Day 1: Journey to Jordan and an evening in Amman
School’s out for summer! To kick off the break, I packed my
backpack and hit the road. Starting in New Haven is always a tough recipe for
travel, but I hitched a ride to the train station from a good friend, walked 30
minutes from Grand Central Station to Penn Station, caught the LIRR to Jamaica
Station, then the AirTran to JFK Terminal 8. I left my apartment at 3 p.m. and
got to JFK around 7:10 p.m. to go through check-in and security. Unfortunately,
Royal Jordanian doesn’t participate in the TSA pre-check program, so I spent
more time in security than I have in years! They even make you take snacks out
of your bag now – so weird. After all was said and done, we arrived at the gate
in time for boarding – we didn’t even have the chance to sit down for a bite to
eat first! We did luck out on the flight though – my friend and I were
traveling together, and we managed to both get aisle seats in a middle row with
no one between us. It’s about as comfortable as it can get for a 10-and-a-half-hour
flight in economy class.
I watched a couple of movies and slept during most of the
flight, so the time passed quickly. We landed in Amman around 4 p.m. local
time, caught a cab into the city (about a 40-minute drive from the airport and
~$30 USD), and met up with our other friends at Sydney Hostel. I was staying in
the female dorm, and immediately made friends with a teacher from Brooklyn and
a woman from Melbourne. Since our other friends had already gone out exploring,
I asked these two if they wanted to check out the ruins with me. We left the hostel,
walked through town, hiked up a few hills, and then found an open gate to the
park at the top of the hill. There was no one around, so we explored by trial
and error. We followed a couple of paths that didn’t really lead anywhere, but
then struck gold. One of the paths took us uphill and topped out in the ruins!
We thought the ruins were closed and weren’t going to get to see them, so this
was a huge and welcome surprise. We had the whole place to ourselves, which was
epic! The ruins were from a Byzantine church and citadel that was constructed
around 50 AD. The view of the town was also stunning. We also caught site of
the Roman amphitheater, which is the biggest in Jordan.
Throughout the day we interacted with a couple of locals and
all were very kind and humorous. You can tell that no one takes life too
seriously here, and I really appreciate the warmth and smiles. However, we did
experience a lot of cat calling and stares from men that we passed on the
streets. Jordan is an Islamic country, so it’s not too common to see any skin
showing, and blonde hair and fair skin doesn’t really help. That being said, I
never felt endangered or like my space was invaded.
My first day in Jordan was the second day of Ramadan, a
month long religious holiday that consists of fasting from sunrise to sunset.
Because of the holiday, most of the shops were closed, and you cannot find food
during the day as all restaurants and vendors were also closed. Luckily our
friends warned us when we landed at the airport, so I had the chance to grab a
sandwich for lunch at Starbucks (go figure they would be the only shop open),
but the rest of the group was very eager for the sun to set so that we could
chow on some Jordanian food. One of my friends put it this way: “surprise
fasting is the worst kind of fasting.”
I made it back to the hostel by 7:30 but learned that my
other friends had already left for a happy hour at the only bar in town. We
quickly freshened up then grabbed a cab to join them (it was only 2 JD!). When
I arrived my friends from home were standing at the entrance ready to go to
dinner, so I left with them while my new friends from the hostel went inside to
join up with other travelers. Our group toured up and down the street, and learned
that restaurants didn’t serve their normal fare, but offered buffets instead
during Ramadan. We passed on the super nice one, since it was 35 JD per person
(around $45) but went to another rooftop restaurant for a 10 JD meal. I enjoyed
it a lot! Jordanian food is very Mediterranean style, so there’s a lot of
cucumber salads, cous cous, rice, and grilled chicken. The deserts are all
honey based, and there was a wide variety of delicious juices.
After dinner I went back to the bar to join the others from
the hostel while my friends from home headed back for an early night of sleep.
After one drink I also was ready to hit the hay, but I stuck around for a while
to make sure that I had people to walk back with. It was fun talking to people
from across Europe, India, and Australia about their travels and adventures in
the Middle East and beyond. I slept like a baby through the night, which was a
great sign for adjusting to the time zone shift!
Day 2: Petra!!
Day 2 started early. By 7 a.m. I started packing up and headed
to the common area for breakfast with the other girls in my room. The hostel
served a nice spread – we had like 3 types of cheeses (mostly feta-esque), pita
bread, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and a variety of spreads.
During breakfast I listened to a roommate’s tales about hiking and camping for
a month along the Israeli national trail and adventuring in Palestine as a solo
female traveler. She was very inspirational! She also had the coolest job in
the world – taking people with disabilities on vacation to places like Disney
World. By 8:10 we were out the door and loaded up into a car that took us from
Amman to Petra. It was a 3- hour drive, but it passed uneventfully. We took the
desert highway down 190 KM and saw a couple wild camels along the way. We made
it to Petra around 11:30, met up with our tour guide for the city, and began an
extremely epic journey through the canyons and the “lost city” of Petra.
Before today I had seen some photos of the treasury at Petra
and thought that it was just a single monument, but boy was I wrong. There are
over 800 monuments that you can see from the entrance to the park to the end of
the canyons. They vary from small tombs to elaborate churches, but somehow each
one managed to capture my attention and excite me. Some of my favorite things
were learning about the irrigation channels through the canyons, learning how
the Nabataeans engineered side channels and tunnels to prevent flooding,
hearing about the burial rituals and the adaptation to Greek and Roman rule, learning
about the trade and prosperity of the civilization, and seeing the unbelievable
natural colors present in the rocks from the iron oxidation. At the end we even
saw another amphitheater which was carved completely out of the face of the
rock.
It was a LONG walk, and the sun was super-hot. Because of
Ramadan we were cautious to drink water discretely to not be disrespectful, and
our water was very warm from the sun. We had a lunch arranged at a restaurant
in the town, and we were told that they stopped serving food at 3:30 p.m. so at
2:40 we started our journey home and booked it back to entrance. By the time we
got to the restaurant we were zonked. My fingers and feet were swollen from the
heat and dehydration, so we chugged a lot of water once we sat down. The meal
was a buffet that was very similar to the one from dinner the night before. It
was good, but it was tough to eat after being so hot. Nevertheless, it was
lovely to sit and rest and rejuvenate. Since it’s Ramadan and not much else was
happening in the town, we went back to the hotel after lunch for showers and
naps. I’m terrified of messing up my sleep schedule while still adjusting, so I
took a quick nap and have been writing and catching up with friends instead.
Tomorrow we start at 6 a.m. as we head to Wadi Rum before crossing the border
into Israel. I can’t wait!
Day 3: Wadi Rum - the Red Desert
Day 3 was a long one, but despite some hard travel it
couldn’t have been more fun. We woke up in Petra at 5:30 in the morning, packed
our bags, scarfed down a quick breakfast (the hotel was nice enough to open the
breakfast buffet 30 minutes early for us!), then set off in our car with our
driver Sami by 6:15 a.m. to Wadi Rum. On the drive we passed Sami’s house, and
he told us stories about big snows in the region and taught us how the Bedouin
live. I didn’t know it, but apparently the mountainous region of Jordan
experiences cold winters, and in the 90s there were storms so bad that they
completely knocked out the power and closed the highway for a month. The King
had to helicopter in bread! Further into the drive we learned a little about
the education system for Bedouin children, then spotted a huge tomato and
watermelon farm.
When we arrived in Wadi Rum we met up with our jeep tour
guide, Ali. He had a truck that was outfitted with two benches in the truck bed
and a canopy. We hopped in the bed and we were off into the desert! I had no
clue what to expect, but I knew it would be different from the desert safari I
did in Abu Dhabi because the set up was so different (we would totally die in
this truck if we attempted some of the slides and jumps pulled off by the
drivers in Abu Dhabi). We drove for about 15 minutes, then made our first stop
at an area called Lawrence Spring, which was a key site in the Lawrence of
Arabia story. The best part about the stop, however, were the camels! There
were a couple tied up because their owners were in a nearby tent, and our guide
let us approach them and pet them. I made a friend 😊
Our next stop was at a sand dune. Our driver parked the car,
went to some shade, then told us to climb up. If you’ve never tried climbing a
sand dune, it’s one of the most strenuous activities out there. Tons of
resistance and incline. A friend even accomplished his daily exercise goal on
his Apple Watch just from the 7-minute climb. The views were worth it though,
and the sand felt great under my toes. I started wishing that I had worn work
out gear, because the day was shaping up to be much more physical than I had
anticipated.
The third stop was my favorite. We walked into a canyon that
was formed between two rocks and got to see some old Arabic and Nabatean
carvings. The best part though was getting to climb some of the rocks! Because
it was a narrow canyon the leverage was amazing, and the sandstone rocks had
tons of natural hand and foot holds. I kicked off my shoes and started climbing
up the different levels of the canyon to follow the river. I got a nice
adrenaline rush and accessed some beautiful views. It was SO GREAT. Our guide
helped others in our group up as well, so everyone that wanted to got a little
taste of the climb.
After the canyon we went to scout the arches. There was a
small arch and a big arch, and we climbed up on top of both for a nice photo
op. Again, super physical exercise, and at this point the sun had started
really shining. We were all sweating.
After the big arch we stopped for tea and lunch in the
traditional Bedouin tent. The lunch was a box lunch since it was Ramadan and
our guide, and all the hosts were fasting. It didn’t matter much, because I
hardly had an appetite from the heat. The tea was heated in big metal pots on
the fire, and the flavor was amazing. Although it was hot tea, it was
surprisingly soothing in the heat.
After the lunch we started our drive back to entrance to
meet up with our driver. Along the way we saw a couple more camels roaming, and
even saw two black camels! I didn’t even know that they existed!
Once we met back up with Sami we started our journey to the
border where we left Aqaba, Jordan and crossed into Eilat, Israel. We didn’t
have any time there, but both cities looked lovely and would be worth exploring
further. They’re both located on the Red Sea, and I was surprised by how many
ads I saw for scuba diving shops. From the photos, it looked like a really good
spot!
Once in Eilat we took a cab from the border to the bus station,
then bought tickets for the 2 p.m. bus to Tel Aviv. At this point the day got a
little less enjoyable, and we took a hot and cramped bus 5-hours to Tel Aviv
where our MBA travels began with classmates from Yale. It took a little effort
to get a cab from the bus terminal in Tel Aviv to the hotel (it was a holiday
and all the drivers refused to use the meter, so we had to overpay ☹),
but once we arrived at the hotel we saw friends and the fun part of the night
began.
We were late, so I walked to the restaurant with the group
from Jordan. We were greeted by 40 of our good friends, delicious food, and
endless wine and beer. I had hummus, tomato salad, fried risotto balls,
mini-hamburgers, yummy pita with olive and pepper dips, and a couple other good
dishes. I loved the array of flavors and all the colors!
After food things started to get a little rowdier. A friend
of mine ordered a couple tequila shots to celebrate finishing our first year of
the MBA program, and from the restaurant we went to a club down the street that
had great music and a packed dance floor. It was a strong start to a memorable
trip with great people.
