivers who snort around in little green cars, crack jokes, treat you like Royalty and give you their phone numbers on the off chance you might need something while in Jordan. Thanks Omar! They are full of hospitality and full of beans. Any vulnerable looking person will be madly harassed while they wink and chortle at you off to the side. They say anything they think you might want to hear, and this time they were full of Princess Imans wedding. All had been personally invited, her wedding was in three places: Petra, Ammon, and right there in Aqaba “by the beautiful sea”. The king was wonderful and some had snorkled with him… Pack of lies, but very interesting ones! But if you are their friend you will get discounted prices from the ones listed on the board and extremely quick, deferential service. When we were there a couple weeks back we ended up having to wait at the taxi stand for two hours while Dalen and Heath found a rental car, so we had plenty of time to seal some firm friendships. Connections always come im handy.

The rain had momentarily stopped, so while we waited on our appetites to build for supper, we drove down to a beach near the Saudi Arabia border. It wasn’t a very pretty beach, but still fun to stroll along and look for treasures. There were some nice little seashells, but the biggest treasures of all were the three Saudi sheiks sitting on some rugs, cooking coffee over a little stove. In typical Arab style, the minute they saw us they waved for us to join them. There wasn’t a great group response, but Vic trotted over, sat down with crossed legs, and proceeded to sip in style. The Arabs were wearing their long robes and red headscarves, and had their little china coffee cups set neatly in the sand. They also had some dates to nibble on. Not one of them spoke a word of English, but that’s not here nor there. That hospitality is beautiful to see! It comes so natural and makes a person feel so welcome! Ruth and I joined them after a while, and they happily rinsed out some coffee cups so they were clean for us. Google Translate was pulled out, some selfies were taken, I threw around a few Arabic words and we all parted ways on warm terms.

We had an early supper of fresh seafood that was tremendously good! It was also timed perfectly while another lightening storm swept through, and we could watch it through the large, second story windows. Truly gorgeous!

And then it was off to Wadi Musa and The Gamble. In other words, our booked B and B had a bust water pipe in the house, so the owner put us up at one of his relatives hotels. Ooookay. This could go either way, better or worse. The new place was called Musa Spring, and while the pictures online didn’t look too bad, you just never know.

Because Heath and I have lived in Africa, we can say we have spent time in much worse. Because some hadn’t, it came as quite a blow. You cannot fault the owners hospitality! We had lots of hot tea on arrival, some candy, and were welcomed by all the random men sitting on the couches smoking. They wouldn’t let us lift a finger with our luggage, and instinctively you knew you were perfectly safe, if your doors locked or not.

The rooms now, well, I think we all had pillows, blankets and towels. And I’m guessing the bedding was even clean. Lois got the giggles over the royal blue sheets. I won’t talk about whether the walls were pristine, and the showers were quite amazing, but we did have hot water! Heath and I slept pretty good, but were jolted awake at 4:45 by the prayer call coming from a speaker pointed right at our window. It seemed a bit like the last straw, but all at once I heard a snort of laughter and couldn’t help joining in.

We joined the other survivors for a 7:30 breakfast, and I was almost nervous by how quiet they were! Normally breakfasts are enormously loud with this crew, but not so this morning! Our day’s planned activity was Petra, so we could only hope that the beauty would help erase the night in their minds!