We left for the Israeli border from Jordan at 7:00am. This time it wasn’t just Miami students. There were four guys from West Point with us too. It took us about two hours to get to the border with one of hour of stops in between, so it’s pretty close. I got through the bag check and metal detector stuff just fine. There was this weird machine I had to stand in for a few seconds that blew puffs of air at me, head to toe, from tiny little jets. It was pretty funny because everyone’s hair was flying everywhere and our clothes were flailing around. I’m pretty sure this is to check for explosives that could be on our clothing or in our skin folds.
It came time for our passports to be checked. Me and a few others had to request that our passports not be stamped. With an Israeli stamp on your passport you can’t get into Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. I quickly realized that out of everyone in my group, even those who asked for their passport not to be stamped, I was the only one that got this extra form to fill out. It asked questions like, my dad’s name, my cell phone number, and exactly where and when I had been in the middle east on this trip. I went to go hand in my completed form to this other desk that I was directed to...where I became acquainted with a bitch. I was like hi here is my form and she responded by “Sit down.” I was pretty confused and told her I was directed over to the desk by another worker and she said “sit down over there and get up when your name is called!” So cursing under my breathe I went and sat in this area that pretty much looked like an airport gate. And everyone there happened to be Muslim… OH WOW! So as I watched all my friends quickly cruise through security within 15 minutes, I sat and waited for 4 hours. About two hours into waiting I was taken to be questioned by a worker there. She wasn’t as nearly as mean as she could have been, just a little manipulative. Asking me how if I went to Miami University it was located in Ohio and not Florida, why I was taking 4 instead of 3 years to finish college..., why I was learning Arabic if I wasn’t a international studies major or something of the like. So I answered stupid ish like that and when I finally got through all my buddies were applauding me as I got on the bus to join them haha.
That’s when the site seeing began.
We saw some of the most religious sites in the world! It was amazing. The first place we saw was where Jesus ascended into heaven. Then we went to a spot where Jesus and his 12 disciples used to chill, and the Lords prayer was written everywhere in like 2983348509 different languages, including Telegu and Kokani… pretty cool ay? These two places were located on Mount olives where a nearby house in a Palestinian neighborhood was sold to an Israeli family. This family then put a giant Israeli flag in their front yard to show their dominance of the area. We found out that the former Palestinian owner of the land was executed for essentially betraying his people…so that was pretty messed up.
After this, we visited a few churches from where you could see this amazing panorama of Jerusalem, it was gorgeous. One of the churches we visited was the Church of All Nations where I saw my first mass. It was extremely moving. The priests voice when he sang was very powerful, and we sat their throughout the entire ceremony. A lot of the people on this trip are Catholic, so they were able to tell me what was going on the second I ever had questions about anything, which turned out to be incredibly convenient.
Then we saw the tomb of the Virgin Mary at The Church of the Sepulchre of Mary. This Church was very dim lit, but colorful. There were all these ornament hanging from the ceiling and a wide flight of stairs that descended into the tomb. The layout of the church is in the shape of a cross which is pretty neat.
After that we grabbed some delicious shawarma and Mirinda (the best soft drink in the middle east, similar to fanta, but 10X better) and headed to our hotel. We got to our rooms and they were kind of janky, but it was essentially only for us to sleep in, so no one really cared.
We headed out to Ben-Yahouda street. This is the main hang out in Israel. It’s just a long street lined with shops and little restaurants. This is when it really hit me that we were in Israel. I felt like I was in a European country, there were girls running around wearing whatever the hell they wanted, there were people sitting at tables casually drinking beers, but at the same time you would see orthodox Jews (the one’s with the black hats and curls next to their ears) walking around. It was so bazaar. And for once in a long time, I stood out like a sore thumb, I was the darkest person around! A lot of people can speak great English there, but i surprised to see that there were plenty of others who could only speak Hebrew. I went to this one sweet shop and had pasteries and tea and it was sooo good.
That night was one of the girl’s on our trips birthdays. We went to a shisha place and then to a club. Things are pretty pricey in Israel when it comes to….well everything. The Club was pretty cool. There are mad British Jews in Israel, we met quiet a few at the club and it was fun to talk to them and meet new people. Valerie and Jesse were absolutely hilarious this night… I’ve got some videos that made all of us keel over the next day from laughing soo hard. We headed back to the hotel around 4am!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Scuba diving in the Red Sea
The 21st of July we were off to Aqaba. It’s a city South of Amman that’s vacation central! We drove down the desert highway to get to Aqaba, it was beautiful. We saw sand tornados every now and then.
We got to the Movenpick we were going to be staying at it was sweeeeeeeeet. Our room was soo sick. It was two floors with this white staircase and view of the beach/red sea. We all were having a field day! Everyone called their bed within 5 minutes of being there. Me and Kate called the top floor with the king size, it was so clutch. My room had a sliding door to a balcony. There are 6 guys and 6 girls on this trip so these even numbers work out well. The guys were staying in the hotel right next door, and we could climb over this cement block to get from our balcony to theirs. So we were all in and out of each others hotels and it felt like we had a house. We were joking around and kept saying how this vacation was going to turn out to be like an episode on the real world.
After moving in we went to a restaurant to go get some seafood mmmm. I got the restaurants special fish. It came out whole, with the head and tail on, It was looking at me as I ate the entirety of its deliciousness
Then we were off to the beach. We swam around for a couple hours. The red sea is pretty salty, but not nearly as salty as the dead sea. We could see the coast of Israel clearly from where we were and the border of Egypt. We went to the pool and then played sand volleyball with these 3 teenage Jordanian kids. After that we all went back to the room and got ready to go out. We ate McDonalds for dinner haha and then headed to a small club. This club is one of the only party spots in Aqaba. It was kind of lame at first because they weren’t playing good music. I somehow started talking to the club owner, this guy that looked like he was in his early 40s, and we were chatting it up all night. I found out his entire life story. Apparently as the night progressed the music got better and the place got packed… but I don’t really remember much of any of that
****(the following about the night has been told to me and reenacted by friends)***
From the club people took carriage rides home. I simply skipped along with some other friends and meowed the whole way back to the hotel. I slammed into a glass door in front of a security guard and pretended nothing happened, and then hung out with my Arabic instructor Saleh when I got back.
The next morning I wake up to Kate whining about some crap about being late to scuba diving, I turned over and told her to shutup.
As soon as she left, what she said registered. I jumped out of bed and couldn’t find anything. Apparently I was screaming “where are my essentials!” as I stormed through the hotel. I went down to Valerie’s room and was rummaging around for her contact solution. Took my contacts out, came back upstairs and put my contacts back in…..
I called my cell phone from someone else’s since mine was no where to be found. Lauren had my cell phone, she told me where she was and to hurry up because they were going to be leaving for scuba diving soon. I got changed and was out the door. I met them where they were eating breakfast. I poured myself a cup of coffee grabbed two cinnamon rolls and got in a van. After being in the van for about 5 minutes, I realized... I had taken a coffee cup from the hotel….
We got to the scuba diving station. We had to wait there for what seemed like an eternity just to get our gear. Then we were off to the red sea again. I went Scuba diving with the instructor and my friend Coop. We had to go in pairs so we volunteered to be the last pair. We sat around attempting to recover from the previous night. When the time came to scuba dive we put on our wet suits and oxygen tanks. The tank was about 30 pounds heavier than I expected it to be, and I almost teetered over multiple times. We didn’t do the typical type of scuba diving where you jump off a boat, we just walked into the water and started swimming. Getting used to breathing out of my mouth under water through an oxygen tank took some getting used to. The sound of the oxygen tank was really loud, especially when I focused on the bubbles rushing past my ear. I was panicking for about the first ten minutes and finally got myself to calm down. That’s when I truly started soaking in the beauty. The coral I was looking at was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I felt like I was on an episode of discovery channel planet earth. We saw schools of tiny fluorescent fish, I saw a lion fish (which are poisonous), there was like a kazillion different types of coral. The colors down there were absolutely gorgeous. Occasionally there would be a fish or two that were a little too big for my liking (like the size of a shoe) that would get close, but I would have to keep my cool. I touched some polypy material, which felt yummy and gelatinous. It’s times like these where I wish I had an underwater camera. The scuba session lasted for about 50 minutes. It was coolest thing ever. When we got outa the water my tank felt like it weighed a million pounds again, and it was weird not breathing outa the oxygen tank. Once we got outa our wet suits we went right back in the water to go snorkeling. That was pretty freaking awesome as well. Just 50 feet down was a huge old ship. It was sweet it was all rusted and had algae growing on it, there were fish swimming in and out of it. It was definitely left there on purpose because there some anchors and stuff on it, but it looked so cool. A couple people went down and touched it, but I was pretty sure I would swallow water so I chose not to. Anyways we left the scuba place in rush, and we all felt fully recovered . As soon as we got back to the hotel we got back on our bus and headed back to Amman. The drive back was pretty beautiful. The Dead Sea was on our left side for a good half an hour and the sun was setting along the way. Like most of our other trips had ended, we were all beat and ready for a shower.
We got to the Movenpick we were going to be staying at it was sweeeeeeeeet. Our room was soo sick. It was two floors with this white staircase and view of the beach/red sea. We all were having a field day! Everyone called their bed within 5 minutes of being there. Me and Kate called the top floor with the king size, it was so clutch. My room had a sliding door to a balcony. There are 6 guys and 6 girls on this trip so these even numbers work out well. The guys were staying in the hotel right next door, and we could climb over this cement block to get from our balcony to theirs. So we were all in and out of each others hotels and it felt like we had a house. We were joking around and kept saying how this vacation was going to turn out to be like an episode on the real world.
After moving in we went to a restaurant to go get some seafood mmmm. I got the restaurants special fish. It came out whole, with the head and tail on, It was looking at me as I ate the entirety of its deliciousness
Then we were off to the beach. We swam around for a couple hours. The red sea is pretty salty, but not nearly as salty as the dead sea. We could see the coast of Israel clearly from where we were and the border of Egypt. We went to the pool and then played sand volleyball with these 3 teenage Jordanian kids. After that we all went back to the room and got ready to go out. We ate McDonalds for dinner haha and then headed to a small club. This club is one of the only party spots in Aqaba. It was kind of lame at first because they weren’t playing good music. I somehow started talking to the club owner, this guy that looked like he was in his early 40s, and we were chatting it up all night. I found out his entire life story. Apparently as the night progressed the music got better and the place got packed… but I don’t really remember much of any of that
****(the following about the night has been told to me and reenacted by friends)***
From the club people took carriage rides home. I simply skipped along with some other friends and meowed the whole way back to the hotel. I slammed into a glass door in front of a security guard and pretended nothing happened, and then hung out with my Arabic instructor Saleh when I got back.
The next morning I wake up to Kate whining about some crap about being late to scuba diving, I turned over and told her to shutup.
As soon as she left, what she said registered. I jumped out of bed and couldn’t find anything. Apparently I was screaming “where are my essentials!” as I stormed through the hotel. I went down to Valerie’s room and was rummaging around for her contact solution. Took my contacts out, came back upstairs and put my contacts back in…..
I called my cell phone from someone else’s since mine was no where to be found. Lauren had my cell phone, she told me where she was and to hurry up because they were going to be leaving for scuba diving soon. I got changed and was out the door. I met them where they were eating breakfast. I poured myself a cup of coffee grabbed two cinnamon rolls and got in a van. After being in the van for about 5 minutes, I realized... I had taken a coffee cup from the hotel….
We got to the scuba diving station. We had to wait there for what seemed like an eternity just to get our gear. Then we were off to the red sea again. I went Scuba diving with the instructor and my friend Coop. We had to go in pairs so we volunteered to be the last pair. We sat around attempting to recover from the previous night. When the time came to scuba dive we put on our wet suits and oxygen tanks. The tank was about 30 pounds heavier than I expected it to be, and I almost teetered over multiple times. We didn’t do the typical type of scuba diving where you jump off a boat, we just walked into the water and started swimming. Getting used to breathing out of my mouth under water through an oxygen tank took some getting used to. The sound of the oxygen tank was really loud, especially when I focused on the bubbles rushing past my ear. I was panicking for about the first ten minutes and finally got myself to calm down. That’s when I truly started soaking in the beauty. The coral I was looking at was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I felt like I was on an episode of discovery channel planet earth. We saw schools of tiny fluorescent fish, I saw a lion fish (which are poisonous), there was like a kazillion different types of coral. The colors down there were absolutely gorgeous. Occasionally there would be a fish or two that were a little too big for my liking (like the size of a shoe) that would get close, but I would have to keep my cool. I touched some polypy material, which felt yummy and gelatinous. It’s times like these where I wish I had an underwater camera. The scuba session lasted for about 50 minutes. It was coolest thing ever. When we got outa the water my tank felt like it weighed a million pounds again, and it was weird not breathing outa the oxygen tank. Once we got outa our wet suits we went right back in the water to go snorkeling. That was pretty freaking awesome as well. Just 50 feet down was a huge old ship. It was sweet it was all rusted and had algae growing on it, there were fish swimming in and out of it. It was definitely left there on purpose because there some anchors and stuff on it, but it looked so cool. A couple people went down and touched it, but I was pretty sure I would swallow water so I chose not to. Anyways we left the scuba place in rush, and we all felt fully recovered . As soon as we got back to the hotel we got back on our bus and headed back to Amman. The drive back was pretty beautiful. The Dead Sea was on our left side for a good half an hour and the sun was setting along the way. Like most of our other trips had ended, we were all beat and ready for a shower.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Wedding!!!
I went to my first wedding in the Middle East. Once again yet another great experience. I had met a girl named Safa’s while I was in the Wadi Rum desert. There we exchanged numbers and soon after she invited me to her sisters wedding! I thought it was out of the question since she only invited me and my roommate and us traveling by ourselves to Irbid, which is a mile north would be very unsafe. To the contrary Saleh (my director) was real chill about it, and insisted that his brother drop us off at the wedding. So we went to the wedding a few weeks ago not knowing what to expect and only being acquainted with the bride’s sisters, her two aunts, and one of her cousins.
Most of the weddings here are segregated. Many women wear hijab, so when they get to these all female parties they go wild and wear whatever haha. There were mad hijabi’s in scandalous dresses with their hair all did.
Me and Kate got their and could not believe how hospitable these people were. Safa’a barely even knew us and she greeted us at the door and was hanging out with us during the entire wedding. She kept pulling us up closer to the stage and to dance. This is the first person in their family of 6 siblings to get married! Anyways the ceremony was very well rehearsed the bride and groom walked down the aisle and later on cut the cake with a giant sword!! It was pretty sweet. All of Safa’a’s aunt’s were smoking throughout the ceremony, it was hilarious, they are beyond balla material.
So the wedding ended pretty early and we were on our way to the bride’s new house. It’s tradition for all of the family to follow the bride and groom to their new house. Everyone in their cars honks their horns the entire ride wherever they go. You can hear people doing this from my apartment all the time and it’s so annoying, but when you’re in one of these processions, you realize how much fun it is. Safa’a’s brothers were hanging out the windows of the car in front of us and they all had tissue boxes and were throwing tissues into the air as they were driving, it was so funny.
We got to the new house and all the family members started drinking chai together. They drink like 3 sips of it, and everyone drinks out of the same two cups. There were like 35ish people there. Half the family got up and started doing the Debkah, some of the guys were really good. The bride’s dad is probably in his mid 50s and looked like such a pimp when he was doing it haha.
So then all the family started crying because it came time to leave and as we were walking back to the cars, the bride’s mom faints! She was crying so much and was so sad she passed out. So everyone rushed over and she gained consciousness after like a couple minutes. But it was a straight scene out of an Indian movie.
So we get to Safa’a’s aunt’s house where we were going to stay the night. We ate KFC for dinner haha, it was the best KFC I’ve ever had, and she stuffed our faces until we were like, seriously we will throw up if we eat anymore, haha.
After that we went out for ice cream and got a bag of nuts… I guess this nut store is special in Irbid… people really like pumpkin seeds here.
Our next stop was Safa’a’s Uncles house. It’s cool because families here operate the way they do in India… and practically everywhere else in the world. They go to each others place without any forewarning. Safa’a was randomly like, “oh my uncle lives over that way and has a cool house, you want to go see?” We go to her uncles place, it was like 1 in the morning. He had this sweet window room on the top floor of his house that had cushioned seating all around the perimeter of the room and you could see a pretty sweet view of irbid from there. So I chatted it up with her uncle and drank some mint tea (the dankest drink in all of Jordan!). He told us about his son who has been imprisoned by the US government for leading protests in D.C. during Bush’s presidency. He told me how he hasn’t been in contact with his son for like 5 years, and they can’t get him out of prison even though he’s completely innocent aside from speaking out against the government. It was pretty messed up to hear about.
We left from there and headed back to Safa’a’s aunt’s place and drank coffee and smoked argila for the rest of the night. The argila was pretty make shift haha. They were using scissors as tongs and had tape around the hose… but I guess it wasn’t too far off from Bhavik’s hookah haha. We were up with her two baller aunts and, her 3 brothers (8, 14, & 18 years old), her cousin Muhammad, and her 4 year old baby sister till 5am talking about random ish. We were struggling with our Arabic and got laughed at a lot, but we were laughing at them just as much because their English was horrible hah. It was one of my best nights in Jordan. Being there surrounded by her family was the closest thing I have felt to being with my family in India since I had last been there in 2006. Me and Kate had so much caffeine pumped into us that we couldn’t go to sleep. We stayed up for a while in bed talking about how people here are unusually hospitable here. Safa’a treated us like we had known each other since we were kids. Everyone was incredibly caring.
We woke up the next morning and had falafel and hummus with Safa’a’s dad and aunt’s. By 12 we were out of Irbid on the road with Safa’a’s aunt and cousin Muhammad who works in Amman, which meant a free ride back to the university for us. It’s nights like these that make me want to stay here forever :)
Most of the weddings here are segregated. Many women wear hijab, so when they get to these all female parties they go wild and wear whatever haha. There were mad hijabi’s in scandalous dresses with their hair all did.
Me and Kate got their and could not believe how hospitable these people were. Safa’a barely even knew us and she greeted us at the door and was hanging out with us during the entire wedding. She kept pulling us up closer to the stage and to dance. This is the first person in their family of 6 siblings to get married! Anyways the ceremony was very well rehearsed the bride and groom walked down the aisle and later on cut the cake with a giant sword!! It was pretty sweet. All of Safa’a’s aunt’s were smoking throughout the ceremony, it was hilarious, they are beyond balla material.
So the wedding ended pretty early and we were on our way to the bride’s new house. It’s tradition for all of the family to follow the bride and groom to their new house. Everyone in their cars honks their horns the entire ride wherever they go. You can hear people doing this from my apartment all the time and it’s so annoying, but when you’re in one of these processions, you realize how much fun it is. Safa’a’s brothers were hanging out the windows of the car in front of us and they all had tissue boxes and were throwing tissues into the air as they were driving, it was so funny.
We got to the new house and all the family members started drinking chai together. They drink like 3 sips of it, and everyone drinks out of the same two cups. There were like 35ish people there. Half the family got up and started doing the Debkah, some of the guys were really good. The bride’s dad is probably in his mid 50s and looked like such a pimp when he was doing it haha.
So then all the family started crying because it came time to leave and as we were walking back to the cars, the bride’s mom faints! She was crying so much and was so sad she passed out. So everyone rushed over and she gained consciousness after like a couple minutes. But it was a straight scene out of an Indian movie.
So we get to Safa’a’s aunt’s house where we were going to stay the night. We ate KFC for dinner haha, it was the best KFC I’ve ever had, and she stuffed our faces until we were like, seriously we will throw up if we eat anymore, haha.
After that we went out for ice cream and got a bag of nuts… I guess this nut store is special in Irbid… people really like pumpkin seeds here.
Our next stop was Safa’a’s Uncles house. It’s cool because families here operate the way they do in India… and practically everywhere else in the world. They go to each others place without any forewarning. Safa’a was randomly like, “oh my uncle lives over that way and has a cool house, you want to go see?” We go to her uncles place, it was like 1 in the morning. He had this sweet window room on the top floor of his house that had cushioned seating all around the perimeter of the room and you could see a pretty sweet view of irbid from there. So I chatted it up with her uncle and drank some mint tea (the dankest drink in all of Jordan!). He told us about his son who has been imprisoned by the US government for leading protests in D.C. during Bush’s presidency. He told me how he hasn’t been in contact with his son for like 5 years, and they can’t get him out of prison even though he’s completely innocent aside from speaking out against the government. It was pretty messed up to hear about.
We left from there and headed back to Safa’a’s aunt’s place and drank coffee and smoked argila for the rest of the night. The argila was pretty make shift haha. They were using scissors as tongs and had tape around the hose… but I guess it wasn’t too far off from Bhavik’s hookah haha. We were up with her two baller aunts and, her 3 brothers (8, 14, & 18 years old), her cousin Muhammad, and her 4 year old baby sister till 5am talking about random ish. We were struggling with our Arabic and got laughed at a lot, but we were laughing at them just as much because their English was horrible hah. It was one of my best nights in Jordan. Being there surrounded by her family was the closest thing I have felt to being with my family in India since I had last been there in 2006. Me and Kate had so much caffeine pumped into us that we couldn’t go to sleep. We stayed up for a while in bed talking about how people here are unusually hospitable here. Safa’a treated us like we had known each other since we were kids. Everyone was incredibly caring.
We woke up the next morning and had falafel and hummus with Safa’a’s dad and aunt’s. By 12 we were out of Irbid on the road with Safa’a’s aunt and cousin Muhammad who works in Amman, which meant a free ride back to the university for us. It’s nights like these that make me want to stay here forever :)
Monday, August 10, 2009
EGYPT!
Got back from Cairo a few weeks ago…Once again another mind boggling trip. All the trips that I’ve taken so far have been expensive but soo worth it. I’ve been spending a lot more money than I anticipated since I’ve been here.
Anyways. We flew out of Amman on a one hour flight to Cairo International. I was officially in Africa, yeayuhh! The first thing I noticed was the humidity, It felt like a 110 degree night in Ohio.
We were picked up by a van that was bumpin reggaeton music the whole 45 minute ride to the hotel. It was a fun drive. There was 10 other students in the van with me and we were all bouncing off the walls with excitement. We were at our hotel by 10:30pm ish. You could see the Nile from our hotel which was pretty sweet. As soon as we got there we went out on the roof to see a view of the city. That’s where I smoked the worst hookah of my life, it tasted like plastic…
In the morning we went to the pyramids. Hearing our tour guide talk about the history behind the pyramids was so intriguing. It’s almost as if aliens made them! Everything is such a mystery. We went inside one of the pyramids and it was sooo amazing to think about who used to walk these narrow paths. The tunnels were only about 3.5 ft tall so we had to pretty much crouch at a 90 degree angle to walk through them. We got to an open tomb that was empty, it was creepy though to think that someone was once mummified inside of it. By the time we got out of the pyramid we were all dripping with sweat, all of our clothes were soaked…especially the guys on the trip, it was sexy…
We rode Camels at this panorama sight where you could see all three pyramids. I named my Camel Edward. He was cute and smelled like shit. The kids that were leading our camels were all like these 5 years old Egyptian kids, it was weird, they were all out to get money, but they were funny characters.
Seeing the sphinx was interesting, it was much smaller than I had imagined, nevertheless it was amazing. I didn’t know that the entire area had been through two earthquakes, so I give made props to the architects that made those colossal structures.
Next we went to a papyrus factory where we saw a dude make papyrus right in front of us. He cut off a piece of the stem of this plant, stripped off the outer green rind, and sliced thin layers of the inside that he then soaked in water and then laid down together on the table. He squeezed the liquid out of the sheet with a rolling pin, and then left the sheet of papyrus to be pressed for days so it could fully dry. He did it so fast, it was tyte.
Then, we went to a perfume factory where we smelled like 20 Egyptian perfumes. After a while we started running out of places on our bodies for them to put samples on and then everything started smelling the same. There were some scents that smelled sooo bloody good. I smelled there peppermint scent and it was so strong I started crying, but it cleared up my nose.
After that we went to the masjid that Obama visited when he was in Cairo. It was gorgeous. When we were there were there we ran into an Imam (guy that leads prayer) who said a line out of the Quran. He heald the note when he was saying “Allah” for over 20 seconds without taking a breath and it sounded awesome. Then he was like, “just like Frank Sinatra ay?!”….baahahaha.
We then went to the Egyptian Museum. It was by far the coolest Museum I’ve ever been to. Some of the stuff there is soooo cool, and just as mysterious as the pyramids. There are sculptures there that are carved out of this black stone. Archeologists don’t understand how the Egyptians had tools strong enough to carve into the stone let alone with that kind of precision, especially since even with today’s technology they have a hard time sculpting with that kind of rock! We learned a brief history about all the kings that once ruled and about all the drama between them. Something interesting is that a lot of the art that depicts some of these kings shows them with unusual characteristics, like elongated heads, which makes you wonder how different they looked from the average person today. Seeing King Tut’s tomb was unbelievable. King Tutankhamun was a very young king (he died when he was 18) whose tomb was hidden under another tomb, which is why it took archeologists so long to discover it. His actual mummified body was at the center of like 4 golden cases surrounding it. To see these ancient lavish tombs made out of gold was mesmerizing. How sweet would it have been to stumble upon a tomb from 14th Century BC!!! The last thing we saw in the museum was mummified bodies. This was incredibly eerie. To be in a room with bodies from over 6,000 years old was crazzzzy. They were very well preserved, their teeth were in tact as well as their hair and toe nails. It was wild. I was really creepy to just stand next to them, because they were so life like that sometimes it felt like they would open their eyes or move their creepy ass brittle fingers any minute haha.
In the evening we got on a dinner cruise that went up and down the Nile. It was only a couple hours long, but very relaxing and entertaining. Oh a little side note, the Nile is the only river that flows backwards in the world!! It flows North while all the other rivers flow South!
Anyways so there was a great buffet on our boat and some entertainment. There was a belly dancer that was busted, and had an excessive amount of fat. At one point she continuously sucked her stomach in and out… I guess she thought she was doing some attractive belly rolling action… but it made me want to throw up. After that there was a spinning Darwish act. This was sweet. It was essentially a man wearing a giant skirt, who constantly spun in a circle doing different tricks. He was spinning non stop in the exact same spot for like 25 minutes, and he was playing these finger clanking instruments to create a beat. He opened up a bottle of water poured it in a glass and drank it without spilling it or loosing his spinning pace. And he spoke like 10 languages… it was very entertaining.
After the dinner cruise we went to this outdoor club. It was sweet, it overlooked the pyramids that were off in the distance, there was stage with crazy lights where they were playing techno music. The rest of the club was floor seating with cushions where we could sit and smoke argila. Later in the night a newly wed couple came and were dancing the night away. All of the arab guys there started doing the Debkah (tradition Arabic dance). Some people look sooo sick doing it, cuz they throw their own style into sometimes and do crazy ish with their feet.
We got back to the hotel pretty late and we were all beat!
The next morning we went to another masjid, which was gorgeous as well. We climbed up toward one of the minarets and had a great view of the city. Out of all the masjids I’ve seen so far, Egypt has the most beautiful ones.
After this we went to Khan El-Khalili. This is one of the most famous markets in all of Egypt. We all had less than two hours to shop, so we went crazy trying to bargain and get good deals on stuff. I couldn’t believe how much people nag you about buying stuff and how much guys harass you haha….not physically but, there were quite a few people that will not leave you alone which was so annoying. I definitely wish we had more time to shop. When it came time to leave I saw all these other shops on my way out of the market that I wish I could have visited. We got on the bus and headed back to Cairo International. I was definitely sad to leave. Cairo is an amazing city. Egyptian history is so rich and has more character than any other culture that I have ever experienced.
Anyways. We flew out of Amman on a one hour flight to Cairo International. I was officially in Africa, yeayuhh! The first thing I noticed was the humidity, It felt like a 110 degree night in Ohio.
We were picked up by a van that was bumpin reggaeton music the whole 45 minute ride to the hotel. It was a fun drive. There was 10 other students in the van with me and we were all bouncing off the walls with excitement. We were at our hotel by 10:30pm ish. You could see the Nile from our hotel which was pretty sweet. As soon as we got there we went out on the roof to see a view of the city. That’s where I smoked the worst hookah of my life, it tasted like plastic…
In the morning we went to the pyramids. Hearing our tour guide talk about the history behind the pyramids was so intriguing. It’s almost as if aliens made them! Everything is such a mystery. We went inside one of the pyramids and it was sooo amazing to think about who used to walk these narrow paths. The tunnels were only about 3.5 ft tall so we had to pretty much crouch at a 90 degree angle to walk through them. We got to an open tomb that was empty, it was creepy though to think that someone was once mummified inside of it. By the time we got out of the pyramid we were all dripping with sweat, all of our clothes were soaked…especially the guys on the trip, it was sexy…
We rode Camels at this panorama sight where you could see all three pyramids. I named my Camel Edward. He was cute and smelled like shit. The kids that were leading our camels were all like these 5 years old Egyptian kids, it was weird, they were all out to get money, but they were funny characters.
Seeing the sphinx was interesting, it was much smaller than I had imagined, nevertheless it was amazing. I didn’t know that the entire area had been through two earthquakes, so I give made props to the architects that made those colossal structures.
Next we went to a papyrus factory where we saw a dude make papyrus right in front of us. He cut off a piece of the stem of this plant, stripped off the outer green rind, and sliced thin layers of the inside that he then soaked in water and then laid down together on the table. He squeezed the liquid out of the sheet with a rolling pin, and then left the sheet of papyrus to be pressed for days so it could fully dry. He did it so fast, it was tyte.
Then, we went to a perfume factory where we smelled like 20 Egyptian perfumes. After a while we started running out of places on our bodies for them to put samples on and then everything started smelling the same. There were some scents that smelled sooo bloody good. I smelled there peppermint scent and it was so strong I started crying, but it cleared up my nose.
After that we went to the masjid that Obama visited when he was in Cairo. It was gorgeous. When we were there were there we ran into an Imam (guy that leads prayer) who said a line out of the Quran. He heald the note when he was saying “Allah” for over 20 seconds without taking a breath and it sounded awesome. Then he was like, “just like Frank Sinatra ay?!”….baahahaha.
We then went to the Egyptian Museum. It was by far the coolest Museum I’ve ever been to. Some of the stuff there is soooo cool, and just as mysterious as the pyramids. There are sculptures there that are carved out of this black stone. Archeologists don’t understand how the Egyptians had tools strong enough to carve into the stone let alone with that kind of precision, especially since even with today’s technology they have a hard time sculpting with that kind of rock! We learned a brief history about all the kings that once ruled and about all the drama between them. Something interesting is that a lot of the art that depicts some of these kings shows them with unusual characteristics, like elongated heads, which makes you wonder how different they looked from the average person today. Seeing King Tut’s tomb was unbelievable. King Tutankhamun was a very young king (he died when he was 18) whose tomb was hidden under another tomb, which is why it took archeologists so long to discover it. His actual mummified body was at the center of like 4 golden cases surrounding it. To see these ancient lavish tombs made out of gold was mesmerizing. How sweet would it have been to stumble upon a tomb from 14th Century BC!!! The last thing we saw in the museum was mummified bodies. This was incredibly eerie. To be in a room with bodies from over 6,000 years old was crazzzzy. They were very well preserved, their teeth were in tact as well as their hair and toe nails. It was wild. I was really creepy to just stand next to them, because they were so life like that sometimes it felt like they would open their eyes or move their creepy ass brittle fingers any minute haha.
In the evening we got on a dinner cruise that went up and down the Nile. It was only a couple hours long, but very relaxing and entertaining. Oh a little side note, the Nile is the only river that flows backwards in the world!! It flows North while all the other rivers flow South!
Anyways so there was a great buffet on our boat and some entertainment. There was a belly dancer that was busted, and had an excessive amount of fat. At one point she continuously sucked her stomach in and out… I guess she thought she was doing some attractive belly rolling action… but it made me want to throw up. After that there was a spinning Darwish act. This was sweet. It was essentially a man wearing a giant skirt, who constantly spun in a circle doing different tricks. He was spinning non stop in the exact same spot for like 25 minutes, and he was playing these finger clanking instruments to create a beat. He opened up a bottle of water poured it in a glass and drank it without spilling it or loosing his spinning pace. And he spoke like 10 languages… it was very entertaining.
After the dinner cruise we went to this outdoor club. It was sweet, it overlooked the pyramids that were off in the distance, there was stage with crazy lights where they were playing techno music. The rest of the club was floor seating with cushions where we could sit and smoke argila. Later in the night a newly wed couple came and were dancing the night away. All of the arab guys there started doing the Debkah (tradition Arabic dance). Some people look sooo sick doing it, cuz they throw their own style into sometimes and do crazy ish with their feet.
We got back to the hotel pretty late and we were all beat!
The next morning we went to another masjid, which was gorgeous as well. We climbed up toward one of the minarets and had a great view of the city. Out of all the masjids I’ve seen so far, Egypt has the most beautiful ones.
After this we went to Khan El-Khalili. This is one of the most famous markets in all of Egypt. We all had less than two hours to shop, so we went crazy trying to bargain and get good deals on stuff. I couldn’t believe how much people nag you about buying stuff and how much guys harass you haha….not physically but, there were quite a few people that will not leave you alone which was so annoying. I definitely wish we had more time to shop. When it came time to leave I saw all these other shops on my way out of the market that I wish I could have visited. We got on the bus and headed back to Cairo International. I was definitely sad to leave. Cairo is an amazing city. Egyptian history is so rich and has more character than any other culture that I have ever experienced.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
too much falafel...Eeee
So I’ve been slacking on the blog, but I’ve been crazy busy. I went to Ajloun and Jerash, two cities in Northern Jordan, a few days ago. In Ajloun we saw the Ajloun Castle which was built in 1184 to keep the Franks from invading Ajloun. Crusaders spent decades trying to capture the castle, but they were unsuccessful. The castle has been through two earthquakes, but it’s still amazing. They were filming a movie in the castle while we were there, it was so bazaar. We had to be quiet while we were inside, and we would occasionally watch all these people acting out these corny ass scenes being filmed. We went up to the highest point of the castle and could see the Jordan Valley in the distance, and a very foggy view of mountains of Israel. There was also a road that prophet Ibrahim had once walked on during his travel through Jordan that you could see from this point.
From Ajloun we went to Jerash.
Jerash had the most remarkable Roman ruins I have ever seen. The city of Jarresh is pretty much all ancient ruins. There were an endless amount of roman pillars everywhere that we could just run around. We were literally a giant group of kids on a field trip frolicking about, completely awe struck by the things that we were seeing. We saw to amphitheaters while we were walking around. We went inside one and these two arab dudes that work there started rocking out! One was playing the drums and another was playing the bagpipes! It was soo sick. We left from there and I did some shopping at this small market place. I was bargaining and it was the first time I’ve gotten mistaken for a native while I was speaking!! Pretty pretty exciting. I only said like two sentences, and the guy quickly found out I was American, but regardless… awesome. We had some great food too, I ate until I was about the throw up, it was sweet.
The food so far in Jordan is fine. I eat falafel every single day….everyday. I think I’ve gained a solid 5 pounds.
I miss Indian food like crazy. No food here will ever be spicey. Sometimes I’ll ask waiters to make sure my food is extra hot and it will come out with not the slightest hint of spiceyness. I want Chinese food…. And starburst…. And dunkin donuts coffee.
Chai with mint leaves in it… also something I have become addicted to… I’m definitely going to be making that like crazy in my apartment next year.
It’s starting to get hot as satins sanctuary here… It wasn’t too bad for the first month, but now it’s about 100 everyday… and it’s only going to get progressively hotter from this point on… ahh
I’m sweating and eating pita covered in nutella…. mmm
From Ajloun we went to Jerash.
Jerash had the most remarkable Roman ruins I have ever seen. The city of Jarresh is pretty much all ancient ruins. There were an endless amount of roman pillars everywhere that we could just run around. We were literally a giant group of kids on a field trip frolicking about, completely awe struck by the things that we were seeing. We saw to amphitheaters while we were walking around. We went inside one and these two arab dudes that work there started rocking out! One was playing the drums and another was playing the bagpipes! It was soo sick. We left from there and I did some shopping at this small market place. I was bargaining and it was the first time I’ve gotten mistaken for a native while I was speaking!! Pretty pretty exciting. I only said like two sentences, and the guy quickly found out I was American, but regardless… awesome. We had some great food too, I ate until I was about the throw up, it was sweet.
The food so far in Jordan is fine. I eat falafel every single day….everyday. I think I’ve gained a solid 5 pounds.
I miss Indian food like crazy. No food here will ever be spicey. Sometimes I’ll ask waiters to make sure my food is extra hot and it will come out with not the slightest hint of spiceyness. I want Chinese food…. And starburst…. And dunkin donuts coffee.
Chai with mint leaves in it… also something I have become addicted to… I’m definitely going to be making that like crazy in my apartment next year.
It’s starting to get hot as satins sanctuary here… It wasn’t too bad for the first month, but now it’s about 100 everyday… and it’s only going to get progressively hotter from this point on… ahh
I’m sweating and eating pita covered in nutella…. mmm
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Syriaaa
Got back from Syria last week. Damascus has to be one of the greatest cities on earth.
We headed out on a bus Thursday evening. It took us two hours to get to the border. Half an hour into our drive we found out that our driver was a secret government agent for Syria. Of course this was coming from Saleh, (the director of the program/my Arabic professor at Miami). He seems to stretch the truth sometimes, but we were told not to say anything regarding the government or drop any negative comments about Syria. So that was interesting.
The border pretty much looked like a big traffic jam. Loads of vehicles jam packed with people and luggage trying to get into Syria. I looked out of my window at one point, and this 9 year old looking kid was pointing a fake gun at me. I was like what the hell haha. I was actually kind of glad he was pointing it at me and not anyone else… I wasn’t sure how other people on the trip would have reacted to that. But as I looked away he shot a bibi at my window! I look over and he’s cracking up and then I see his mom, this big arab lady in the passenger seat, turn around and start beating him with a half empty water bottle. It was pretty freaking entertaining.
Anyways our wait at the border was only 1 hour long. Kids in the past years that have been in this abroad program have waited over 6 hours! So we were really lucky. There were about 4 check points getting into Syria. These officers just get on the bus, check your passports and then leave. It’s just tedious because the check points are all like 1 minute apart.
We drove straight to our hotel and were shocked, because through the travel agent we had booked a 3 star hotel, and this hotel was definitely better than a 3 star hotel. It was small, but very beautiful and clean. Me and 4 other friends decided to venture out and find a place to eat after we checked in…. of course we got lost on the way back. But we finally found the hotel after about 20 minutes of walking in circles. On this adventurous walk, I realized a lot of Damascus is what I envision Italy to be like.
The next morning we were on our feet by 6:30am. We headed toward a city in south western Syria called Ma’Loula. We visited the church of St.Sergius, a Greek Catholic manostary, that was from the 1st century AD!!! It was small but amazing. You could tell the place was incredibly historical and it almost had an eerie feel to it. The city of Ma’Loula is one of the only cities left in world where the population still speaks Aramaic (the language of Christ). We heard a dude say a prayer in Aramaic at the church it was pretty cool.
From there we went to go see Crac de Chevaliers, an ancient castle. This was the first time on the trip that I felt sick, so I wish I would have been able to enjoy this part of the trip more than I had. Regardless I tried my best to ignore the nausea and soke up the history behind this castle and appreciate all of its neat architecture. The castle was pretty amazing and was where a war between the crusaders and Muslims happened. We could see secret passage ways here and there but most of them were either chained off or were pitch black, so we would have needed a torch to go exploring them.
After this we went to a restaurant nearby that over looked the castle. The food was delicious and we had some Lebanese drank.
That evening we met up with a few locals. They got in touch with us and turned out to be one of our professor's at Jordan Universities friends. It was two guys and two girls and they were around our age. They walked with us around Damascus. It was sweet to just watch people and see the night life at its peak. 10-16% of Syria is Christian, so they took us to the Christian quarter where things seem to be slightly more liberal. We went to a restaurant there. There was live music and the food was great. We just chilled and smoked argila for a while and then walked around some more. We went to the best ice cream shop in the middle east apparently called Bakdash. The ice cream was actually pretty freaking good. There’s just a few basic flavors, like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or mango, but then they coat them in sliced pistachio nuts. MMMmmmmmasodufrawbefrawpw. I’m salivating on everything right now. Right after we ate ice cream we went to a street in Damascus that was particularly meant for sweets….which didn’t make any sense. But we tried a bunch of baklava and other stuff there. It was just store after store of all these fancy looking sweets. It was heavenly.
Our final day in Damascus we went to St. Ananias church in Damascus that was from the 1st century AD. Then we went to the Alazem Palace and the Ummayad masjid. I was pretty excited to see Ummayad masjid since it’s one of the holiest Muslim sites in the world. We had to go into a changing room and put burqas on before we walked in. All the girls on my trip looked so Muslim haha, it was weird. We walked in and just strolled around. The masjid is very large and beautiful, especially the outdoor courtyard. But it definitely was not what I expected. There were groups of Shia’a people there that were surrounding these Imams that were giving these intense sermons and they were swaying and crying. It was out of control, and almost embarrassing because this was some of the people on my trips first time visiting a masjid and for that to be there first impression of what a masjid is like was pretty unsettling. Nervertheless, not everyone there was doing that and I tried to embrace the fact that I was in such an amazing place. This is also where St. Paul the Baptist (prophet Yaya) was buried. I went off on my own and prayed for a little bit. It was pretty enlightening. When I was done praying I was in a better mood and stress free. I met up with some of my friends in the courtyard. I really enjoy when they ask me questions and stuff. To me, curiousity is an admirable trait, and when I can fulfill someone’s curiousity with my own knowledge its very rewarding.
We left from the masjid and went to the Hamidea market. It is one of the largest markets in Syria, it’s over a mile long. If you have enough time you can probably find everything under the sun there. Unfortunatly we were limited to a measly 3 hours! Ughh. I was on a mission to find a great argila though, and I fulfilled my goal. So…regardless I was satisfied when it came time for us to leave. I love bargaining. Shooting the shit with stall owners, struggling to speak Arabic, making up shit about myself… love it!!! We were half way on our drive back into Amman, when I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. Staring out the window at the orange sky, watching kids fly kites and people smoking argila on the road side. I was soaking it all in with the assistance of Radiohead… it was the the perfect cap off to an amazing trip. I can’t wait to experience Damascus all over again InshaAllah!
We headed out on a bus Thursday evening. It took us two hours to get to the border. Half an hour into our drive we found out that our driver was a secret government agent for Syria. Of course this was coming from Saleh, (the director of the program/my Arabic professor at Miami). He seems to stretch the truth sometimes, but we were told not to say anything regarding the government or drop any negative comments about Syria. So that was interesting.
The border pretty much looked like a big traffic jam. Loads of vehicles jam packed with people and luggage trying to get into Syria. I looked out of my window at one point, and this 9 year old looking kid was pointing a fake gun at me. I was like what the hell haha. I was actually kind of glad he was pointing it at me and not anyone else… I wasn’t sure how other people on the trip would have reacted to that. But as I looked away he shot a bibi at my window! I look over and he’s cracking up and then I see his mom, this big arab lady in the passenger seat, turn around and start beating him with a half empty water bottle. It was pretty freaking entertaining.
Anyways our wait at the border was only 1 hour long. Kids in the past years that have been in this abroad program have waited over 6 hours! So we were really lucky. There were about 4 check points getting into Syria. These officers just get on the bus, check your passports and then leave. It’s just tedious because the check points are all like 1 minute apart.
We drove straight to our hotel and were shocked, because through the travel agent we had booked a 3 star hotel, and this hotel was definitely better than a 3 star hotel. It was small, but very beautiful and clean. Me and 4 other friends decided to venture out and find a place to eat after we checked in…. of course we got lost on the way back. But we finally found the hotel after about 20 minutes of walking in circles. On this adventurous walk, I realized a lot of Damascus is what I envision Italy to be like.
The next morning we were on our feet by 6:30am. We headed toward a city in south western Syria called Ma’Loula. We visited the church of St.Sergius, a Greek Catholic manostary, that was from the 1st century AD!!! It was small but amazing. You could tell the place was incredibly historical and it almost had an eerie feel to it. The city of Ma’Loula is one of the only cities left in world where the population still speaks Aramaic (the language of Christ). We heard a dude say a prayer in Aramaic at the church it was pretty cool.
From there we went to go see Crac de Chevaliers, an ancient castle. This was the first time on the trip that I felt sick, so I wish I would have been able to enjoy this part of the trip more than I had. Regardless I tried my best to ignore the nausea and soke up the history behind this castle and appreciate all of its neat architecture. The castle was pretty amazing and was where a war between the crusaders and Muslims happened. We could see secret passage ways here and there but most of them were either chained off or were pitch black, so we would have needed a torch to go exploring them.
After this we went to a restaurant nearby that over looked the castle. The food was delicious and we had some Lebanese drank.
That evening we met up with a few locals. They got in touch with us and turned out to be one of our professor's at Jordan Universities friends. It was two guys and two girls and they were around our age. They walked with us around Damascus. It was sweet to just watch people and see the night life at its peak. 10-16% of Syria is Christian, so they took us to the Christian quarter where things seem to be slightly more liberal. We went to a restaurant there. There was live music and the food was great. We just chilled and smoked argila for a while and then walked around some more. We went to the best ice cream shop in the middle east apparently called Bakdash. The ice cream was actually pretty freaking good. There’s just a few basic flavors, like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or mango, but then they coat them in sliced pistachio nuts. MMMmmmmmasodufrawbefrawpw. I’m salivating on everything right now. Right after we ate ice cream we went to a street in Damascus that was particularly meant for sweets….which didn’t make any sense. But we tried a bunch of baklava and other stuff there. It was just store after store of all these fancy looking sweets. It was heavenly.
Our final day in Damascus we went to St. Ananias church in Damascus that was from the 1st century AD. Then we went to the Alazem Palace and the Ummayad masjid. I was pretty excited to see Ummayad masjid since it’s one of the holiest Muslim sites in the world. We had to go into a changing room and put burqas on before we walked in. All the girls on my trip looked so Muslim haha, it was weird. We walked in and just strolled around. The masjid is very large and beautiful, especially the outdoor courtyard. But it definitely was not what I expected. There were groups of Shia’a people there that were surrounding these Imams that were giving these intense sermons and they were swaying and crying. It was out of control, and almost embarrassing because this was some of the people on my trips first time visiting a masjid and for that to be there first impression of what a masjid is like was pretty unsettling. Nervertheless, not everyone there was doing that and I tried to embrace the fact that I was in such an amazing place. This is also where St. Paul the Baptist (prophet Yaya) was buried. I went off on my own and prayed for a little bit. It was pretty enlightening. When I was done praying I was in a better mood and stress free. I met up with some of my friends in the courtyard. I really enjoy when they ask me questions and stuff. To me, curiousity is an admirable trait, and when I can fulfill someone’s curiousity with my own knowledge its very rewarding.
We left from the masjid and went to the Hamidea market. It is one of the largest markets in Syria, it’s over a mile long. If you have enough time you can probably find everything under the sun there. Unfortunatly we were limited to a measly 3 hours! Ughh. I was on a mission to find a great argila though, and I fulfilled my goal. So…regardless I was satisfied when it came time for us to leave. I love bargaining. Shooting the shit with stall owners, struggling to speak Arabic, making up shit about myself… love it!!! We were half way on our drive back into Amman, when I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. Staring out the window at the orange sky, watching kids fly kites and people smoking argila on the road side. I was soaking it all in with the assistance of Radiohead… it was the the perfect cap off to an amazing trip. I can’t wait to experience Damascus all over again InshaAllah!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Petra
The morning we woke up at wadi rum we had to wait for the water truck to deliver water to the bathroom at the camp sight, the bathrooms were prettty gross
We were in Petra (officially one of the 7 wonders of world) by late afternoon. Petra was unbelievable. To imagine that an ancient society that dates back as far as 1550 BC used to live there is unfathomable. We walked around and saw these small cut outs in the surrounding mountains that used to serve as houses. It took us over an hour to get to the main attraction at Petra (the treasury).
The walk to the treasury was about a mile long, but there was so much to see on the way. The walk is pretty much a path through the mountains. I can’t even describe it. That’s how I feel about a lot of the stuff that I’ve seen so far. Hopefully I’ll figure out this uploading picture situation soon. I have way too many pictures now… ughh!!
Anyways, the treasury was pretty breath taking and crazy to think that people from the 1st century BC could have created a structure like that. We also saw a Roman theatre that was much smaller than the one I saw in Old Amman, but pretty sweet nonetheless. There are people who are constantly offering you Camel and donkey rides as your walking around, but we didn’t take any because it was much more interesting to be able to walk and stop wherever we wanted. Camels are freaking hilarious… especially their mouths.
We climbed up these stairs that are cut out in some of the mountains that lead up to some tombs. They weren’t what I expected. I thought there were going to be graves and stuff inside but they were just giant empty rooms. The colors of the rock inside the tombs where crazy though. I looked up at the ceiling of one of the tombs, and it was all different colors like yellow, pink, red, black, etc. It was crazy that they were all natural colors.
We were only in Petra for a few hours, which sucked, but we managed to see all the main attractions. We were back in Amman by late evening, beyond filthy, and all extremely excited to take showers.
We were in Petra (officially one of the 7 wonders of world) by late afternoon. Petra was unbelievable. To imagine that an ancient society that dates back as far as 1550 BC used to live there is unfathomable. We walked around and saw these small cut outs in the surrounding mountains that used to serve as houses. It took us over an hour to get to the main attraction at Petra (the treasury).
The walk to the treasury was about a mile long, but there was so much to see on the way. The walk is pretty much a path through the mountains. I can’t even describe it. That’s how I feel about a lot of the stuff that I’ve seen so far. Hopefully I’ll figure out this uploading picture situation soon. I have way too many pictures now… ughh!!
Anyways, the treasury was pretty breath taking and crazy to think that people from the 1st century BC could have created a structure like that. We also saw a Roman theatre that was much smaller than the one I saw in Old Amman, but pretty sweet nonetheless. There are people who are constantly offering you Camel and donkey rides as your walking around, but we didn’t take any because it was much more interesting to be able to walk and stop wherever we wanted. Camels are freaking hilarious… especially their mouths.
We climbed up these stairs that are cut out in some of the mountains that lead up to some tombs. They weren’t what I expected. I thought there were going to be graves and stuff inside but they were just giant empty rooms. The colors of the rock inside the tombs where crazy though. I looked up at the ceiling of one of the tombs, and it was all different colors like yellow, pink, red, black, etc. It was crazy that they were all natural colors.
We were only in Petra for a few hours, which sucked, but we managed to see all the main attractions. We were back in Amman by late evening, beyond filthy, and all extremely excited to take showers.
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