A long drive - the last of the vacation blogs

Wednesday February 3rd, 2013

Ahmad was a little late this morning and he told me when he picked me up that he woke up only 30 minutes before and had 47 missed calls on one phone and 23 on the other phone.  All from his girlfriend.  My guess is, he went out with Ali last night and that the missed calls weren't all from this morning, but he was feeling sheepish about it.  I asked if he had called her and he said he had.  She called him a few minutes after he picked me up to find out if he had started driving.  They didn't talk for very long, but when he got off the phone he said "I love that girl." with a big grin on his face.  It was very cute.

We stopped to get coffee for him and he seemed very concerned that I didn't want anything, but I had just eaten and the guy at the hotel even made me a pot of hot chocolate with milk that was very good.  It was raining, although not too hard, and there was enough wind to make it pretty cold when we got out at a view point over Wadi Moises (the town) and Petra (the rocks), but it was cool to see where the entrance to the archaeological site was and the crack in the rock which is the siq.

It is hard to believe that all of Petra is in/behind that rock.  How did they succeed as a trading post if they were so hard to find?

We had about an hour - 90 minutes drive to Wadi Rum, a nature preserve in the desert, where I was to have a 2 (or 3 depending on when you asked Ahmad) jeep tour into the desert.  I realized as I got out of one strange man's car and into another that no one knows exactly where I am and that I am putting a lot of trust into strangers whose language I don't speak and whose country I know no one.  That being said, it all turned out fine.  Omar (according to the sticker in the windshield) took me out into the desert.  It was as if we were traveling on Mars.  The sand was red and rocky and very barren, the little bits of plants and eventual rain did give it away, but I was expecting to see Marvin around every corner.

Omar called this the mushroom

Instead we saw Bedouin camps, several of them, none very big, maybe two tents, maybe a dozen sheep or goats.  We stopped at one for tea and to sit by a fire for a little bit.  It was unclear to me what we were doing there exactly, I didn't know if there was supposed to be a story, or if I was supposed to tip him.  He did rub two dry perfumes on the back of my hands, sandalwood and something else, I guess they were for sale, but that wasn't clear either.  I was slow to drink my tea since I didn't know what was going on, but as soon as I finished in Omar said lets go, so we did.  By then it was raining and he was cold and I think the tour got truncated somewhat.

We did stop at Lawrence's cave, which was interesting.  I had a flashlight in the car, but didn't feel like I could go back to get it once I realized it would have been helpful as the cave was bigger than I expected and immediately went to the right instead of back, so the light from the door wasn't very helpful.  The highlight of the trip was when we exited Lawrence's cave, Omar stopped me and said listen.  He then shouted 'hello' across the desert to a giant rock 100 meters away.  There was a significant pause and then three distinct 'hello's in response.  It was the best echo I have ever heard.  I made him do it again and then again so I could capture it on video, but I am not sure how well it will come out.  I knew this was a situation where I should tip Omar, but I never know how much to tip.  This is made more difficult by not knowing the cost of the service he is providing me with in the first place.  Was this a 20JD tour? or a 30JD tour?  I wanted to save JD to tip Ahmad with (again I don't know how much) so I gave him $3.  He was clearly expecting something, and I hope it was appropriate.

Proof that there is life on Mars? Or fuel for the conspiracy theorists that the Mars landing is a hoax?

The wind had picked up and the sand was blowing

We headed back to home base after that with a brief stop at a couple of natural bridges.  I didn't bring the guidebook so I couldn't ask to see anything in particular and Omar was cold.  As we returned to the headquarters we could see that the rain was already causing trouble.  The desert was flooding and it was starting to reach the road.  All sorts of people came out to look at the water, both Omar and Ahmad were impressed by how much water there was and how quickly it had come.
Back in the car with Ahmad we head north.  The rain is heavy and causing some big puddles on the freeway.  At times we cannot see the road for how foggy it is.  I did think that Ahmad drove too fast sometimes given the conditions, but I never felt unsafe and he always slowed down in plenty of time when we approached other cars.  The going was slow and it was made even slower by an accident of someone who wasn't as lucky/careful as Ahmad.  It looked like a gas tanker and it was leaking when we finally got up to it to pass it. I sure hope that no one lit a cigarette nearby.  Sitting in the traffic leading up to the accident was interesting.  I think officially the road was two lanes wide, but the right hand shoulder was a full car width and was immediately used as another lane.  It took greater levels of impatience to start using the left hand shoulder since it meant one wheel had to be on sand, but eventually it too was in use.  At one point Ahmad got out and went up to look at what the trouble was and he asked other drivers who had come from behind us.  When we did get up to the accident, it was blocking the left shoulder and left lane, so cars were being allowed through on the right lane.  Police and fire trucks were there, but no ambulance, so either the driver was ok, or he had already been taken away.  We moved faster after that but still the rain made it slower going than normal.

The tanker that was causing the traffic.

Traffic in Amman was also crazy and when we were at the edge of the city Ahmad turns to me to say he isn't sure we are going to get to the citadel.  (My itinerary said Amman tour, I had asked what that meant and he told me the citadel, the amphitheater and down town.)  He thought, and my guidebook confirmed that it closes at 4pm.  I said it was ok if we didn't see the citadel, but that I would like a sandwich for lunch.  We had talked about this when we stopped for a bathroom and cigarette break just north of Petra (three plus hours ago) when I was again offered a buffet.  At that time it was going to be just two hours to Amman and I could wait until 2:30 for a sandwich.  Now it was four and I was hungry.  Again, I don't think I made myself clear because we were on side streets still trying to get to the citadel, which we did, at 4:05.  Fortunately(?) the guard there is Ahmad's uncles's son (which I think makes him Ahmad's cousin) and once he figured out how to unlock the gate, he let me in.  I felt weird about that, wondering around the closed citadel, but it turned out there were another of other people also wondering around in there (does Ahmad's uncle's son have many cousins?) who didn't seem to be in a hurry.  Anyway, I could see the amphitheater from there and took pictures of signs I can read later and made it back to the gate by 4:25.

I didn't really think about anything, I just took pictures, figuring I would work it out later

The Roman Theater 170 AD, seating capacity 6,000. 

The Byzantine church 560AD

Monumental Gateway/Entrance Hall 730 AD ot the Umayyad Palace.

Ahmad asked if I wanted to go down town, what I didn't want to do was sit in more traffic, so I said no, he said, hotel?  I said, sure.  I didn't want to have the sandwich conversation again, especially since we wouldn't get to the hotel until 4:45 and I had hopes that dinner would start at 6.

Upon check in I find out that dinner doesn't start until 7 and breakfast not until 6.  I ate the last of my cheese filled baklava treats from last night, another orange and I have been trying to keep busy to not be hungry.  Hopefully there will be something I can save from dinner to have in the morning since Ahmad will pick me up before breakfast is ready and I didn't feel like having the hotel get breakfast early an entire hour early just for me (even though the concierge did offer.)

I have been writing on and off line and am behind with pictures as well.  I want to publish the blogs in the order that they happened and I should have a couple more hours tonight, but probably wont get it all done.  (You can tell what I am writing in real time vs what I am recalling from a day or two ago because I refer to the future.)  Tomorrow I head back to Istanbul and the cat, who I hear is well but lonely.  I am looking forward to my own setting and my own schedule, even if it does mean going back to work on Monday.  I have seen some amazing things and had some experiences that I am glad to have had, but it has been stressful.  Of course I have at least two more trips already in the planning stages and I am very much looking forward to them, but I wonder if it might be time to slow down with the travel for a while.  I have thought about what car I will buy when I return home this summer.  Part of me wants a plug in hybrid, but part of me wants something with seats that fold down such that I can sleep comfortably in the back.  It might be time to see a bit more of the US again and camping is the way to do that.