If I could go boating on the Red Sea every day, I would never come home. We left class early Wednesday for our weekend excursion to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba. It was a long five hour bus ride to Petra, but when we arrived we realized we were staying at the Crowne Plaza resort, which was amazing. Never have I appreciated a real shower with actual warm running water so much. (Our shower in Irbid is touchy, to say the least). We were free until the morning, so the four of us from UW-Madison gathered around the hotel bar for way overpriced Amstel, (the only thing they brew here), in honor of all of you at home drinking at the terrace. Thursday morning we woke up at 5:45 to hike through Petra before it got too hot. It was mind blowing...an entire city completely carved out of rock. We wandered through caves, climbed rocks, saw the treasury and monastery, then ventured up the mountain of carved stairs to the highest point. 1,000 steps later, (literally), we reached the top, and it was worth the sweat, sore feet and Bedouin women begging us to buy souvenirs. The view was "stupendous!" as the retired couple from Toronto we met kept saying. I tried keeping the beautiful sight in my mind as we trudged the two hours back, but in the desert heat it was hard. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted. The people just starting out as we got back at noon probably got heat stroke.
Trading our resort for tents that night at Wadi Rum was not a good deal. Canvas is suffocating. On a typical night, or basically any night except the one we were there, Wadi Rum is one of the most beautiful places on earth, especially at night. Lawrence of Arabia owned the land and was known to come and lay in the mountains and sand dunes and look at the stars to help him think. Unfortunately, we came on what everyone told us was the first night of bad weather in months–cloudy and dusty. We were entertained by traditional Bedouin dances, but rushed to the bus early Friday morning to get to Aqaba and the beach!!
Beach towns are beach towns, whether in Delaware or Jordan. Little kids running around with ice cream, touristy shops with cheap jewelry and sundresses....but only in Aqaba is it not safe to wear your bikini until you're far from shore. We ran onto the boat, free from linen pants and scarves and excited to finally get tan! As we sailed along, Jordan on our left, Egypt on our right, Israel behind us, we couldn't get over the fact that we could actually see and were so close to three countries at once. After the sun got too hot to stand, we jumped in for snorkeling. The water was SO blue. We floated around coral and held a puffer fish, which was surprisingly cute. For the next few hours we ate fish, drank, had a dance party and did everything in our power to keep the day from ending. Taking advantage of the one city we could wear dresses in, the seven girls on the trip went shopping and met back at the dorms for a night out downtown. It started out rough, as we were surrounded by little boys with knives who wanted our wallets, and got even more interesting as fellow classmates decided to make complete idiots of themselves and turn the rest of us against them, (more on that when I can tell it in person), but turned out to be a lot of fun. We ended up at a bar called F.R.I.E.N.D.S, yes, named after the tv show and right next to a McDonald's, (not surprising). Mike, Cassidy, Brianna and I explored at least six other locations, but a hilarious cab ride, (the driver wanted to marry Cassidy and have five kids) and a gold plated elevator, (haha), later we made it back.
Now, it's Sunday and week two of classes, which I actually really like. If only we could get past the alphabet! Brianna and I are at our favorite cafe again, and our google translate friend just brought us free ice cream for the second time. Yum :) I think we'll make this a weekly thing. It's extremely hot outside, and wearing long pants is killing me, but we get enough looks as it is I wouldn't dare wear anything else. It's been a very fun, very busy first week. We've done so much I feel like it has been much longer. I can't wait for future adventures, but I miss everyone at home! Happy Memorial Day...eat a Bratfest brat for me :)
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