The Sounds of Silence

I've crossed into Jordan from Egypt and am enjoying the amazing landscape that Jordan boasts. The two highlights so far have been visiting Wadi Rum and Petra. Wadi Rum is a desert area inhabited by the Beduins and it was the first major thing I chose to cross of my list. I was grouped with about 12 other travelers and we taken by Bedouins out into the desert. Climbing cliffs, scrambling through canyons, and jumping off huge sand dunes left us all very dirty and feeling like kids again. The group was really a mix of people and the university students who were along made me feel a little like I was at work. (Just too many pointless statements). The other travelers were great and the conversation and the soccer game definitely helped me suffer any other weaknesses that existed within the group.

We ate a traditional Bedouin dinner which was cooked underneath the sand. It was the best meal I've had so far, the chicken was excellent and the potatos mighty tasty.

We watched the sunset, then pulled our beds out of the Bedouin tents and lined them up under the sky to fall asleep under the stars. Before going to bed we watched the shooting stars and listened to jokes from Zadan, the guy running the whole enterprise telling us things like he once wished the large mountain would switch places with the small mountain. He's still waiting for that one to come true.

After Wadi Rum I spent a few days at a hotel in Wadi Musa, a stone throw away from the ancient city of Petra made famous by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I wandered through for about seven hours yesterday, had dinner and returned at night for the Petra at Night experience. The trail was lined by candle/lamps until arrival at the Treasury. Then there was traditional Bedouin music and a story. I managed to finagle my way to the end of the line and walked as slowly as possible to get away from everyone else and enjoy the silence, the breeze, and the night's sky. Every once and a while a late coming group would catch up to me and it was amazing that they felt the need to talk and diminish the mood. I would listen to what they were saying and it was really pointless stuff like "so people used to live here, huh?" But by walking slow enough, they passed me and I had the silence to myself again.

Now I'm spending my second and last day at Petra and then it is up to Amman and the surrounding area before heading over to Jerusalem.