May 1

May 1

            Journeyed to Wadi Rum, spectacular desert valley about 35 min drive north of Aqaba.  We decided that we wanted to experience the true Bedouin lifestyle.  When we first arrived we went for a short camel ride.  This cost way too much and our promised 45 min was quickly whittled down to about 15.  It wasn’t really my cup of tea anyways, but Leah enjoyed it, and now at least I get to say I rode a camel.  Pretty cool.  Afterwards, we took a jeep tour through the Wadi and stopped at several locations along the way.  We did some short hiking excursions up to a natural desert spring, part way through a thinly carved magnificent rocky gorge, and up and down a dazzling red sand dune.  Next we arrived at our Bedouin camp, a small cluster of tents literally in the middle of the desert.  There are camps like these spread out in various locations all throughout the Wadi but most of them are so far apart you can’t see the next one from the spot you’re staying at.  So, our camp felt isolated, which was really what we wanted.  Leah fell asleep under the main tent shortly after we arrived and I wandered off a ways to find some shade, solitude, and a nice comfy spot on the sand.  I nearly fell asleep beneath a giant, warped, eroded, bizarrely shaped giant rock formation (there are lots of these) with my head resting on the rock and most of my body comfortably sprawled out on the soft and yielding sand.  It was great.

            We ate dinner beneath the main tent with some fellow tourists and our Bedouin hosts, who provided the meal.  We climbed up a nearby rock formation with some friends (an American backpacker who we spent the day with and a Dutch guy we met at dinner) after the meal and gaped in awe at the ethereal moonlit desert landscape.  We checked our tent for scorpions (we saw one scuttling across the sand before dinner), laid our heads uncomfortably on our durable ‘sandbag’ pillows, and went to sleep.  It was silent.  The whole day was full of silence and solitude.  Most moment I couldn’t actually believe where we were.  Amazing!  God is truly the greatest artist.