Yesterday was our last full day in Jordan
and we traveled south from Petra to
Wadi Rum which is not far from the Red Sea. Wadi Rum is famous because of Lawrence of
Arabia. It was here that Lawrence of
Arabia was able to bring together the Arab tribes to fight against the Ottoman
Empire and eventfully win.
We traveled south along the ancient caravan route from the Red
Sea to Damascus. It took us high into the mountain into snow
once again then south to Wadi Rum. We
visited Lawrence Spring named because of the natural spring. It was originally one of the many Nabatean
Caravan station for protection of their caravan routes. Because of the spring, Lawrence of Arabia
decided to use this place as a staging ground for the organization of the Arab tribes in the area to defeat of
the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. We traveled a short distance from the spring
to a Bedouin family tent (so short the spring provided water for the
family). They invited us into their tent
for tea and cookies (only our Arabic guide had the tea) and a Q&A session. Their 20 year old son was our guide through
Wadi Rum. The tent is made of goat hair
and while it doesn’t look like it would keep you dry they say when it rains the
hair absorbs the water and seals the tent.
There is a partition that separates the men and women when there are
outsides like us so we did not see the women.
They have no running water or electricity yet they have cell
phones (they go to the Wadi Rum Visitors Center to charge the phones). The 20 year old son is the
oldest and is planning to marry soon and continue the same life as his family
has in this same spot for over 100 years.
His great-grandfather helped Lawrence of Arabia bring the tribes
together at the spring. From there we
went to a canyon that was only a few feet wide where we saw carvings on the walls
from 100-200 BC including ancient Chinese characters. We then went to our lodgings which is a
Bedouin camp/guest house. You can sleep
in tents or rooms – considering we can’t seem to get warm we opted for the
rooms even though they were still cold.
We had a Bedouin dinner and then off to bed with no TV or internet.
This morning we were still cold and Eileen actually skipped her shower even though the water was hot. We drove south this morning to the Red Sea and then north along the east side of the Dead Sea. We crossed the border into Israel just north of the Dead Sea. We had to get off the but and go through 3 different check points and luckily we made it through without incident. We arrive in Jerusalem in time for a shower to get rid of the smoke smell from the night before (We did have a great Bedouin breakfast). We then had a quick tour through the Damascus Gate and walked along the north wall of the Temple site. After a great dinner we had an orientation session that was wonderful - we have a great tour operator. No pictures from today as I had so much trouble getting the internet to work here that I am just going to do yesterdays pictures hopefully.
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