Next up - Jordan!

(that is me with the Monastery at Petra behind me)
(that is me sticking my feet in the Jordan River)

I had been extremely excited to visit Jordan from the moment I found out I would be going there. I had heard nothing but incredible things about this country and knew going in that it was going to be an amazing experience. There are some beautiful sites to be seen in this nation, that is for sure! Of course many people through the Indiana Jones movie (The Last Crusade) had heard of Petra, and then there is Jerash, and many, many other sites that I was looking forward to experiencing. But again as this trip has the tendency to do,it completely blew what I was expecting way out of the water.

So for the same reason that I did my Syria entry point form, I will be doing my Jordan one the same way. Point form, otherwise I would be writing a full-on novel.

- Bethany beyond the Jordan... According to most scholars (as of late) this is the most likely location of Jesus' baptism (John 2)
- The location of Mark 8
- Pella, a town (used to be part of the Decapolis) that many Jews ran to during the destruction of Jerusalem in 66-70
- Jerash, some absolutely incredible Roman ruins are here, another town of the Decapolis
- The Citadel in Amman, found here is what used to be a temple of Zeuss, a museum (where some dead sea scrolls are), incredible view of the city of Amman, and this is what used to be known as Philadelphia.
- Mount Nebo, the location Moses was taken to so that he could see the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 34)
- Maecherus, The location of a Herodian fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. It is here that on Herod's birthday he was so pleased by a dance from Herodias' daughter that he promised her anything she wanted... and hence this is the place of John the Baptist beheading.
- Madaba, the capital of Mosaics. Absolutely incredible. Here also, is the oldest map of Jerusalem (it's a mosaic) and so far it is so historically accurate that they can make archaeological digs based on what this mosaic map says.
- Wadi Rum Desert
- Mount Ur, the place that Aaron (Moses' brother) was buried
- Petra
- Watermelon in Jordan... for anyone who has ever had Watermelon in Jordan you know that this is completely worth mentioning. It is absolutely unbelievable how delicious the watermelon in Jordan is.

The coolest experience so far has been all that took place in the Wadi Rum desert! Without a question! When we first pulled up to the desert we were told to load up all of our bags into one haggard looking truck and to pile into the beds of all the other trucks (there were seats...kinda). Once we were all in the back of these seats
the trucks tore off into the desert. We really got there at the perfect time because as we were taking off into the desert sand (which is the most incredible colour of red you could imagine) the sun was just beginning to set. As the sun set over the red mountains, the red sand and our trucks we tore by camels, bedouin tents, and the most incredible views of this picturesque desert you could imagine. As the trucks pulled up to a Bedouin encampment we were told that is where we were staying for the night - it was so cool! We all had our own two person tent-type structures to sleep in for the night in the middle of the desert. So we settled in to our camp and once that was all completed were invited into the communal tent structure (thing) to have the best tea I have ever had and we just lounged out. It was the most incredible way to end a day. Lounging around a campfire, having amazing tea with some great people. Not to mention the perfect sense of peace you have in the desert. There was no sound pollution, no noise pollution whatsoever, and nobody else around me except for the group I am with, and I like the group, so that helps!

After staring at the most amazing starscape (not landscape, but starscape... I came up with that on my own, impressed?) I have ever seen I went to bed. It was a pretty neat thought that the very stars I was staring at while I laid on the wadi rum desert floor were the exact same ones that I have stared at while laying on the docks at Eagle Bay Camp, my home, a certain Cochrane field and other places all around Canada. We as humans really are so small compared to the world that we live in.

The next morning we woke up and had some breakfast (again, the tea was amazing!!!) and we took off, but not in the direction back to the nearest city as I would have thought but out into the desert some more! We went for a couple hour trek through the Wadi Rum! It was amazing! We stopped at this archway that was probably a hundred feet up, of course I climbed up it (I am kind of climbing everything I can), we stopped at a sand dune which a handful of us ran up just so we could run down at (what may be literally) breakneck speed. We stopped at this HUGE canyon, which again, I climbed way too far... it was legit scary trying to get down, my adrenaline was going pumping SO hard. And we drove past a lot more camels, some pretty amazing mountains, some other Bedouin places. It was the most incredible start to a morning you could imagine!

I think it is pretty obvious why staying in the Wadi Rum for a night was incredible. I just talked about all of the physical things that were cool, I did not even mention the amazing spiritual things that the desert represents (on purpose, that's coming up when I talk about Israel, I'm continuing on this idea of desert spirituality later on!)

I could also write a book about Petra but I will save you the time. But Petra is one of the seven modern wonders of the world, and it is very clear why! This place is absolutely incredible. The Nabateans carved a village literally into mountains. From graves, houses, monasteries, treasuries and everything else they need, it was all carved into mountains. Google image Petra, you'll see exactly what I am talking about!

Much love friends,

-kAt