and there was sand. a lot of sand.

I keep getting harassed about not posting. I do at least have an excuse for the last few days! I returned on Saturday from the CIEE trip to Wadi Rum (a major desert) and Petra (http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/tourism6d.html). It was completely, absolutely incredible.

We left on Thursday afternoon and took jeep rides from the buses to our campsite in Wadi Rum. We stopped at one point to watch the sun set over the mountains; later in the ride we watched as a full moon rose (very quickly) over a high plateau in the distance. Our campsite had Bedouin-style tents with no electricity in the sleeping quarters, although there were fully functional bathrooms and showers. The place was situated between two huge, huge rock formations in the middle of the desert. I cannot adequately describe how beautiful Wadi Rum is- the smooth sandstone, the way the colors change depending on the time of day. After a few hours of eating, listening to Bedouin music, and drinking tea, we went for a nighttime walk around a nearby formation. Walking out into the desert was surreal. The moon was so bright that there was no need for flashlights; everything was illuminated with an ivory glow. They had told us on the bus that some of the movie “Mission to Mars” was shot in Wadi Rum. At first I didn’t understand how that could be, but in the light of the moon it really did seem otherworldly.
The next morning, my tent-mate Paris and I got up at 4:45am to watch the sunrise. We walked out of the camp and climbed a good way up a nearby rock formation where we just sat and watched the desert. Little did we know, the sun does not really rise until about 6:30am, so we were sitting on the rock for about an hour and a half. However, it was just as beautiful as everything else in the area and was a wonderfully pleasant way to start the day. After breakfast and more tea, we embarked on our three-hour camel ride through the desert. It was fantastic! The caravan was set up such that there was one walking Bedouin guide for every two camels (normally tied together). A lot of people got to drive their own camel (which was not hard- the most that happened was that someone’s camel kept stopping to eat from bushes and refused to go), but my guide never offered and never asked. If he had given me the reins, I think it would have made the girl behind me (her camel attached to mine) nervous, as she didn’t really feel comfortable until almost the end of the trek. It was too bad, because I would love to have gone faster.
That afternoon, we boarded the buses once again and headed to our campsite, a Bedouin camp near Little Petra (an ancient caravan stop with tombs, caves, etc). This camp was similar to the previous one except that we had pads instead of beds and a single light bulb in each tent. We hiked over to Little Petra for a short guided tour, after which we returned to camp for dinner. I was sitting on a big rock when the call to prayer (to break the fast during Ramadan) was done. The thing is, normally I hear the call coming for the mosque a few blocks over, amplified through a big sound system. This time, however, the man doing the call was maybe ten feet away from me. His voiced carried so smoothly and powerfully through the wadi as it echoed off of the rocks. Everyone in the camp stopped to listen to him- it was almost an eerie experience. A while later after dinner, I went out with a few people to wander through the rocks in the dark. Unlike the previous night, it was cloudy and so a flashlight was helpful. I did not hike very far but instead found a large, flat rock and spent a while lying on my back staring up at the sky. Since the others had gone on, I was completely by myself, which was wonderful. I couldn’t hear anything except the muted sound of the breeze and the faint rustle of a nearby tree. I had been feeling a bit suffocated always being part of a group of sixty students, so this was the perfect escape. Eventually I started to get sleepy and headed back to camp, where I sat around the fire for a while drinking tea and then finally went to bed. On Saturday we all got up at 5:00am. After a quick breakfast, we boarded the buses and went to Petra where arrangements had been made to let us into the ancient city before everyone else (hence having to be up so early). Let me say that Petra is enormous. All anyone talks about are the Khezna (the Treasury- that big temple that’s in all of the pictures) and the Seeq (the long pathway leading to the Khezna). These are very impressive, but there is so much more- an entire city! There are scores of tombs and homes carved into the rock, not to mention the Roman colonnade, the amphitheater, multiple temples, a Byzantine church- the list goes on and on. Estimates are that only ten to fifteen percent of Petra has been excavated. It is also fascinating to see the various civilizations present in Petra’s history. The Nabataeans were the main inhabitants, although you see Egyptian, Greek, and Roman influences in much of the architecture (Roman especially once they conquered the city). For a while, Petra was a trading hub between the East and the West, which meant that it could acquire vast wealth while absorbing traces of the cultures passing through. It’s really an amazing place. This afternoon, I joined the group climbing the approximately 700 steps up to the Place of High Sacrifice. It really was quite a hike up, but definitely worth it. Aside from the satisfaction of making it up the mountain, you also got to see the most amazing view of Petra and the rest of Wadi Musa. Our director pointed out how the mountains dropped down sharply to a flat plain below. She said that the flatness was not natural for the area, indicating that beneath all of the dirt and rocks there are many more Nabataean ruins- the suburbs of the city. During its golden age, about 30,000 people were said to have lived in Petra. I am still in awe.

Before this trip, I didn't really understand why almost all of the Jordanians I have asked respond that Wadi Rum is their favorite place in the country (it's just a desert with rocks, right?). Now not only do I understand- I agree. It is perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever been. Wadi Rum has been added to my list of why Jordan is an excellent tourist location. Forget the white sand of tropical beaches- the golden/red/ivory desert sand just takes your breath away.