A journey through the middle east (part 3)
Following an enjoyable evening in Aqaba, my mind was set on one thing only, swim in the Red Sea, but first, hot coffee on the rooftop to watch the sunrise over the red hills, it was one of those mornings, when I wished I had slept outside, gazing at the stars.
Coffee, check, beautiful sunrise, check, breakfast, not check. I was hungry and very much willing to get my lazy ass moving, but what was the point of eating breakfast alone when I had 5 people who I could share it with, I didn’t know if they were morning persons or not, but the evidence pointed to the latter.
If the smell of Cardamon Cofee doesn’t wake them up, I don’t know what will. In the end the coffee helped, but slamming the doors a couple of times sure does its job.
Since everybody was up and we only had a couple of hours until the departure to Wadi Rum, we hurried to the nearest breakfast place, where we had a big surprise : Falafel and Humus ( as a side note, I do believe that someone can live with Hummus and Falafel all their lives, but only if you are born with the food, as a person who strongly believes meat is essential to most meals, Falafel can only take you so far )
Since our plans didn’t quite match, we decided to split up until departure time, swimming in the red sea was on my bucket list.
I’m not a person to get easily shocked, by any number of things, but seeing people go swimming with Burkhas on did indeed raise an eyebrow, well, not one to judge.
Towels on the sand, clothes off, second sea on our trip checked, swimming in late November in a 25 degrees Celsius water, does have a nice thing about it.
Swimming is all fun and games, but supplies for the desert weren’t going to buy themselves, and let’s not forget souvenirs.
After a shopping rush, we were still left with a hard choice, to buy or not to buy alcohol in the desert, from our previous experience, our desert hosts would have enjoyed a little alcohol. To the alcohol shop then.
Seeing as international brands weren’t a big hit, we decided to try everything and anything local, Rum, Whisky, Vodka, whatever you have, we want it ( not a bad inspiration, for a country that doesn’t like alcohol too much, they produce a hell of a booze )
Meeting up with the group, we discover that we will be joined by another traveler, a girl from Chile ( the guys from the hotel mistook Chile for Czech Republic, the more the merrier I always say ).
The drivers came in front of the hotel with two taxies and took us to the base camp. At the base camp, we were introduced to our guide and given the schedule for the next 24h.
We would be given a tour of Wadi Rum by jeep, visiting the most important landmarks, arrive at base camp, enjoy the sunset and then have dinner with the Bedouins.
After hot tea and brief introductions, we made some quick necessities shopping, water and such, boarded the jeep and began our 6 hour trail through the desert. Being here brought back a lot of nice memories
The jeep tour through the desert was one of the highlights of our trip, even more so, as we could finally feel the hot sand beneath our feet and walk in the footsteps belonging to Lawrence of Arabia.
In this barren land, at the top of the highest cliff, you can find the peace and solitude some of us long for, it’s not perfect, it’s not ideal, but 5 minutes of meditation in such a place can and will give you an easy heart.
The voyage through the desert was short, but filled with extraordinary things, that no camera can capture (that doesn’t mean we didn’t try), the things we saw and felt, I think are better described with pictures.
After the overwhelming jeep experience, we left our backpacks in the tents and began the search for a big ass cliff where we could see the sunset from, whilst drinking everything good Jordan had to offer.
Amidst the drinking and the storytelling, another person joined our group, Steve from the Netherlands, one stand-up guy, who I would like to thank for some of the great pictures he took for us in our short time together.
By the time the sun finally set, we were hungry as hell, seeing a camel gave us a few ideas of how fast we could eat it if we ran after it, but that wouldn’t be the case as the Bedouins finally had our meal ready, it was one of those nights, when all things were happening in the right order, for the right reasons and was headed awfully fast to a perfect night.
We gathered around the camp fire and began feasting, the food disappeared faster than the Road Runner fleeing from Wile E. Coyote, the night ended in songs and cheers, as tomorrow we were headed to one of the seven wonders of the world – Petra.
