At 10:00am, the air was still incredibly cold while driving 30 mph through the desert. From the moment we drove out of the camp, every minute of the day provided breathtaking beauty, between the red sand desert, and the stark, massive rock formations placed throughout each one with unique characteristics. The first was a large rock formation with a rock bridge way atop it. He said that there were guided tours (not through Arabian Nights) that would take you to the top so that you could stand on the rock bridge. The hike I believe was an hour and a half to get to the top. My fear of heights kept me from asking for any more information. After taking several pictures and leaving this site, we came across a herd of camels and their shepherd. As we have not gotten Aimee a ride on a camel yet (though it is on the agenda), we had to at least get some pictures.
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| Distant Rockbridge |
Our following stop was a much smaller arch that you could get to the top of much more easily. It was a very easy climb, and while Aimee bowed out, I began to ascend. Halfway up however, I noticed a few ledges that I had to traverse were very narrow and high up, I remembered I'm afraid of heights, so I turned around and came back down and told him we could move on. In the meantime Aimee found something that was much more to her liking than climbing rocks: there was a pregnant cat to pet that was standing on top of a table of small handicrafts as if she was the one selling them. She spent several minutes petting the pregnant cat while awaiting my return.
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| Not Quite at the Top |
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| Cat |
We continued through the desert from site to site. Every corner you turned provided you with another jaw dropping view of somewhat flat desert punctuated by massive rock formations some only 10-15 feet high, but others that were hundreds of feet. Some with completely flat surfaces, some with jagged surfaces, some that looked like melted wax (Aimee likened these back to Gaudi-esque architecture from Barcelona's Park Guell), and some that were pocked with all sorts of caves and cubby holes. Some were solid, and some had massive slices between each section of them.
At one stop, Mousa showed us the opening of a long canyon (through which a stiff cold wind was blowing hard at us.) He said he would drive to the other side and pick us up there. The walk started out leisurely, and it was impossible to get lost since the canyon walls went up a few hundred feet, however halfway through there was a fairly narrow section that required scrambling down some boulders. Aimee was a bit apprehensive about this, but navigated the rocks without issue. After this section, the canyon widened a bit, but we walked for another 20 minutes or so and still didn't find the other side where Mousa would be waiting. We began to wonder if he just sent us into a canyon to wander for the rest of the day. Fortunately we did ultimately find him, about 40 minutes after he dropped us off.
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| The Canyon |
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| Mousa Making Sure we See Him |
After visiting a few more sites, Mousa drove us into an inlet in one of the massive rock formations. He showed us how the Bedouin obtain their water. They find a place where the water pours down from the top of the rock, they build a dam at the end and it collects water. They can then use this as the source for whatever water they need. He then told us again, that he would leave us for a self guided walk that went generally in a very wide space between two rock formations. He said this would take us about 30 minutes and to simply follow the tire tracks, and he would go prepare us some lunch so that it would be ready for us when we emerged on the other side.
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| Bedouin Dam Near Something Abuzz |
After he left and we began walking out of the area by the dam, we suddenly heard a tremendous amount of buzzing in a bush next to us. It didn't sound like an insect or two, it sounded like hundreds of angrily buzzing insects. We could not see any of them, but we were convinced it had to be either a massive bee or hornet's nest. We quickly exited the area hoping we noticed them before they noticed us. It appears that was the case. For the rest of the hike, we moved at a very leisurely pace, stopping several times to take pictures or look at unique things. As it was now mid-day, we were able to remove many of our layers. I went down to just a t-shirts, since there was no need for anything else.
One of the more unexpected things we came across after one turn, was a large section of 3 patches of grass, that looked like a well manicured lawn. I went over to it and layed down on it to truly admire what looked like a well kept lawn, though of course it was a naturally occurring patch of grass. I decided to name it "Lawrence's Putting Green"
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| I Named It "Lawrence's Putting Green |
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| Not exactly Sure this Variety of Turf |
After much longer than 30 minutes, we saw Mousa far off in the distance to the left of a massively large boulder (perhaps 50 feet long and 15 feet high) waving to get our attention and show us where he was. We saw him and waved back. As we walked, Aimee and I were primarily looking down at the tire tracks and things on the grounds. At a couple places the tire tracks seemed to split into a few directions, and we followed the deeper ones. We were talking the whole time we were walking and suddenly realized we were along side the large rock formation, but about 50 yards to one side...the opposite side that we had seen Mousa on 15 minutes earlier, so we had to double back and go around the otherway to go find him. He had several large blankets laid out in front of him, a long cushion propped up against the side of his truck, a tea pot over a fire, and a pot of food.
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| Lunch Time |
As we sat down, he brought out several additional dishes of prepackaged tuna, chicken spam, and hummus, plus some juice and water. He also had with him a small teapot which he put over a fire, and offered some to us. "This is what we call 'Bedouoin Whiskey'. Enjoy!" As he poured our tea, he began singing to the Bob Marley tune, "No woman no cry....no sugar no tea." The Bedouin tea in this area tastes very much like Tennessee's sweet tea, except it is served warm. Along with our tea, we began eating our lunch. While the prepackaged items weren't all that exciting, the main course which I can't even begin to describe (perhaps it was chick peas, tomato, and some other seasonings?) was fabulous and we ate a tremendous amount of it, while we talked with Mousa about family, about pets, about work, and about the Bedouin. He shared pictures of his first (and only so far) son who is a year and a half old, and talked about family life at home with his wife and son. He also shared that he has 8 brothers and 10 sisters, and his father has two wifes. We were obviously surprised at the size of the family, and he said that he also knew of another man in the community with 3 wives and 36 children. He said the man has so many children he ran out of traditional names for the children, so he stopped.
He went on to talk about why he worked for Shaker. He mentioned some of the other companies, in the area. His brother owns one, some cousins own some (however he also said that "everyone here is my cousin. Even some of the camels are my cousins.") He said he really likes Shaker, and that his group are really good people. He said he chose Shaker over his own brother (and his brother is not happy about that!) Every few minutes, the conversation would result in the typical awkward pause, during which Mousa would begin to sing in Arabic. After a very relaxing and enjoyable lunch, Mousa cleaned up our camp, loaded everything back into the truck and we continued our tour of Wadi Rum.
One of the next sites we went to was Lawrence's House. As we got out of the truck, Mousa got out and talked to a few of the other guides as he usually did. Mousa then told us that it is actually false that Lawrence of Arabia built the house, it is actually a Bedouin house. He said this with a bit of overexuberance that indicated this was probably not true. The group of guides behind him called to us and told us not to listen to Mousa because he is making up untrue stories. We had figured so, but it was funny to see his compatriots call him out. Behind Lawrence's house was another rock formation, which was easy to scramble up. Mousa gave us the general instructions of how we could climb it. Aimee walked to the foot of it and scrambled up a bit of it, but decided it wasn't for her and urged me on. I began to climb, and found another couple that had been approached by a small cat. I figured I found the perfect companion for Aimee while I continued to climb, and tried to coax the cat all the way back to Aimee (about 50 feet). It worked, and I think it became the highlight of Aimee's day. I went back to scrambling over the rocks, and several minutes later turned around to see in the distance the cat ended up in Aimee's arms like a baby.
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| Aimee and a Cat |
When I got to a large fairly flat section of the rock formation, I found that hundreds if not thousands of climbers had arranged vertical piles of flat rocks all over the place. I decided to add my own pile and continued to wander on top of the formation for awhile. Every section of the formation in this area, even small caves and crevices had these same piles.
Much of the afternoon was spent looking at various formations as well as some old Nabateaen petroglyphs.
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| Petroglyphs |
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| Sand Dune Climbing |
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| Petroglyphs |
As we began wrapping up the tour, we stopped at a tent with some handiwork for sale, and got some tea. We ended up sitting next to a couple from Turkey, and talked with them for a bit. I mentioned I'd like to go to Turkey some day. The man who was about my age, or perhaps just a bit younger said, I know people that come to visit Turkey, and ask me where they should go, and I have to tell them: "I don't know? I've never seen any of Turkey. It's strange, I've probably seen more of Jordan than the country I live in." I thought this is ironic, as it is something I noticed with Nashville. I spent more time exploring Nashville when I still lived in Chicago, than now that I live there.
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| Aimee's new Scarf |
Our last stop was an area for good viewing of the setting sun behind Wadi Rum. It was getting cold, and the drive there definitely chilled us, reducing our enjoyment of such a pretty sight. Fortunately, Moussa said that there was room inside the truck for the ride back to camp.
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| Sunset over Wadi Rum (not our camp though) |
When we got back to camp, we decided we really couldn't go any longer without a shower. One way or another we'd have to do it. The air was probably in the upper 40s(F). We had heard there was hot water, but Aimee attempted to take one, and there was none. The water did not feel much warmer than the air. She attempted to shampoo her hair and wash her body, but she was losing feeling in her fingers. She got out as quickly as she could extremely cold and uncomfortable. While she had a blow dryer, the electricity in the camp, we were fairly certain, could not handle the draw of a hair dryer.
I got in the shower expecting the same, and received it. But only for a few minutes. All of a sudden it was hot. Very hot. I completed my shower and got dressed. When I found Aimee, she said that after she got out, one of the guides at the camp told her the women's showers hot water wasn't working, but she could use the men's. That information came just a little too late.
Fortunately the dining room was very warm, and we spent quite a bit of time in there while she brushed and dried her hair near the fire in the tent. Dinner was a very similar process to the previous evening, and with the same entertainment. While everyone was socializing, Shaker walked around and confirmed everyone's plans for the next day. We were going on the "Nomad Tour" which entailed spending the day with a Nomadic Bedouin family that has much less contact with the outside world. He also pointed out two other individuals across the room that would be on the same tour.
As the crowd thinned out much earlier than the previous night, I talked briefly with the oud player. I had told him I'd like to get an oud someday he offered to let me try his. We were about to turn in for the evening and I asked if he'd be there tomorrow and if I could try then. He said he would be. (though it turned out the next day he was not.) As I headed to my last bathroom visit for the evening (hoping it would be the last one until morning, given the cold) it turned out that one of the couple we'd be travelling with the next day was in there as well. I introduced myself, and he said his name was Adrian. He and his fiance Danka were from Poland and would be accompanying us the next day.
I headed back to the tent.
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| Cold |
Aimee and I made a few adjustments to our bed based on the prior evenings experience hoping to minimize exposure to cold. We climbed in and fell asleep. All the activities from the day made it easy to fall asleep and stay asleep once we were situated in a warm position. Unfortunately we both woke up around 3:30 in the morning and had to get up to run through the cold to use the bathroom.
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