Jordan – Day Uno
Jordan is pretty crazy. We stayed in Eilat last night for one more night of attempted debauchery (I’m too old) and crossed the border this morning at 8am into Jordan. I think there should be a Saturday Night Live skit about border crossings here. It was similar to that of Egypt, where, in the span of less than 1 city block, I was asked for my passport 14 times, by 9 different people – yet, they barely glanced at the huge backpack I carried in from Israel.
So, once in the country of Jordan, we went through the standard of negotiating a price for the 2 hour taxi ride to the Petra area. Really lucked out with the driver – a nice Jordanian man, Hatem, who lived in.. wait for it… Nashville for 20 years. Anyways, his English was better than mine, and he told us a lot about Jordan, the Middle East, and Country Music. We stopped once for water and vine leave flavored Lays potato chips – pictures of my stellar breakfast to come.
We got dropped off in Wadi Musa, at the top of the hill down to Petra, which we are hiking at 6am tomorrow to escape some of the heat – or at least try to.
Like the taxi negotiation, hostel neg’s are equally fun. We were pretty beat by the time we got here, so got the guy at the first hostel down to 15 dinar for the two of us, and settled in. Our room has two wooden planks for beds, a “shower”, no hint of air conditioning, and a television with over 300 channels, 297 of which are in Arabic. So, we indulged in some Arab infomercials and soap operas before setting out for a long walk.
It is nighttime now, I’m sitting on the second floor of an internet cafe with a stellar view of men, goats, and rocks. The call to prayer is obscenely loud, and it’s about time for some more Middle Eastern food for dinner (as if I haven’t had enough in the past 5 1/2 months), and then bed.
Will hopefully figure out the picture issue and have some real winning photos from Petra tomorrow.
Tags: Travel
swarjam
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