The taxi stand at the bus station was quite a mess. We had cab drivers on all sides trying to persuade us into their vehicles. By the time we found a taxi to go with, the other drivers were trying everything in their power to keep us out of the cab. They even tried physically pulling Lindsey out as she was entering the cab. She blew up on the guy and we quickly got her in the cab and out of there.
We ended up in the downtown area of Amman looking for the hotel we had written down but we could not find it. We ended up coming across a place called the Cairo hotel. It wasn’t the nicest looking place but it was late and we were tired. The man who owned the place was sleeping behind the front desk when we arrived. He had a room with three beds, luckily and he only wanted 18JD for it. The beds were hard but it was just right for us. We dropped off our things and went across the street to get some food. We also found an internet café so we could buy our plane tickets to India. We decided to leave at the end of October because I thought it would be nice to go back to Petra and work with “Hap’s” cousin for a little while and Ramsey went to Lebanon to be with his family for the first time.
We never thought we would spend much time in Amman but we ended up staying for 8 days! Our main goal was to drop our passports off at the Indian Embassy, which we did (after having to get some crummy passport photos taken with some old school camera) during our first day in the city and then wait five days to get them back. In the mean time we went on trips to the Dead Sea, The baptism sight of Jesus, and a couchsurfing walk held by the Amman group members of couchsurfing.com.
The man who owned the Cairo hotel and worked the front desk was named Fiez. He was an older and very spiritual gentleman. He called Ramsey by his middle name and even gave Ramsey a copy of the Quran to read. He was the most generous man I had met thus far. On our second night at the Cairo Hotel, he brought us a chicken dinner with rice, bread and Pepsi to drink with it. He set up a table for us on the balcony so we could enjoy our meal while observing the the city life below. He had some new treat or gift for us almost every day. He gave us tea, good coffee, aphrodisiacs, and even perfumes! We spent some time smelling all of the rare perfumes he had behind his desk and one day after we were out-and-about, upon arriving back to the hotel Fiez had a small vile of our favorite scent waiting for each of us. It was the best gift ever!
I had a short spell where I got really sick. I’m not sure how it happened but I am not surprised it did. It could have been from something I ate or from something I came in contact with on the street or elsewhere. Either way, I was sick as a dog. It hit me hardcore right in the middle of my sleep and I was back and forth from the toilet for almost four hours! Fiez heard my commotion and made me rinse my eyes with rose water. After I rinsed, he poured some into a cup so I could drink it as well. He gave me tea and monitored me until he was sure I was settled. I was out of commission the next day but I did feel a lot better. Within 24 hours I was back on my feet and it is all thanks to Fiez.
One REALLY special night was when we got to meet Lindsey’s cousin for a wonderful meal at his home. Dan was running his own business in Amman and had been living in the city for nearly two years with his beautiful wife Becca and little girl, Abby. They were very warm to we three vagabonds and shared an amazing meal with us. Kofta, humus, tabbouleh, kubhz, and several other wonderful dishes were laid out for us when we arrived. We talked with them about life in Amman and how difficult of a transition it was for them moving to Jordan from the East coast. They had a teacher coming over often to teach them Arabic. Something I am very jealous of. I think Arabic is such a fascinating language and would love to learn enough to hold a conversation. I pick up a word every couple of days but I still do not understand it at all.
Our trip to the Dead Sea was fantastic. It was a trip to the beach! Well... a different kind of beach. One that was refreshing and disgusting to swim in. It was such salty and muddy water. We rubbed the “medicinal” mud on us and floated for a long while. The other trip we took near the Dead Sea was to the baptism sight (Al-Maghtas) where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Lindsey did not join us for that trip. Instead, she spent her afternoon at the Duke’s estate with the Amman couchsurfing group to discuss recycling in the city of Amman. On the bus out of Amman, Ramsey and I met Eirini, a flight attendant from Greece. She was headed to the baptism site as well. We were dropped off on the highway where the road towards Al-Maghtas was. Our bus was headed to the Dead Sea so we would need to wave down another bus or hitch a ride in order to get to Al-Maghtas. We told Eirini that we were going to hitchhike the rest of the way there, and she decided she would hoof it with us.
The first lift we received was in the back of a pickup along with another local man. The driver didn’t speak English but it seemed as if he understood where we wanted to go so we trusted him and hopped in the box. There was sheep doo doo all over. The ride was longer than we thought it was going to be and that is because our driver had another location in mind. We were accidentally dropped off at the Israel border. Whoops! We jumped out and the man drove off. There were taxis and cabs everywhere! It was such a clusterpuck of police, civilians and tourists. It took us a while to get directions to where we wanted to go but an officer eventually pointed us in the right direction. It was kind of annoying but if we hadn’t of been dropped off there we would have never been able to hitch a ride on a tractor! The guys rolling Kenny Chesney style braught us a few miles down the road to a gas station where we almost hitched a ride with a cab driver which would’ve meant no free ride. We got out at the nearest town and paid the little that we owed him. We were then given a lift from a generous local man to the gates at Al-Maghtas.
It was inspiring to see where John the Baptist laid Jesus into the river Jordan. Or at least where it used to be. The real river was a little ways away from the sight, no longer flowing through that area. The actual river was extremely filthy. There were stairs descending into the water for those who wanted to place the waters upon their person. The sight of the brown water was not inviting but I muscled up the courage to step in anyways. There was a dead fish floating right next to where I entered the river. I imagined that it wasn't actually there and poured water over my head. Luckily I didn’t get sick after that. God must have been on my side for that one.
We said farewell to Erini at the entrance. She didn’t want to hitchhike out of there again so she got a lift with a bus of people back to the city. Ramsey and I were lucky enough to get a ride to the main highway with a camera man for grayscale films. I had never heard of the company but it was printed all over the side of his ride. After we were dropped off we began to walk in the general direction of Amman but were stopped after only walking a quarter of a mile by some men sitting by the side of the road selling melons. They were kind enough to share some pumpkins seeds with us. They were seasoned with some mystery spices that made them very delicious. One of the men gave us a ride to the bus stop for Amman after waiting for a long time. We wanted to hitchhike out of there but they made us wait assuring us that one of their friends was coming to give us a ride.
Most of our time in Amman was spent at an internet café across the street from where we were staying where we could catch up on emails, bills, and Skype conversations with friends and family. It was near the cafe where I had my first straight blade shave. Ramsey and I both decided to give it a go and it was well worth the JD we paid for it. Another chunk of time was spent at Hashem’s, a small alley restaurant that served bowls of foul, sepbaha (at least that’s how it sounded when the server said it), hummus, sliced vegetables, and khubz. We ate there every day. It was so cheap and so good. It was very quick food and even though it was such a small space, we always seemed to find a place to sit right away. It was the best Mediterranean restaurant we had been to, at least in my book. It was only 1.50 JD a person including a Coca Cola. It was perfect for poor folk like us.
Another favorite person I met in Amman was an Israeli man staying on the same floor as us at the Cairo Hotel. He would always be sitting on the balcony, people watching in the evening. I joined him one night thinking it would be a nice change for him to have a little company. He didn’t speak a lick of English and I didn’t speak a lick of Arabic. The majority of our conversation was an assortment of hand gestures and pointing. We would point to things and say what they were in our native tongue or, in a charades like fashion, act it out. It would have been goofy to witness but we definitely connected on a whole new level. We enjoyed each others’ company. One night, Ramsey, Lindsey and myself bought a cake to share with Fiez and the Israeli man. It was like a small birthday party without the birthday. I think cake parties are way too much fun to only have on birthdays. Everybody is usually happy with cake!
The end of our stay in Amman was also where we said farewell to Ramsey. He had a ticket to Lebanon to meet his father’s side of the family in Beirut. He had never met them before and was little nervous about the swift approach of a long awaited introduction. He did get a new haircut (Jihad's wishes) before we left Egypt so he would make a good first impression on them. Linds and I were sad and a little jealous that he was off to Lebanon but we were mostly happy for him. For the first time in his life, he was going to get in touch with his Lebanese roots. We waved him off at a cab outside of our hotel. He would be meeting us in India a couple of weeks after Lindsey and I got there.
As for Linds and I, we were back on our way to Petra. I had got in touch with "Hap" and told him we would love to come and work with his cousin for a week before we flew out of Amman to India. The day after we said goodbye to Ramsey, we boarded a bus back to Petra for our second Bedouin adventure.
We ended up in the downtown area of Amman looking for the hotel we had written down but we could not find it. We ended up coming across a place called the Cairo hotel. It wasn’t the nicest looking place but it was late and we were tired. The man who owned the place was sleeping behind the front desk when we arrived. He had a room with three beds, luckily and he only wanted 18JD for it. The beds were hard but it was just right for us. We dropped off our things and went across the street to get some food. We also found an internet café so we could buy our plane tickets to India. We decided to leave at the end of October because I thought it would be nice to go back to Petra and work with “Hap’s” cousin for a little while and Ramsey went to Lebanon to be with his family for the first time.
We never thought we would spend much time in Amman but we ended up staying for 8 days! Our main goal was to drop our passports off at the Indian Embassy, which we did (after having to get some crummy passport photos taken with some old school camera) during our first day in the city and then wait five days to get them back. In the mean time we went on trips to the Dead Sea, The baptism sight of Jesus, and a couchsurfing walk held by the Amman group members of couchsurfing.com.
The man who owned the Cairo hotel and worked the front desk was named Fiez. He was an older and very spiritual gentleman. He called Ramsey by his middle name and even gave Ramsey a copy of the Quran to read. He was the most generous man I had met thus far. On our second night at the Cairo Hotel, he brought us a chicken dinner with rice, bread and Pepsi to drink with it. He set up a table for us on the balcony so we could enjoy our meal while observing the the city life below. He had some new treat or gift for us almost every day. He gave us tea, good coffee, aphrodisiacs, and even perfumes! We spent some time smelling all of the rare perfumes he had behind his desk and one day after we were out-and-about, upon arriving back to the hotel Fiez had a small vile of our favorite scent waiting for each of us. It was the best gift ever!
I had a short spell where I got really sick. I’m not sure how it happened but I am not surprised it did. It could have been from something I ate or from something I came in contact with on the street or elsewhere. Either way, I was sick as a dog. It hit me hardcore right in the middle of my sleep and I was back and forth from the toilet for almost four hours! Fiez heard my commotion and made me rinse my eyes with rose water. After I rinsed, he poured some into a cup so I could drink it as well. He gave me tea and monitored me until he was sure I was settled. I was out of commission the next day but I did feel a lot better. Within 24 hours I was back on my feet and it is all thanks to Fiez.
One REALLY special night was when we got to meet Lindsey’s cousin for a wonderful meal at his home. Dan was running his own business in Amman and had been living in the city for nearly two years with his beautiful wife Becca and little girl, Abby. They were very warm to we three vagabonds and shared an amazing meal with us. Kofta, humus, tabbouleh, kubhz, and several other wonderful dishes were laid out for us when we arrived. We talked with them about life in Amman and how difficult of a transition it was for them moving to Jordan from the East coast. They had a teacher coming over often to teach them Arabic. Something I am very jealous of. I think Arabic is such a fascinating language and would love to learn enough to hold a conversation. I pick up a word every couple of days but I still do not understand it at all.
Another favorite person I met in Amman was an Israeli man staying on the same floor as us at the Cairo Hotel. He would always be sitting on the balcony, people watching in the evening. I joined him one night thinking it would be a nice change for him to have a little company. He didn’t speak a lick of English and I didn’t speak a lick of Arabic. The majority of our conversation was an assortment of hand gestures and pointing. We would point to things and say what they were in our native tongue or, in a charades like fashion, act it out. It would have been goofy to witness but we definitely connected on a whole new level. We enjoyed each others’ company. One night, Ramsey, Lindsey and myself bought a cake to share with Fiez and the Israeli man. It was like a small birthday party without the birthday. I think cake parties are way too much fun to only have on birthdays. Everybody is usually happy with cake!
The end of our stay in Amman was also where we said farewell to Ramsey. He had a ticket to Lebanon to meet his father’s side of the family in Beirut. He had never met them before and was little nervous about the swift approach of a long awaited introduction. He did get a new haircut (Jihad's wishes) before we left Egypt so he would make a good first impression on them. Linds and I were sad and a little jealous that he was off to Lebanon but we were mostly happy for him. For the first time in his life, he was going to get in touch with his Lebanese roots. We waved him off at a cab outside of our hotel. He would be meeting us in India a couple of weeks after Lindsey and I got there.
As for Linds and I, we were back on our way to Petra. I had got in touch with "Hap" and told him we would love to come and work with his cousin for a week before we flew out of Amman to India. The day after we said goodbye to Ramsey, we boarded a bus back to Petra for our second Bedouin adventure.
