Thoughts On [insert religious topic(s) here]

We got up early this morning to get our rental car and get the heck out of Amman.

By 8:15 Dave and I were standing outside Reliable Rent-A-Car in downtown Amman while Jac’line filled out the paperwork for the car. This gave Dave and I an opportunity to get acquainted. He is from Toronto and is a salesman for a telecommunications company. He flew into Amman and is going to be going to Turkey by next week to see some friends. He’s a really nice guy and reminded of one of my cousins in New York.

When we had the car, I navigated us out of the city and onto the main highway heading south out of Amman. Mind you, I have no GPS maps for Jordan. So we are going old-school here with paper maps and expanded maps of cities. It’s frustrating following the road on a map when you can know EXACTLY where you are with a GPS. Needless to say, I’m planning on getting lost a few times as we both get more comfortable driving n Jordan.

Our first destination was Bethany Beyond the Jordan. This is the historical place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. However, this area is a volatile border area between Israel and Jordan. When we got to the site, the ticket attendant told us it would take and hour and a half to get down to the river, see the spot and get back to the car because we had to pass through a few military checkpoints. Jac’line explained what the site was (since she had been there before) and we just turned around and headed to our second destination, the Dead Sea.

David had asked the night before if we could go by the Dead Sea so he could say that he experience floating in it. The Sea was right on our way so we drove to the only public beach on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Ironically, this was right across from where we went with our group two weeks prior. We could even see the caves of Qumran from the shore. We got some pictures of David in the water and headed towards Mount Nebo, our final stop before starting the long trek to Petra.

The resort at Amman Beach on the Dead Sea

Looking over a cliff, down to the Dead Sea

I drove to Mount Nebo, up, up, and up the mountain till we saw it at the top. It is from this location that the Israelites under the leadership of Moses looked out and saw the Promised Land that God had given them. For whatever reason, much of the site had been shut-down for repairs so you couldn’t get to the best views. Jac’line and I hadn’t driven this far just to see off one side of the mountain so after hopping some barriers and sneaking past workers, we got to the other side of the mountain and could look out over the Jordan River and into Israel.

Looking out from Mount Nebo towards Israel. The sign at the bottom points out the major cities in the distance.

We left Mount Nebo-I was still driving-and got on the Kings Highway to head south for 4 hours to get to Petra. The Kings Highway is the US 19 of Jordan. Just when you get up speed, you have to slow down because you are entering a town of 40 people. Additionally, Jordan has “silent cops” in the form of random speed bumps that catch you off guard and freak you out. I hit a few of those or had to brake suddenly because they just pop up out of nowhere.

About two and half hours into the drive, we came up on Wadi Mujib, Jordan’s Grand Canyon. It is 4 kilometers wide and 1 kilometer deep. The drive down the canyon involved an ungodly amount of switchbacks and steep turns.

Looking down into Wadi Mujib, Israel's Grand Canyon

Thankfully, we were in the middle of nowhere and there weren’t many other drivers on the road. At the bottom of the canyon is a dam that we drove over to get to the other side of the canyon and begin the trek back up. The trek up was ridiculously steep, going back up the side of the canyon in only half the width of mountain that the road down used.

By the time we got to the top of the other side, we were starving because all we had had to eat was the skimpy breakfast at the hostel. Almost on cue a restaurant, Trajan’s Rest Stop, appeared on the right. We pulled in and went inside to check it out. The food was laid out in a buffet, covered with Saran wrap and looked like it had been out for a few hours.

I should have put my foot down and said “No way, Jose” but instead we ate at this nasty dive. The food was downright terrible, and each of us is lucky that as of this evening, no one has gotten ill yet. That was a bad life choice but thankfully I think we’ll be ok.

When we got back on the road at 4 PM, we still had another two hours of driving to do. So, as the sun started setting in front of us, we drove down the King’s Highway towards Petra. Along the way, we got lost in some small towns and at one part our car was literally bombarded with young kids asking for money and grabbing onto the car. It was very unsettling because I felt trapped as the driver trying to get out of the situation without flattening any of the kids.

Driving at 140 kph for the last stretch, we made it into Petra just as the sun was setting to our right. It was 7 PM and in total the drive had taken all of 9 hours since leaving Amman. We dropped David off at his hostel and headed to ours. We had heard that our hostel, the Petra Guest House, was under renovation so we’d be eating at the Crowne Plaza next door. When we got to our hostel, it redirected us to the Crowne Plaza and that is where we will be staying for our time in Petra.

I’m excited to have a nice bed, hot shower, and good meals for two days. We both needed this after Amman. After a huge dinner at the buffet restaurant in the hotel, Jac’line and I went back and passed out.

Shalom,

Mat