Jordan Experience

Day Two – 5 Dec 2009

Weather: Sunny, 18 to 20 (jeans, tshirt)

Terrain: relatively flat. Couple staircases (some can be avoided)

I was up and out by 7:30. I had a quick breakfast and went to the front desk to get my bag put into storage. The bell boy gave me a card to collect the bag on Monday.

I went outside and discovered our mini-bus. It was a step up for those of us who had done Israel and a step down for the Egypt crowd who had enjoyed a half-empty full size bus on all their bus days. There are 9 others who joined us from the Egypt portion and included 2 Australians, 2 Americans and the rest are Canadian, including a fellow Newfoundlander who lives in New Brunswick.

The mini bus is not as mini as the one from Israel. It has about seven rows of double seats and three single seats on the side with the door and the guide up front. We pointed out our luggage which was necessary before they would load it into the bus and met our guide, Ramzi, a young father with an excellent sense of humour. Funny how you can tell who will be a good guide in the first few minutes.

We all piled into the bus which had enough seats to give all the singles their own seat whether it was one of the double or the single seats. Ramzi gave us a breakdown of the next three days as we drove towards Jerash. It was closer than I remembered from yesterday and we were the first bus to arrive, which meant opportunities for pictures without people in them.

We walked through Hadrian’s Arch into the hippodrome which is still used for shows. (I saw guys dressed up as Roman soldiers with horses as we left).

From the hippodrome we walked to an area with columns in a large circle, almost all intact. The plaza was at the end of the main road and above it was the theatre. Ramzi told us that he is a geologist and a photographer, so we’re getting information on the makeup of the land as well as to where the best pictures can be taken. At one point, he swore us to secrecy and unhooked a section of fence so that we could get a good picture of the ruins below.

From there he took us into the theatre, but stopped us before we could turn the corner. Then he motioned to someone out of sight and a moment later we heard drums. He marched us in two by two where three men dressed in local costume played the drums and bagpipes. They gave us a short show and Ramzi pointed out the tip box (having a wad of $1 US bills is proving to be very very useful here).

Like Epidarus in Greece, Ramzi showed us where we could stand in one spot and hear the difference between the sounds that we make. Ramzi gave us a couple of minutes to climb to the top for pictures. The theatre is quite steep but the view is awesome – that is, after you catch your breath.

From the theatre, we walked along a path above the main road. Ramzi said that in the summer, it is impossible to walk that route because of the snakes and scorpions.

Oooookay.

From the path, we walked down to the main road lined with columns that ended at the north gate (though we didn’t walk that far). Ramzi gave us 15 minutes to explore the area which included another theatre and a church.

All along the way, Ramzi pointed out shards of pottery on the ground as well as mosaic pieces. I was amazed that he was handing them to people until I came across a pile of broken pottery that had been discarded by the archeologists. It was free for the taking.

My theory was that local pottery shops were giving their broken pieces to the Jordanian government who went around scattering the pieces on the ground at the ruins to excite the tourists.

LOL.

After we finished looking around, we headed back to the parking lot, picking up the tour picture that was taken earlier (which I bought as we never saw our picture from Israel). We reboarded the bus and returned to Amman, passing through the city on the way to Mount Nebo.

I thought it was just a place to view the Dead Sea and the Jordan River Valley, but it turns out to have a monastery (closed due to dangerous faults found in the structure). The monastery had mosaic floors, one of which was completely intact as it was found under another. Quite impressive. Mount Nebo is apparently where Moses died.

After taking pictures of the great hazy view (we could just make out the Dead Sea), we boarded the bus and stopped at a local mosaic factory which supports disabled workers. We watched several girls make mosaics, using special clippers to break up the small pieces of rock.

We took some time to check out the store and most everyone bought something just to support the factory. I got a couple t-shirts and bookmarks.

From here, we proceeded to Mutaba to visit a Greek Orthodox Church which has an ancient mosaic of Israel, Jordan and Egypt as it was known at the time.

Parts of it is missing but it was interesting. We picked up box lunches at a local shop and ate on the bus as we began the 3 hour drive to Petra. We stopped at a great souvenir shop for a break just as the sun was setting.

We got back on the road and apparently made good time. I spent most of the time talking to others, but some managed to sleep. We arrived in Petra (in darkness) at 6:30 and Ramzi told us we would be impressed in the morning to see what the area looks like in the daylight.

With another tour arriving at the same time, he told us to go straight to the buffet dinner so that there is something left for us. I had to go outside to find my room two stories down and went directly to dinner. The buffet selection was good with beef, chicken, lamb, fish, pasta and even bread pudding for dessert etc. The restaurant had set up a table to fit the entire group which I thought was nice. Ramzi joined us for dinner and told us he had an apartment nearby that he keeps with another guide because in the high season, the guides often don’t get a room.