Friday, April 28, 2017
I was only supposed to bring a small bag to Jordan, so I brought my backpack and my purse. Since there wasn't much space, I didn't bring my iPad or my laptop. There was also limited wifi, so I've waited till I got back to Jerusalem to write about the Jordan trip. This will be long since it will cover three days.:
On
Tuesday, I needed to be at the Memella hotel for my pick-up at 5:30. Actually, when I was out walking on Monday, I went past the hotel, but I didn't feel that I wanted to walk there so early in the morning. It's a very fancy hotel and costs $400 per night, so I wasn't going to stay there. I asked two different people about getting the taxi there so early in the morning and they just told me to come and ask in the morning. Someone is always there. When I went to check out at 5:00, the man at the desk said I should have asked about it the night before. Sometimes it's difficult to get a taxi so early in the morning. However, he made a few phone calls and found someone who said he would come in ten minutes. I also needed to leave my rolling duffle bag at Saint George's. They have a closet that they lock it in, so that was easy. The man at the desk really seemed worried about me getting my taxi. He kept calling to check on it. The taxi came at 5:15, which was plenty of time since there was no traffic at that time. It cost 35 shekels. When I had asked the hotel people for an estimate the night before, they said it might be around 50. So, I was happy with the 35, but in Nablus a taxi that you have called costs 5 shekels (it's only 2.5 if you flag it on the street)
When I got to the hotel, it turned out that our bus hadn't arrived yet from Tel Aviv. It picks up some people for the trip from Tel Aviv and then others from Jerusalem. The bus was very late. It didn't come until 7:00. Later, the people who got on at Tel Aviv told us that the bus arrived there late and then the guy needed to collect money from them and he did it in a very inefficient way. Then, we stopped at some little truckstop place to get some breakfast. I got a coffee and a pastry. I actually had already had the same in my hotel room at 4:30. I never like to go out without coffee and something in my stomach, so I made instant coffee in my hotel room and I had bought a pastry the night before to eat for breakfast. We got to the border with Jordan at 9:00. The driver asked the Jerusalem people to pay him then. He said we needed to pay a border tax of $65. The website had said $45, so some people were angry. I just paid the money. They asked a lot of questions as we left Israel. There was a guy in front of me in line who was born in Nicaragua, but is an American citizen. They asked about his grandfather's name, etc. It was funny because there were two lines and the two border control agents were sitting next to each other in the booth. Well, the guy's brother was in the other line and ended up at the other agent at the same time. So, they were giving the same answers! When they got to me, she asked about my being in Lebanon - Was it for tourism? Did I like it? But then she just stamped the back of my visa card. Next, we got on another bus that drove us about 50 feet. We got off that bus and went in another building. They checked our bags there. As we left, we had to show our passports. I had taken the visa card out and put it in my wallet. I always keep it there so I don't lose it. But they wanted to see that. They told me to keep the card in my passport.
Then we got on another bus. It took us to the Jordan border. That's where we met our guide - the person who would be with us in Jordan. He told us to give our passports at the counter - with no papers in them, so they wouldn't get lost. Then we left our passports with the guy. He stamped them and gave them back to our guide so that he could return them to us on the bus.
Our new guide introduced himself when we were all on the bus. His name is Bassam. He was very upset that we were so late arriving and said we would need to hurry to see everything. Bassam then told us the itinerary for the day and some other little stories First, we went to Jerash. Bassam ordered sandwiches for us so they would be ready when we got finished. Then we went to see the ruins there. They have some nice Roman ruins. Much of it had fallen during an earthquake. The columns have been restored. Bassam said you might wonder how they know which piece of columns go on top of which others. The columns were marked so that they would know how to put them together the first time the place was built!!!
The bus drove us to Mount Nebo. Unfortunately, we arrived after it was closed. So, the bus made a loop and took us to somewhere just below the site where we were supposed to go. I would say it was equivalent or even better. This is supposed to be where Moses looked out over the "promised land" It was a very nice view of Palestine.
Then we went to Madaba. Again, we were after the normal visiting hours for the church, but Bassam was able to persuade them to let us in anyway. The church had mosaics on the floor. They are nice and fairly well-preserved. I didn't take any photos of them. I think I was starting to get too tired.
Next, we needed to get to our hotel, which is very near Petra. By the time we got to the hotel, it was nearly 10:00. I was so tired, I could hardly think. They had a buffet dinner. I ate, but I would have been happy to just go to bed without dinner. Whenever I have to get up really early - and I had gotten up at 4:15 to be sure I would get to the Memella Hotel by 5:30 - I can't really sleep the night before because I'm so worried about waking up early. The hotel room was nice and the bed was huge. I woke up during the night to blow my nose and realized I had a nosebleed. I guess it's just too dry.
On
Wednesday, we needed to be down to breakfast at 6:30 because we were leaving for Petra at 7. It's best to get there early before the crowds and the heat. We are 33 in our group. That's a little larger than I would prefer, but not bad. When we got to Petra, Bassam said we should split into two groups. Those that want to hike all the way up to the monastery should go ahead and go faster because we needed to be at the restaurant for lunch at 1:00. Over half of the group chose to be the fast hikers. I stayed with the people who wanted to go more slowly and not hike as high up. Then, when the others had gone, Bassam asked if we wanted to go another route that very few Petra visitors take. It takes you through a gorge area. We were all interested in doing it. So, we went down that way. There were lots of loose rocks and places where you had to scramble, so I was being very careful not to fall.
Then we came to a part where you had to kind of scoot between rock formations.
I thought it was easier because you weren't jumping and watching for loose rocks, but there is sand on the rocks and it makes them slippery. I fell - all the way down on my back and I felt and heard my head clunk on the rock. The girl behind me said she saw my eyes close and got scared. I didn't realize my eyes closed, but I know I didn't lose consciousness. I stayed down for a while though because I wanted to be sure I wouldn't get dizzy and fall again. Others helped me up. (I was a little wedged between rock formations.) My elbows were bleeding. They said I left my blood on the Petra rocks! Someone else had antiseptic and band-aids, so we put a band-aid on one of my sores. I wasn't really worried about my elbows, though. I was more concerned because I hit my head. But there were two doctors in our group. They were telling me what to watch for and everything ended up being fine. My head is still sore where I hit it, but I didn't get a concussion. After the fall, I felt very tired and was definitely slower. We still had several hours to go before we would finish. A puppy joined our group and followed along with us.
And some goats - but they weren't interested in us. They just happened to graze where we were.
There was a lot to walk around and see at Petra and it just took forever to walk out. There are people offering donkey rides, camel rides and buggy rides. If I had realized how far it was, I would have taken one. The camels were only going around in a circle though. Most of those had kids on them. There were also groups of school children there.
I made it out of Petra just in time for lunch. We had a nice buffet lunch. The deal is always that the meals are paid for, but we need to pay for our drinks. I had lemon with mint and a coffee later.
After lunch, we needed to get on the bus for the drive to Wadi Rum. These places are always hours apart. We were supposed to stay in a Bedouin camp. We were all expecting something very rustic. The previous night, we were never able to get the wifi to work in the hotel, so we thought we would go two nights with no wifi and even no way to charge our phones in our Bedouin tents. Well, these were quite fancy tents. We were assigned two to a tent. I was with Viet, which was great since she was my favorite person on the trip. She is from Bakersfield, CA, but her parents immigrated from Vietnam. She is 27 and just finished Harvard Med School. The tents had electricity and a lock. And there was wifi in every part of the camp - even on the mountain.
There was even a very nice pool. I put my bathing suit on and intended to go in, but the water was too cold. I think if we had gotten there a little earlier, it would have been nice.
They cooked chicken and lamb in a pit and there were lots of salads, etc on the buffet. It was a delicious dinner.
The tents look nice at night and the bathroom was just a short walk away.
In the morning, there was a delicious buffet breakfast. They even made omelets for people and fresh bread.
We took the bus a little ways and then got in pickup trucks with Bedouins driving them. They drove over the sand to take us to another place where you can walk through rock formations and see some petroglyphs. In the photo below, that jeep was moving when the driver stood outside for the photo!
Viet is quite a climber and she climbed up on a ledge. I was still pretty shook up from my fall the day before and didn't want to do anything daring.
Then we got on the bus for Aqaba. It's a lovely seaside town at the border with Israel. That is where Bassam is supposed to leave us. He told us some places to go and then left. But when a group of us was walking around, he asked us if we wanted to know a nice place to get a cheap lunch. They had little pizza-type things. I had a potato one and one that looked like cheese pizza. (It was called red mozzarella.) We had a couple hours there, so we looked in the shops.
Then we got on the bus again - with someone else to go to Eilat. It's another pretty seaside town just across from Aqaba. We went through the same thing again where we went to the Jordan customs building, then a bus drove us a little way to another building. They put our luggage through a scanner (once for Jordan and again for Israel). Then we went to the little booths where they talk to you. The woman asked if I had been in Israel before and if I had friends or relatives there. Then she gave me a new 3 month visa card. So, now I have a visa that's good till July 27! We all went through and were waiting for the bus. Then, a girl from our group came over to Viet and me and said that her brother hadn't come out yet. They stopped him and made him go back. They are Albanians and were traveling as a family: the two parents and the brother and sister. They have Swiss passports and the brother was born in Switzerland. We waited a while and then the person from the tour company came. When he heard we were still waiting for someone, he said we should get on the bus and go to Eilat and enjoy the beach. It might take two hours for the guy to come out and he would bring him in his car. He said this is common. The sister said they couldn't enjoy the beach and her family would wait for the brother. The man said only one person could wait because he wouldn't be able to fit the whole family in his car. But just as the bus was about to pull away, the guy came out. We all clapped when he got on the bus.
Then we went to the beach at Eilat. They told us to be ready for pick-up at 8:00. It was around 4:30. We really would have preferred to just continue on to Jerusalem. I wondered later if the company builds that time in in case they have to wait for someone at the border. Anyway, Viet and I ended up hanging out with a group of four fight attendants who travel together. There was a beach-side restaurant and we went and sat there and ordered drinks. We figured we could take turns going in the water and space out our orders of things. Three of us split a bottle of wine. It felt a lot like being back in the states. They were playing western music. Viet said it made her homesick. She has been traveling since the beginning of February and won't get home till May (for her graduation). She is going to Vietnam next. We had fun talking to the flight attendants and hearing their stories. I wanted to go in the water, but was too interested in hearing what they were saying. Finally, I went in a little because I wanted to have put my feet in the Red Sea.
Towards the end, some of us ordered food. We weren't expecting to get to Jerusalem till 11. One of the guys wasn't feeling well and didn't want to eat. Then, one woman also went to the bathroom and came back and said that she had vomited. When we went to the bus at 8:00, we found out that Mark - another friend in the group - was also throwing up. We were all eating the same things for all meals.
The bus was late, but we finally got going at around 8:30. When the bus arrived, it was the same guy who had charged the $65. One guy in our group had contacted the company the day before and they said the charge should be $45. They started arguing. I just wanted us to get going. It didn't get resolved, but we left. The man who took the money was an additional person. We also had a driver. We drove a little way and then they said we had to change buses. So we got our stuff off one bus and onto another. (Each time it means putting our bags in that space under the bus.) Then, we drove a little way and we came to a bus that was stopped horizontally blocking the road! The two guys got out and talked to the guy and then the bus moved down the road a little. They said it had been broken down, but that didn't make sense. We went a little further and stopped at a rest stop. I got out to go to the bathroom. I had trouble finding it and went around behind the restaurant. It turned out that the people who were vomiting had gone there. And now there was a fourth! We were getting worried that it would hit all of us. Viet was saying that it could be food poisoning or norovirus. I was really hoping not to get norovirus, but also glad I had a one-day cushion so that if I did get sick, I could just stay in my hotel room in Jerusalem for a day. Viet started to feel sick and asked if I had a plastic bag. I didn't, but we got one from someone else. She also asked how much my hotel cost. She was staying in the dorm for the hospital where she had been working, but the next night would go to stay with a friend. She said she didn't want to stay at the friend's house if she's sick. It could also have been the motion of the bus and also the thought of the others being sick. And then, about 15 minutes after the rest stop, we stopped again and the driver said we had to change buses again!!! That whole thing was very strange. Anyway, it was a long drive back to Jerusalem and we didn't get back till 1 AM. I had thought I would take a taxi, but Viet was going to almost the same place and she thought we should walk. Another man said it wasn't far to Damascus Gate and the weather was nice, so we walked. When we got to the Damascus Gate, I needed to turn left and Viet needed to go straight. So, we were separating and Viet said she was going to call a taxi because she didn't feel she should walk the rest of the way up. I felt bad. I was worried that she was sick. But I went on to my hotel. When I got there, the gate was locked and I had to ring the bell. It took a couple times of ringing the bell before someone came. When I said I had a reservation, he said, "Kathleen?" I apologized for arriving so late, but he said don't be sorry. We went in and he said "You wanted the big room." I wanted just a single room for 2 nights, but I always seem to mess up the reservation at this hotel.
Anyway, that was the end of the night. I went to sleep right away and hoped I wasn't sick.
