Aqaba, Wadi Rum, and Petra

I had no time to rest from my Oman trip and the next weekend the CIEE Diplomacy and Policy studies program was off on a tour of Jordan!

Our four-hour bus ride landed us first in Aqaba where we took in the humidity and sunshine on a large yacht. Before spending the day on the boat we had had lunch with the Aqaba Development Corporation, learning about Aqaba’s status as an economic free zone full of plans to build new ports and resorts. Jordan has only 28km of coastline, just in the city of Aqaba. Next door to Aqaba are the coast of Israel, Egypt, and further down, Saudi Arabia. Our yacht took us to a swimming spot where we jumped off the boats top balcony (I was so anxious to get in the royal blue water - I jumped in immediately!) and snorkeled in the reefs below. We took pictures, watched the sunset, and ate fish for dinner. Our hotel in Aqaba was called “The Captain” and had a nautical theme. We explored Aqaba that night and I finally ordered the well-known lemon and mint juice drink and shisha with my friends. The elections had come to a close earlier that week and crowds of decked-out party vehicles circled the square, blaring their horns in response to their candidate’s successful election.

The next morning, after a quick last trip to the beach, we set off for Wadi Rum. Why is it common to think that a desert is just “nothing for miles”? The drive into Wadi Rum was incredible – the red cliffs shaped from descending water levels thousands of years ago make the landscape picturesque. We arrived at our “camp.” A camp designed for tourists. We were surprised to learn that each tent has its own bathroom, electricity, and outlets! Good thing for our mosquito nets too…The food was delicious and we spent the early part of afternoon eating, dancing to live music, and tying our new kuffiyahs. Then we scrambled into the backs of 4x4s and rode across the desert landscape. We climbed a cliff and took pictures, watching another tourist attempt to sand-surf down the cliff with his snowboard!

The 4x4’s took us to the location where the movie The Martian with Matt Damon was filled and the set where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed decades ago. It is still a famous location. Next we rode camels, my camel was named “Yellow.” While we climbed another cliff to watch the sunset I met a Bedouin man and his two sons. We talked about life in Wadi Rum, the tourists, and the “race” that was happening the next morning. When I woke up for the sunrise the next morning we did indeed see a race, camel racing across the desert. We had tea over a campfire that night and spend the rest of the evening in the camp again, eating, learning a song from our program staff and laughing hysterically at our attempt at Arabic tongue-twisters. Turns out the program staff had us saying tongue-twisters that easily made you swear instead if you messed up the words! We met the main characters from Theeb, the first Oscar-nominated Jordanian film filed right in Wadi Rum. We got to hear from the stars and ask them questions about the movie. We laid out under the stars (I’ve never seen so many) and then went to bed.

The next morning we left early for Petra and were again amazed to see the red caverns, rock-cut architecture, ancient aqueduct system, and wall carvings. The treasury is the most impressive rock-cut architecture and it reminded me a bit of Ephesus in Turkey. There were so many tourists in Petra and many Bedouin people selling horse, donkey, and camel rides and children selling fake jewelry and postcards. A few of us were able to interact with some of the children. It was interesting to talk to them and watch their selling tactics and techniques. I think we walked over six miles that day, Petra is a long road of carvings and cliffs with so much to see and do along the way.

It was a great tour of Jordan and I came away from it with many great memories.