Wadi Rum

Just as a teaser, here’s where we are now…

Just in case you are troubled by the “hardships” described below.

We left Petra for Wadi Rum, a valley/ancient sea bed now a desert where we will camp with the Beduin.  First fact regarding Wadi Rum, there is no actual rum – just non-alcoholic beer. Other than that, we had a great time – who says you have to drink to have fun?

On the way, we stopped at little Petra, a place called Beida, where the Nabateans entertained their guests. You can see from the pictures there were lots of pretty houses with living rooms and family rooms and exploring them clearly delighted Abby and David. Still plenty of rock formations to climb around on though.

It was meant to be a quick stop so we went without a guide. We were searching for a cave painting that existed in one of the houses. In a lesson in why you need a guide, we missed that house entirely and Jim and Abby took a trail out into the desert. Some said we were “lost” but we (or maybe just Jim) prefers referring to the incident as having taken one wrong turn. Upon doubling back a little bit (and following the loud calling), we discovered the pretty much hidden entrance back into the site. A half hour stop turned into an hour although the shop keeper we passed on the way in said others have been lost for 2-3 hours. We sort of wondered why he didn’t share that gem of wisdom when he saw us going in. Anyway, Liz and David claim to have had a pleasant time with him while they waited and he did provide Fanta for us once we were back.  On the way to the car at the entrance, we found the painting – it wasn’t worth it.

Things picked up when we arrived at our place in Wadi Rum on the back of a pickup truck. It is tent camp run by Bedouins although we stayed in the “VIP suite” – it even had a bathroom (although it didn’t flush – perhaps a little TMI).

They took us on a very fun and exciting 3 hour trip through the desert in the back of the   truck. It reminded us of dune buggying in the Peruvian desert last year except on that trip we had a five point harness. Perhaps the giveaway should have been our drivers name printed on the back window with flames coming out of it.

Below are some scenic shots….

Our first stop was at a big sand dune that you could walk up bare foot (if you stick to the shade). The object was to get to the top and roll all the way down. This was better captured in video but you have to pay $60 to upgrade this site for  video so you can enjoy this picture. Most of the family rolled at least part of the way down.

The next stop was a climb up a rock to see an ancient map of the area. It seemed they used camels a lot.

We then stopped in this valley that provided for excellent echoes. In the movie “Lawrence of Arabia”, he blew a whistle here and discovered it (apparently).  We also had our names written in the sand in Arabic. Guess which ones are which! The consensus was that “Elizabeth” was the most beautiful of course.

There were some interesting rock formations as well including an elephant, a native North American and, believe it or not, a Toronto Blue Jay!  Who knew they were fans.

Our guide could not believe that a woman could drive a pick up truck with a stick shift in the desert no less. Liz proved them wrong – girl power!  Scared those of us in the back though (we think on purpose).

The next stop was to make some Wadi makeup.  Aren’t they lovely!

We made a rest stop at a place where Lawrence of Arabia used to plan his activities with the Prince of Jordan and carvings were left. David and Abby preferred to run up another sand dune way off in the distance. This one was easy to find the way back.

We then had the obligatory stop for the sun set. Everybody claims to have the best sunsets in the world. It’s a big world – this one was pretty good though.

We made it safe and sound to camp after some adventurous driving up and down the dunes by Zead. Abby and David seemed to enjoy this more than the churches. Not sure what their problem is.

Once back we were treated to a traditional Bedouin dinner called Zarb which is cooked entirely underground. They have a pit in which they start a fire to make coals and bury a whole rack-thing full of chicken, lamb, veggies and potatoes to be cooked for 4 hours. Here is a series of pictures showing the extraction process. It was delish. The 25 or so cats that live in the camp think so too – no doubt that they were well fed – they did well by us.

Then the Bedouins began a traditional dance. It involves the playing of what Wally called a “music machine” (guitar-like) with lots of singing and dancing (kind of like in “Cats”, Ed). The leader of the camp dances with a sword as a symbol to this guests that we are under their protection. They did several numbers, again better captured through video (but there is that $60 thing).  They invited everyone to join in. Liz didn’t want to (or was it Jim?  Hard to say).

The morning provided for some beautiful sunrise shots as well. We say “sunrise” because you had the unfortunate choice of leaving the blind down in the tent to block the light but if you did you also blocked what little there was of breeze and the tent was like an oven. We chose to get at least a good 5-6 hours of somewhat pleasant sleep and enjoy our early morning and carb filled but tasty breakfast.

We left the camp, tipped everyone in sight and started back for the Dead Sea and a few days of much needed relaxation (refer again to the opening picture above). We had a couple of neat stops along the way to talk about in the next post but we will also have a couple of “special editions” because there is only so much writing you can do about a beach and a pool over 3 days.