My trip to Jordan with Bob’s daughter Deborah and grandson Hagai already seems long ago! Is it really possible that a little over two weeks ago we were walking around Petra?
I took a lot of pictures on the trip, and so the next few posts will be largely pictorial, with some running commentary. We drove south — Hagai and I sharing the driving. We descended from the Jerusalem hills onto the flat agricultural land outside Tel Aviv and took the main highway southward. As Hagai remarked, the countryside turns from farmland to semi-desert sooner than you’d expect. Long before we reached our lunch stop in Mitzpeh Ramon, we were in the full-on Negev desert, stony as the moon.
Bob’s son Yoni and his wife Shoshana live in the little town of Mitzpeh Ramon, on the edge of the Machtesh Ramon, the Ramon “Crater”. It is not a true crater, formed by an asteroid strike, but rather a kind of canyon scooped out by water over many centuries. I’ll say more when I recount our stop on the return journey — for now, I’ll just say it was nice to take a break, Shoshana fed us good food, and we were also glad to be able to visit together in the immediate aftermath of my sister-in-law’s death.
Back on the road again, we dove down into the Mashtesh, and on through the wild beauty of the desert. By the side of the road clumps of pinkish purple flowers bloomed –we didn’t have time to stop, but I think they were Pink Sunrose — Helianthemum. The soft lavender pink against the rusty orange colors of the desert in late afternoon was very beautiful.
We arrived at the border a little earlier than our guide. It was delightfully warm — we were suddenly overdressed (except Hagai who is perennially in flip-flops and a tee shirt.) We stood in the dusty dirt parking area watching crowds of Jordanian workers climbing off buses and vans and filing through the border crossing. I imagine they must mostly work in the hotels in Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, on whose outskirts the crossing is located. It probably pays better to work in Eilat than in Aqaba, I’m guessing. It hadn’t occurred to me that people from Jordan work in Israel — it doesn’t go the other way, I’m sure!
A woman from the tour company met us, and got us started on the border crossing process. Then we were met by a young Jordanian man, who took us the rest of the way through. There were some questions about Hagai — relations are tense between Jordan and Israel at present, and so a young man from Israel is a subject of some suspicion. However, with our guide we wee able to get through the crossing fairly quickly. On the other side we were met by a driver who took us to our hotel in Aqaba, the Intercontinental.
We settled in to our two rooms (one for Deborah and me, one for Hagai — a big change from the backpacking on minimal cash that is his usual form of travel! Then we wandered down to the beach. The hotel seemed to be largely empty — it was the off season. It was delightfully warm — about 70 degrees. Hagai and I took our shoes off and walked barefoot on the sand. We could see a ferry making its way across the Gulf to Egypt. Here is a map — you can see that four countries — Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia — come together at the top of the Gulf. https://www.google.com/search?q=map+Gulf+of+Aqaba&client=firefox-b-1-d&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=cosg8g3XcsgsZM%253A%252C8nrzeWfsiaHuTM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQ2dLDRFC3zdz8V6_WeiwI5wwTLJA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwji94z6sKrnAhVqSBUIHU3dAzEQ9QEwB3oECAoQMQ#imgrc=W4-suqjEtnXohM:&vet=1
We sat down by the outdoor bar and had a drink. Although there was hardly a soul there, there was music piped in to “entertain” us — truly horrible American pop music. Hagai was pained.
As it grew cooler and darker, the young man who was waiting on us–so enthusiastically: “Americans, I love Americans!”– apologetically informed us that the bar was closing. We trooped inside to the restaurant, where an extremely lavish buffet was awaiting us and the handful of other guests. We saw Europeans, Jordanians, and a group of men in white robes and red and white keffiyehs who were perhaps from Saudi Arabia. The food was beautifully displayed over many countertops and tables. There were numerous salatim, hot dishes, meat and fish being grilled on the spot, soups, and of course a huge spread of desserts. I wish I had though to take pictures! It was reasonably tasty as well.
Hagai slept the sleep of the young and innocent, while Debbie and I tossed and turned. But in the morning we rose early, partook of another extravagant buffet, and met our guide in the cavernous lobby of the hotel. And so we set off for Petra.
Nine months in Israel 