After running through Petra our bus
took us to Wadi Rum: the most beautiful desert in Jordan and, in my
opinion, the world. We immediately hopped into the back of a pickup
truck with our Israeli friends from the bus and bounced and screamed
across the desert, swerving through the sand on a race to catch the
sunset.
And what a sunset! I have never seen
such a beautiful one, the sky and the mountains stained red by the
sun as shadows danced across the mountains. Breathtaking!
And as night fell our whole camp turned
into a party with music blaring from loudspeakers and everyone
dancing together under the stars. To my delight they played Salsa
music (truly, it's everywhere...) so I bullied Saif into learning.
Perhaps in revenge he taught me a complicated Jordanian dance (for
me) and the sight of a white girl shuffling through the steps after a
line of Jordanian men was very amusing for the onlookers! After the
music died down, I went out into the sand to look at the stars. I
have never seen so many, they filled the sky until the darkness
almost disappeared.
The next morning I couldn't sleep, and
wandered to a nearby to watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful it
ached. It seems like time has ceased in this land, and the sun shifts
and plays across the sand isolated from the rest of the world.
Our last stop was Aqaba, a seaside town
within view of Israel and few kilometers from Saudi Arabia. It was
stiflingly hot, but we cooled off swimming in the sea and riding
boats around the crystal blue waters. And I fell of a speeding Banana
into the red sea!
We made some great friends on the tour,
which brings me to now! I am staying with my Israeli friend Yasmine
in a small Arab town in the north of Israel with our friend Semah, a
Belgian girl who was also studying Arabic in Jordan. I am amazed by
the hospitality of Yasmine and her family, who seem genuinely
delighted that their daughter was followed home by a couple of
students. Today to Jerusalem!
With my new friends on the boat! Yasmine is in front and Samah opposite me.
How will we ever get you back to Lynchburg after you've see Wadi? I am smiling for your good times! For some reason it is amazing to me that you have internet in all your stops along the way. The world is truly shrinking.
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