Wadi Rum and Wadi Musa/Petra!!!
Again a short blast of a blog post as I am in Wadi Musa - the town next to Petra, one of the seven modern wonders of the world.
First a little about Wadi Rum, the massive desert National Park set up by the Jordanian Government. A Bedouin set up a tour and arrangements for us to sleep for the night in the Park. Zidane owns the land, bought before the government established the National Park and he had to fight for it a little too. We were 11 in 2 4x4 Land Cruisers, five of whom were not with our original 16 Outdoor Program group. They were just fellow travelers and wanted to join in! We negotiated from 65 JD for the tour and 30 JD for the sleepover down to 25 JD for all!!!! (a US dollar is worth .71 JD - the most expensive currency in the world - who would have THUNK?!!?).
So we all took off to visit places on the tour of the desert of Wadi Rum - Lawrence of Arabia's home (ruins) were included. We ALSO asked for a special treat to see a Bedouin home and he agreed to let us see his father's place - more about all later as this is just a quick blast post! We did some bouldering, hiking and of course a few played hacky sack with Zidane's father's sons - a requisite OP tradition! Then on to our place for the night and pictures of the sunset.
Wadi Rum is a cross between Zion National Park, Sand Dunes and Moab - with camels roaming! Then we had a traditional dinner cooked in the sand, singing and musical instruments, etc. etc. A night in a Bedouin tent or out under the stars!!! Up at 5:10 am to view the sun, breakfast and back on the road.
The bus to Wadi Musa and Petra picked us up at 9:30 am and by noon we were in town at our hotel!!! Reunited with our other fellow OP travelers we were again at least 19 and maybe 21?!? A few of us took off for Petra to begin our three day tour of this totally amazing and indescribable wonder built from the 1st century BC to the 1st Century AD!!! More next post!
First a little about Wadi Rum, the massive desert National Park set up by the Jordanian Government. A Bedouin set up a tour and arrangements for us to sleep for the night in the Park. Zidane owns the land, bought before the government established the National Park and he had to fight for it a little too. We were 11 in 2 4x4 Land Cruisers, five of whom were not with our original 16 Outdoor Program group. They were just fellow travelers and wanted to join in! We negotiated from 65 JD for the tour and 30 JD for the sleepover down to 25 JD for all!!!! (a US dollar is worth .71 JD - the most expensive currency in the world - who would have THUNK?!!?).
So we all took off to visit places on the tour of the desert of Wadi Rum - Lawrence of Arabia's home (ruins) were included. We ALSO asked for a special treat to see a Bedouin home and he agreed to let us see his father's place - more about all later as this is just a quick blast post! We did some bouldering, hiking and of course a few played hacky sack with Zidane's father's sons - a requisite OP tradition! Then on to our place for the night and pictures of the sunset.
Wadi Rum is a cross between Zion National Park, Sand Dunes and Moab - with camels roaming! Then we had a traditional dinner cooked in the sand, singing and musical instruments, etc. etc. A night in a Bedouin tent or out under the stars!!! Up at 5:10 am to view the sun, breakfast and back on the road.
The bus to Wadi Musa and Petra picked us up at 9:30 am and by noon we were in town at our hotel!!! Reunited with our other fellow OP travelers we were again at least 19 and maybe 21?!? A few of us took off for Petra to begin our three day tour of this totally amazing and indescribable wonder built from the 1st century BC to the 1st Century AD!!! More next post!
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