Jordan Day 3 - bone dust on my feet :(

Day 3! My food poising is gone, but i'm still on a diet of pita and water mmmhhh yummy. Anyway after that lovely breakfast we had to listen to a water lecture on Jordan. Scariest lecture I think I've ever had. Brief synopsis if Jordan doesn't get its shit together we are going to be seeing mass migration from the country within the next 5 to 10 years, Jordan is already on a water rationing system and luck houses get 6 hours of water per week! can you imagine (so now everyone feels guilty about showering), the Dead Sea will be dry very soon, mass water related casualties and lack of water for crop growing. In short its a shit show.

Anyway after scary water talk at 8am we got on the bus and drove to the Jordan River at the site where Jesus was baptized. This was really amazing and sad at the same time for a variety of reasons. It was amazing because on the bus ride there we all had a really great conversation on Jesus and how if he were to come back to earth now he would pray in a Temple and probably not a church and how his baptism was just a mikvah and it really brought home how close all the religions are. After that when we actually got there it was so sad because this great and famous river that was once huge, is now this tiny polluted stream. What was

interesting was that people were still going into it and filling water bottles with the water, I hope someone told them that the water is cancerous. It was also interesting because right across the border was the West Bank, occupied Palestine, the Israeli territories whatever you want to call it and believe me its a big deal what you call it. For instance our tour guide never once called it Israel he called it Palestine...the whole of Israel, he just didn't acknowledge that there is a country there. But I digress so I was standing right across the river from the West Bank and our program director, Gal, is the son of an Israeli general who had charge of that portion of the West Bank for a long time. And he told us a story about never thinking he would ever be looking into that region from the Jordanian side because when he was there as a kid was before the peace and there were always terrorists and militants coming through Jordan and now he was standing on the Jordanian side of the river next to a Jordanian soldier and it was a very meaningfully experience for him which I thought made it more meaningful for me.

After that we drove along the Dead Sea (very pretty) got out a few times to see it but never got down to it. Also we went to this cool Wadi Mujib (a dried river canyon) where I really wish we

had time to go camping. Its like this little nature reserve hidden away in this crack in the dried cliffs. And if you go hiking there you have to wear life jackets because there is a danger of flash flooding (unfortunately we didn't get in that far) The one we visited used to be a major source of water for the Dead Sea, but now they take the water and pipe it to Amman. Luckily a nature society convinced them to let the water come almost to the Dead Sea so that the habitats in the cliff are still around.

After that we went to the village of Fifa. Amazing place. Its this tiny poor village in the Dead Sea valley and this amazing Muslim family let us all 20 of us come into their house, fed us and than took us on a walk through the village. It was so touching and amazing. We all sat on cushions on the floor and ate with out hands and pita off of big trays of potatoes and peas and chicken. I was so happy that we went.

Than we went for a walk outside and it was heartbreaking the poverty here. We were surrounded by little children running after us without shoes on. One child was on a donkey that he kept whipping after us. So we walked through the village and than we were in this barren field of dust and holes that we walk across to see down into the Dead Sea valley. Well we get all the way across and than someone explains that this was a graveyard until an earthquake a

couple of years back and that for fun the children will bury themselves in it! Now I was wearing flip flops so I was a little freaked out to be walking through open graves and on the way back I def saw some bones. ewww.

Anyway after that interesting experience we went back to the village store where we all bought a coke or something to support the local economy, and our RA Asaf bought a big coke bottle and some plastic cups and passed them out to all the kids, so cute.

We were supposed to have gone hicking today but for a variety of reasons we were too late so a few of the kids took us up to their Wadi where their water catches were, and the irrigation tanks that they go swimming in, and than a few of us climbed half way up a mountain side to get a view of the valley (unfortunately no camera on me since I was wearing a long skirt for propriety sake)

Finally we made the long drive to Karak where we would stay the night. This hotel was perhaps the worst we've stayed in. A bunch of people either got bed bugs or fleas we still can't decide. Through this day one of our program directors, Marla was sick too (we started dropping about 2 a day after me) and we got her into bed but she would get bit up that night all over her face and arms by the mysterious bugs.

Anyway we wanted to go out because it really was Becka's birthday that night so we went to a cafe with our incompetent guides Gundi and Riad who promised drinks but didn't deliver, fail. And than I had to explain to them the significance of the 21st birthday in American life and that its not just about getting drunk (just mainly about that) but that its a rite of passage and all that...I don't think they got it.

So we get back from the cafe and some of the others had gotten drinks from a convince store and were drunk and Grant (one of the two gay guys in our group) decided it was a good idea to climb into bed with our bus driver and tourist police officer and watch tv with them. Well they were cracking up and Riad and Asaf were trying to get him out of there. It was all just pretty funny.

After that bed time, which wasn't really bed time because the mosquitoes kept flying into our ears and buzzing around. Eventually I made a tent out of my sheets and hid under them, but from about 3am to 5am no sleep and than just as I'm going to sleep the Mosque next door starts its 5am call to prayer and its all Alu Akbar, Alu Akbar....goodbye sleep, hello misery :(

Jordan Day 2 - Food Poising

So day two was interesting...I just wish I could remember more of it because this was they day that I got food poising.

The day started off fairly normally we got up really early, had our breakfast (which is not different from lunch or diner: humus, pita, veggies, potatoes peas and carrots in a stew thing, chicken, and hard boiled eggs...mmmhhh oily) Anyway than we were off. I wasn't feeling great I just ate some pita and some tomatoes in the morning, but we went to an old castle Ajlun built by the nephew of Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi in the 1180s to protect the valley and the trade routes against crusader attacks.

Very pretty castle with great views, like all of the castles here because they were intended to be able to see all in the vicinity so are built on huge hills (which I still don't know how our bus driver got up or down) and its very interesting to contemplate how they build these massive castles so long ago and looking down at the valleys you understand ancient war strategy a lot better.

Anyway after the castle (at which we had some awesome Bedouin coffee) we went to the largest Roman ruins still around outside of Italy, the city of Jerash. Amazing city, just miles of Roman ruins, unfortunately I was dehydrated and had food poising but I walked the whole way

and manged to avoid throwing up until I got to back to the tourist center where I did throw up and than got a ride back to the bus with a nice Jordanian couple. Still somehow I managed to take some pictures in my condition... somehow :)

So after that fun part of the trip ::sarcasm:: I slept on the bus while we drove to Amman, and woke up only to see a lot of KFCs in Amman, don't ask me why they love fried chicken there, and even a few Poppeys.

Now the place we stayed in Amman...that was interesting. It looked like a regular hotel, regular for Jordan = slightly shitty, smelly rooms, and showers that don't actually work.to Such is life. Anyway after dinner in this "normal hotel" we went out to a cafe which was very cute, we didn't get kidnapped and sold on the cab ride there or the ride back, which wasn't in a cab but in some random guys truck (which was interesting with 5 girls and 2 guys...we told the guys they had to protect us when they came to kidnap us :) ) So the cafe went off without a hitch and i was even well enough to drink some tea (btw Jordan has amazing tea, its mint tea with actual mint tea in it, and like Arabic tea its really sweet. Think southern sweet tea thats hot)

So we get back to the hotel and its Becka's 21st birthday (actually her birthday wasn't for another day but we made the entire trip her birthday trip so we tried to celebrate every night) So of course we had to get drinks. Now getting drinks in an Arabic Muslim country is an endeavor. Some places have liquor stores for drinking in your private home but most cafes don't sell liquor. Which is why when we found our hotel had a bar on top we should have known something was fishy.

Now this bar was only accessible through the elevator, the stairs just ended. It was on the roof and once you get up there you see the naked silhouette of a girl on a poster. And than when you go in you realize that you are in a brothel. An honest to goodness whore house! Well it explained so much about the shady nature of the hotel.

No joke, fat women in skimpy hooker clothes with glitter and long fake hair are prancing

around, dancing with men and sitting at the bar with them. We watched as guys would come in, sit down, call a girl over and than they would disappear into the back room for 10,15 minutes and come out the girl straightening her clothes and the guy would leave. It was ridiculous. We are sitting there 17 NYU student in the middle of a brothel. Well it was pretty funny. But the best part was when my roommate Evie went out onto the roof to smoke a cigarette which was near the "back room" a woman came out of it and goes "where are you from" she says America and the woman mutters bitterly "Welcome to Jordan"

Pic of Annie (left) Becka (right) in the brothel

Skip Ahead to Jordan: Day 1

So because I'm terrible at blogging I'm going to skip about three weeks of events in Israel to go to Jordan while its fresh on my mind, but no fear I will backtrack and hit the high points of life here.

Jordan is one of the poorest and most naturally beautiful countries I have been in. Its reputation, or perceived reputation, as a leader in the "civilized Arab world" may or may not be deserved, but from what I have seen this is a country with little money or natural resources, precious little water, a failing infrastructure and a poverty stricken population surrounded by some of the worlds greatest history and natural beauty.

My journey to Jordan began on Sunday morning at an un-godly early hour. We hopped on a bus and drove northwest around the West Bank to the accessible border between Israel and

Jordan. We crossed with little trouble through the Israeli line and than took a bus across the

Jordan river to the Jordanian side where we underwent another security check, and than we were on our way.

Inside of Jordan we picked up our two tour guides, Gundi and Rihad (whom we would call Ghandi and Rihana) * note for anyone traveling, never pick up 2 tour guides it promotes competition and longer more boring talks.

Once in Jordan we drove through the country side listening (or not) to a lecture on water shortages in Jordan and how the Jordan river and the Yarmouk river have been dammed and

channeled for irrigation leading to the destruction of natural habitats and the promotion of farming over other industries even though farming uses about 50% of the water and only contributes about 2% to the GDP (also a problem Israel has but not as severely).

The country side showed this poverty in its uniform gray bleached colors of nature and buildings and the constant irrigation lines permitting crop planting in rocky plots that barely deserve to be called fields and looked capable of producing nothing but dust. And this was all in the fertile Jordan river valley nothing to the poverty that we would see later.

A little better off than typical Jordanian town.

&

Jordanian countryside in the fertile river valley.

We drove through towns where children pointed and waved or threw rocks and flipped us off, and where every adult in the vicinity started with open curiosity at our bus, until we came to the King Abdullah Canal damming the Yarmouk river for irrigation. It runs parallel to the Jordan river and the border with Israel.

It is a small river, lessened by damming in Jordan and further upstream and from across its banks we can see the border with Israel and into the Golan Heights.

King Abdullah Cannal

Damn of the Yarmouk river into the Canal

Looking across the border into Israel

After seeing the damn we took a drive up to an "eco-park" and had a picnic lunch on benches there. The park was surrounded by a fence to protect its few trees from the Bedouins who graze their animals across the countryside and can be seen in tents with their animals dotting the mountains. Above the park a reservoir of water is hidden between two mountains. This year it is only partially filled due to the rain shortages.

Rain shortages and a general lack of water are a huge problem in Jordan where water is rationed, flash floods can't be absorbed and lowering water levels promise mass migration/flight from Jordan within 5 to 10 years if the problem is not solved.

Bedouin tents and sheep The eco park from above

The reservoir

After the reservoir (which our bus driver skilfully drove up a one way road about an inch

wider than the bus and than backed down it with all of us convinced we are going to die and making bets on who will survive the fall) we drove to see the first of our Roman/Greek ruins. I say "Roman/Greek" not only because they were occupied by both at different times according to our guide but because he could not make up his

mind for most of the trip who built what and when they lived there. Still the ruins were

interesting half excavated temple and amphitheater accompanied by a far more primitive cave near by.

After that the first day was pretty much over. We drove to a small town on the top of a nearby hill and stayed at a local hotel that was actually one of the better hotels we stayed at; it didn't have bed bugs, flees, disgusting smells and there was hot water in the shower for maybe two minutes. We ate outside on a covered patio in the cold that only happens in the desert and drank hot sweet Bedouin tea. The hotel staff put on music for us and we danced around like fools to belly dancing music, Arabic rap, ABBA and Michael Jackson much to the entertainment of all of the hotel guests and staff, before we turned in for bed.

My first impressions of Jordan were of heat and sand, houses of a uniform color with the rocks around them and little water and road infrastructure. The sides of the road were littered with trash and latter we would learn that Jordan doesn't have trash or sewage public services. All in all I was shocked at the contrast between the international image Jordan gives off as a modern Arabic country and the reality of its poverty and problems.