Breakfast with the Bedouins

Today we woke up after spending the night at a campsite in Wadi Rum, the romance of the desert. After seeing where Lawrence of Arabia lived, where he helped destroy the intrusive railroad, and after doing jeep wheelies, we found ourselves in Muhammed's care alongside with two other couples (from Belgium and England). After a wonderful dinner of mansaf, cucumbers and watermelon, we watched the campfire dance to the songs played on our host's jeep until the stars came out one by one twinkling ever so brightly.

So, this morning we drove an hour north to Petra ... in three words: treasures, tombs and tired feet. Needless to say, our path had been heavily worn over the years from countless travelers, merchants and pilgrims. Thats me with the red umbrella.

Wedding Bells and Henna painting

Tonight we attended the pre-wedding bridal shower. Many of the bride's family and friends came from all over the world. Starting with Indiana, Minnesota and Texas and rounding the globe with Switzerland, Egypt and Cyprus. We had a blast dancing to Arabic music trying to follow the beat of the drum! Each of us got our legs painted with henna. My carefully selected design unfortunately didn't get the reaction I had hoped for. What was going to be a tribute to my Mexican heritage as well as an homage to what we felt beating on our crowns was none other than our wonderful ... sol/sun. When I showed my ankle to the bride's grandmother, she asked what it was supposed to represent. I took a better look at it ... and it kinda looks like a spider gone out to lunch. Great, I'll have to explain what I don't have crawling on my leg for the next 10 to 12 days.

Going in Circles in Amman

We're in Amman, Jordan! After 14 hours of airflight, and a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam (which included an unplanned canal ride excursion by the way), we landed at the Queen Alia airport in Amman at 11:15 pm! Our pre-departure planning made securing our visa and passport control a breeze. In fact, most of our time in the airport was at baggage claim, waiting for our luggage to arrive, seeing everyone's bags going in circles around the carousel seem like an eternity especially when waiting on ours to emerge. Wouldn't you know it, our bags were sitting off to the side, along with another 50 pieces of luggage, from a previous flight. Go figure.

Anyway, our hotel, Amman West, is quite nice. Breakfasted included the staple American cuisine as well as Arabic options of sliced cucumber, cheese, yogurt and fine seasonings. Yum!! Our guide's name is Rasha, a very nice and witty univeristy graduate. We spent the day driving through, around and between the 7 jabels (hills) and the eight circles that make up the city of Amman. We enjoyed seeing the Roman ruins, palaces and ampitheaters in the old city of Amman, circle center 1.

An unexpected treat was the Palace of the Slave 30 minutes outside of town, an oasis of sorts, with figs and pomogranates growing on the side of road in abundance! A big box of figs can be purchased for 1 Jordanian Dinar!

We are all thankful to be here, seeing the people, walking the history that seems to be in the not so distant past.

Packing

10 days until we board our flight to Jordan. We have our checklists, made copies of our travel documents, and are trying now to squeeze everything into our luggage ... pain relievers, diarrhea meds, sunscreen, motion sickness pills, antifungal creams and powders. We're going to have a heck of a fun time! Where is a vacuum packing machine when you need it?

Anticipation ...

This is Petra ... place where they filmed an "Indiana Jones" movie. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would have the chance to walk in the footsteps of so many who had gone before. Some believe this "rose-red" city was mentioned in the Old Testament. According to tradition, this is where Moses struck the rock and water gushed out, as well as where Miriam, his sister, was buried.

How sweet anticipation can be ...