kingdom of jordan crossing the land border into the kingdom of jordan greeted by large photos of king abdullah II and his father, late king hussein
passing the last jordanian soldier who checks our passports and here we are on jordanian soil only one person stands outside the border crossing we ask him "are you taxi?" "no" he answers pointing at a white car he says "this is taxi, i am driver" he's driving us towards aqaba where gigantic jordanian flag proudly waves above the city in the desert wind the flag is so large that it is fully seen from across the red sea in the israeli side once in aqaba he's introducing us to his brother osama who gives us big smile and asking us if we have cell phone we ask what for he answers "so you can call the white house and get your 25 million dollar reward for finding osama" heading with osama to wadi rum vast colorful desert with canyons, rocky mountains, and flowing sand dunes arriving at night to rum village to meet ali and eli two local bedouins this is where the paved road ends from here on it's only desert paths osama's car can't go any deeper into wadi rum we continue with ali and eli in their jeep driving up and down sand dunes until we reach ali's bedouin tent large tent with small burning fire in the center for food and boiling water the tent stands alone in the empty desert surrounded by dunes and mountains dark night red full moon begins rising above the dunes morning we're in the jeep passing tall mountains that look like melting chocolate other mountains are multi color rocks with shapes that look like skulls driving below huge arches creative collaboration of rock, sand, water, and wind climbing up to the top and walking on the arches the modern dancer among us begins fantasizing choreographing dance performance on top of the arch stopping on wide stretch of wavy sand soft and warm digging three inches below and revealing layer of comforting cooling sand dages getting into some yoga postures using the sand as endless yoga mat ali and eli who never got exposed to yoga before joining as students in what turns into bedouin sand dune yoga class passing by rocks where underground city used to exist coded map of this city is engraved on hidden rock stopping for midday break from the sun snacking on fruits and resting in the shade eli bringing small purple rock and with another rock crashing the purple rock into powder gently applying it on the faces of the women natural bedouin make up from a distance noticing tall reddish sand dune getting closer to find out this dune leans against a vertical multi color mountain that feeds the dune with new layers of fresh sand the dune is over 300 feet tall we begin climbing it sinking in the sand footsteps quickly fill up again with rolling sand leaving no trace of footsteps left only seconds ago towards the top of the dune crawling on all four reaching the peak with hearts beating fast resting on our backs on caressing sand view of the open canyon and the erect mountain known as jabel rum when the time arrives to head down from top of the dune rolling all the way to the bottom the speed of rolling gets faster and faster one couple rolling down while hugging each other becoming human ball cutting through the red-purple-pink sand driving back to rum village before we head north towards the city of petra rum village full with trees and lots of green surprising for dry hot desert the secret lies underground with many square miles of fresh water reservoirs below the layer of hard rock fed by seven tributaries arriving to petra high up above sea level entering petra through a mile long narrow deep canyon wild fig trees growing along the walk in some parts the road is twenty feet wide in others the rock almost touches overhead making it possible for handful of men to hold it against an army petra means rock no city was ever more aptly named suddenly the end of the chasm is seen and unexpectedly in bright sunlight cut facade of great tomb gigantic all of it part of the rock petra built by the nabateans more than 2300 years ago inside great rift valley the impressive tombs and structures reveal history of edomites, nabateans, romans, muslims each with their architecture spread in area of over 25 square miles passing near royal tombs glorious palaces curved in the rock each for one dead person tombs of the common people are also curved in the rocks the living people dwelt in free-standing houses upon death living situation is upgraded the colors of the rocks and the tombs result of rain, sand storms, minerals, and oxidation yellow - orange - purple - red - black after hundreds of years that petra was deserted bedouins moved to live inside the valley and the tombs in 1986 the jordanian government moved the bedouins out into a buildings project now called little petra the bedouins still allowed to come to petra during daytime with their goats, horses, camels, and donkeys to offer camel/horse/donkey taxi rides to the visitors as well as sell jewelry and food we're meeting three young bedouins all three were born in petra inside tombs sometime they sneak into petra at night to sleep on mountain peaks or inside nostalgic cozy tombs climbing flight of 800 stairs cut into the rock taking us up the ad-deir mountain marvelous mountain scenes all along the way up huge tomb awaiting us at the top overlooking tall pointy mountain peaks putting us all into appreciative silence nature history cultures meeting osama again heading with him back to the border but first going with him to his tire shop in aqaba where he has five employees and lots of business chairs pulled for us to the sidewalk outside the shop for drinking tea and discussing gender in the muslim society in addition to the tire shop osama also owns four taxis when he has the opportunity he loves being the driver for people from out of the country leaving the city behind getting into conversations about culture, religion, and history while cruising the roads up and down the jordanian mountains goodbye hugs and kisses at the border until our next visit to the desert kingdom you can see photos from our jordan journey at http://www.alokhealth.com/jordanphotos.html zemach zohar Alok Holistic Health Community http://www.AlokHealth.com http://www.BodyTemple.info <*> To buy Marcus L. Endicott's new book: Vagabond Globetrotting 3: The Electronic Traveler in the New Millennium, go to: http://www.lulu.com/mendicott <*> To post a message to this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] {* Remember, it is important to include a descriptive subject line.} {* Please do not quote entire Digests or long messages in replies!} Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/green-travel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
