May 3 (Leah's)

 

We spent our last day hanging out with Gene, Jessie and the kids before we had to take the ferry. For the morning, Gene and Jessie made us a delicious tradition Arabic breakfast. We had foul (mashed beans, veggies and spices), pita bread, fried cheese, tea with sage, and zatar (spice with sesame seeds in it) and olive oil to dip the pita into! It was so nice. We sat outside on the porch and ate our wonderful meal!

I attended my first Zumba class with Jessie. The organization they work with has Well-fit programs for men and women. We did the one-hour Zumba class, it was fun. I am pretty sure my hips haven’t moved like that ever! We were sure sweaty by the time it was done. Spencer and Gene were working out on the homemade TRX That Gene got for us. I joined them for a bit.

After showers and lunch we had some prayer time with Jessie and Gene and a few friends of theirs. I then skyped with my mom. We spent a few hours at the house until it was time to go to the ferry. Gene and Jessie had to go out. We had some leftover chicken biryani for dinner and then went outside with our huge packs to catch a taxi. As we waited a guy in a Hilton Hotel van stopped and asked us where we were trying to go. He gave us a free ride to downtown where we were able to catch a taxi to the Ferry Terminal.

We were met by this huge (bulky and muscular) Jordanian man, Sala, who would be our “guide” on the ferry. He helped us with passport control, and getting us on the ferry (skipping the big lines). We sat up on the outside of the ferry and enjoyed the last remaining view of the sunset. We were even served complimentary pop and “croissants”. A little while into the trip Sala told us, and the other “white foreigners” that we had to go to the VIP area. There was some problems with some of the Arabs. We weren’t sure what this meant, but we followed the French Tour group and other “whities” to the VIP section where we spent the rest of the ferry ride. Everything seemed to be okay- minus a little bit of boredom.

We got off the ferry and Sala helped us with our visas and passport control on the Egyptian side. We got in a van with another couple to get through the ferry port and Sala got us connected with a taxi van. We found out the beach camp we booked was farther out of town than we expected and so we thought about going to a hotel close in town. On the way the driver asked us where we were going after Nuweiba (as there is nothing there) and we said Dahab. He told us he could take us now (It was now about 11pm at night). Not really sure what we should do, we said yes, and he drove us the 1hr to Dahab.

Thankfully we were able to get a room- big bed, bathroom to ourselves, A/C and breakfast included. It was about 1am by the time I crawled into bed. Even though I was so tired I couldn’t sleep. I had a restless sleep.

May 2 (Leah's)

 

We took a taxi with Richard and Max to Aqaba. It was easier than trying to catch the bus at 6:30am! We made it to Aqaba around 9:30am. We crashed for the rest of the day. We caught up on our journals, did some emails, looked at photos, hung out with the family.

Gene and Jessie had a team of three come for dinner. She made an amazing meal. A Middle Eastern version of chicken biryani-so good. We cleaned up and watched the kids so they could pray and talk with the three Americans that came to share with them. We enjoyed hanging out with the kids. They are really good.  We put them to bed just as the parents and the others were done.

I went to bed early. I was so tired. We are leaving tomorrow evening for Egypt. We booked a “camp” on the beach in Nuweiba for our first night. And we have a reservation on the ferry. All is ready, all is well. Another country here we come!

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.  

April 30 (Leah's)

 April 30

 

On last day at Petra. We slept in today- until 7:30! We had another yummy, filling breakfast at the hostel and then walked again to the entrance to Petra. We visited the High Place of Sacrifice, the Royal Tombs, and a little hike up to the top of a mountain where you could view the Treasury from the top. We met a Dutch couple from the hostel that we walked a bit with. We also got to hand out some of our cookies, but it seemed like there wasn’t as many kids as the day before. I bought a headscarf from a young boy so I could have a local Bedouin souvenir. The men mostly wear the style that I bought, but many tourists go for this kind.

We spent about 7 hours today in Petra. We felt satisfied that we had seen enough and so we walked back to our hostel. We only stopped to ask directions to this place called Moses’ Spring, which is where they think Moses struck the rock and water came out. Well, we walked, and walked, I was so tired at this point- and it was all up hill. We finally got to the place and we were quite disappointed. Its not even an outside spring. You have to walk inside a little building where they have an open area in the ground where you can get water, and a big rock next to it. We were told before we got there that you could drink the water, but once we saw it, we decided not to. A local shop owner offered us some tea, we accepted before hitchhiking back to town- I was too tired to walk back. We caught a rid in the back of a pick up truck, which brought us to town.

 We got some fresh tomatoes, another ½ roasted chicken, and this time good, fresh pita for dinner. We sat up on the roof hoping to see a nice sunset, but it was too cloudy. We talked with the other backpackers and shared traveling stories- a fun part of being at hostels and traveling.

We shared the dorm with two girls. Both study in England, one is British and other Burmese (but lives in Singapore). Spencer had a deep, theological talk with the British girl. We all chatted for a while. We went to bed to try and get a good sleep before we had to take the bus at 6:30am. Sleep was interrupted by the loud (rather annoying) call to prayer at 4:30am. I think it lasted for about ½ hour or maybe that was just because I was so tired.

April 29

April 29

Made our way through the Siq, a narrow serpentine valley serving wondrously as the gateway to Petra.  Emerged from it’s mouth and saw at first the magnificent Treasury (*see postcards of Petra, pictures of Jordan, or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to catch a glimpse of this wonder).  By the way, Petra is an impressive, beautiful, rock-hewn rose-colored ancient city constructed by the Nabataeans, ancient peoples of Jordan.  The Treasury is certainly its most well-known monument, but it also boasts a wide variety of other magnificent rock-hewn temples, tombs, etc.

So basically we marveled at the sites, hiked all over the place, politely declined the persistent offers of vendors selling goods, side-stepped donkey and camel poo, and tried our best to stay hydrated.  We also encountered hungry Bedouin kids including a feisty, spry, wonderful little girl with some of the dirtiest matted hair I’ve ever seen.  We shared our food with her and clapped for her as she demonstrated her acrobatic skills, capably jumping from rock to rock…  We went to a relatively cheap buffet for dinner.  We had rice, chicken, cooked vegetables, falafel, meatballs in tomato sauce – all spiced exotically with local spices.  We had Bedouin tea (black tea with sage and/or mint leaves) and different kinds of baklava for dessert – very tasty.

April 28 (Leah's)

April 28

Today Gene showed us some workout moves on his homemade TRX. He is giving us one to take with us! We then headed off to the local bus station to catch a ride to Wadi Mousa- aka Petra. It was a bit of a hassle. Gene knows that locals pay 2JD but tourists have to pay 5JD. We were at first determined to only pay the local price. But the driver wasn’t willing to take our money unless we paid the “right price”. He even had another guy pay him 5JD right in front of us and say “see, it cost 5JD”. So we gave up and paid the 5JD each.

When we got to the town we went to find our hostel. We had been “warned” by another couple that the Valentine Inn had a family dispute during their stay and they had to leave during the night. AK 47’s were shot off, and their room filled with smoke- so they and some other guests sought refuge in another hotel. So we were a bit unsure as to what we would encounter when we got there. To our surprise, there were policemen outside the hotel, and they took us to the owner. At this point I was sure we were not going to stay there and when the owner came out-he told us they were closed- thankfully, and we told him we weren’t going to stay there even though we had a reservation.

We found refuge at another hotel –Sabah Hostel, which is run by an American woman and her Jordanian husband. We got a private room for two nights, and a dorm for the last night. We spent the evening wandering around, getting some food for dinner (not so good pita and a ½ chicken) and we ate it up on the hostel roof. The roof is a really nice hangout spot and we enjoyed the cool evening air.

April 27 (Leah's)

 April 27

We had home group at the house today. I was even able to do the worship sicne their regular guy was getting in late. I was really excited since I had mentioned to Spencer the day before that I miss playing guitar- God must have heard me!

So we had worship and prayed and then we watched a John Piper dvd series they are going through. There is about 4 couples- Christian  “workers” here in Aqaba- most work at the Life Center that Gene and Jessie work at. It was a really nice time, fellowshipping, worshipping and learning about God!

We ate grilled cheese for lunch, their tradition on Fridays. It was good, felt like an 8 year old again! We went to the beach for the afternoon. Spent some time swimming (it was kind of cold, but refreshing), snorkeling, and playing with the kids. It was nice and relaxing. We had some good chats.

After quick showers we headed off to the Souk by the Sea- a local market that the Life Center has helped set up for local women and men to sell some of their handmade crafts. Lots of foreigners were there, lots of workers at the Life Center were also there. We met some cool couples, MK’s and Jesus followers. I bought a pair of earrings. We ate some local food-taboole, grape leaves with rice inside, crepe like rolls, and some other local treats. We enjoyed some local music, three guys singing in Arabic. It was really fun.

Met another young married couple doing language school in Jordan. Jessie and Gene took us all to the Life Center to show us around. They have a really cool and a nice space. They even have a nice “gym” workout room. They have men’s and women’s fitness classes. They also have English classes, and woman’s health and childbirth classes. Seems like a great place to work.

The young couple came over for lemonade and cookies. We chatted all together until 11pm. We headed to bed right after.