Shawn jumping down a sand dune in Wadi Rum

After two days at the Sawa Camp in Egypt, we boarded a ferry to take us the 1.5 hour trip across the Red Sea to Aqaba in Jordan. The ferry travels along the coast of Saudi Arabia up until it reaches a small piece of Jordanian land. This was origionally Saudi land, but Jordan traded a piece of land to acquire a port. Turns out the land they traded was the only piece of land in Jordan that had oil in it. Although Jordan is a very poor country, immediately there was a huge difference in the atmosphere and the overall feeling of the place. The country is beautiful, and incredibly clean compared to Egypt. Even the air smells cleaner and tastes cleaner. The other great thing, was that no one came up to us trying to sell us anything. It was a huge sigh of relief, we felt way more relaxed then in Egypt and I think we are better able to enjoy the sights here (You aren't in such a hurry to walk away from people as in Egypt)

Our first day in Jordan we stayed in the port city of Aqaba in a great little hotel and ate out at a really nice little restaurant. We spent one night, then we boarded a public bus that took us out into the desert of Wadi Rum. The desert was beautiful. We drove around in 4 X 4's for half of a day, looking at the different famous sites (such as T.E Lawrences home) and some amazing natural rock and sand formations. (I climbed my first sand dune!).
We then went to a Bedouin tent camp and spent the night in the desert. It was pretty fun, we ate a traditional Bedouin meal of rice, chicken and vegetables that is cooked on a series of trays buried under the sand with hot coals. Some people opted to sleep outside under the stars, but the wind was pretty strong and we didn't feel like having the first few layers of our skin sanded down. (I was also scared of the Scarab beetles and scorpions that could be in the sand). After Wadi Rum we travelled 2.5 hours to the city of Petra. The actual working city of petra is just outside the start of the Siq (crevass in the rocks)that leads to the ancient city. The new city of Petra is very modern. There is a giant modern hotel outside the gates (which serves great ice cream). We are staying in a little hostel up on the hill that overlooks the valley.
The first day we arrived we took a bus down to Petra in the afternoon. Our tour leader ended up getting in "trouble" from the tourist police for not hiring a tour guide. I guess you are supposed to have an official guide. The "kicker" was that we were having an official guide the next day, but the Petra police wanted us to pay to ride horses down the 1.5km to the ancient city. In the end we had to all go in seperately, and deny that we were involved with a tour group. We spent the first afternoon exploring the Treasury (the most famous monument in Petra and the 8th wonder of the world we have been told), and then 4 of us opted to climb up to the monastery which is actaully the largest monument in Petra. It is also one of the farthest sights from the entrance. It was a grueling hike, moreso because it was really hot by the time we started the ascent (Shawn's thermometer was reading up to 39C). We made it, literally soaked with sweat and exhausted. It was worth it. There was a little cafe at the top where we had extremely expensive cold lemonade, and behind the cafe were these sharp cliffs facing west that gave you a stunning view of the valley's around Petra. It is really easy to see why this site would be chosen as a strong hold, the mountains seem insurpassable. There was also a bedouin man playing a flute at the top of the mountain, and another man playing a flute inside the monastery. Quite magical. This site is supposed to have the most beautiful sunsets in Petra, unfortunately time was up and we couldn't stay to watch the sun. We had to race back down and all the way back to the gates to catch our ride back up to the hotel. We were moving. We were passing people we had seen at the bottom of the monastery making their way back. That same evening we decided to do "Petra by night" at 830pm. They light the entire 1.5km down the Siq to the Treasury with candles in brown paper bags and you walk in the moonlight, enjoying peeks of the sky and stars through the crevass above. Once we got down to the treasury we were greeted with row upon row of candles the light up the area. We settled in and listened to the story of the Bedouin people and a local musician before we headed back to our hotel. All in all we walked 15 km. The next day we headed back early and a group of us hired a great tour guide. He had actually been born in one of the tombs before the Bedouin people were moved to a nearby village. After the tour we climbed up to the high point of sacrifice and had a picnic lunch with three sweet Bedouin children. It was a lot more relaxing, but we still both felt pretty exhausted. Our next stops include Mt. Nebo where Moses was able to look at the "promised land", the Madaba mosiacs, and the dead sea before we end in Amman and our group goes from 11 people to 5 people.
We are absolutely loving this trip, and really finding out that contrary to popular opinion where we are going/ have gone in the Middle East is really very safe and secure. As the guide said the other day, since Sept 11 world tourism has suffered, especially in the middle east. He asked us to remember to tell people how wonderful Jordan is, and how much they loved tourists. We agree, and would definately recommend Jordan to our family and friends, and we have only been here a few days!

Landscape View of Wadi Rum

Wind swept sand dune in Wadi Rum

Laura and Shawn at the top of a sand dune

Sunset in Wadi Rum

Looking at Petra's most famous monument the Treasury through the Siq

Camels in front of the Treasury. Notice the camel on the left is eating a pop can

Candle bags in front of the Treasury on the "Petra by Night tour"