Jordan Trip – Day 3

The day began with Dad and Nicole driving to the Amman Donut Factory (where Dad almost got short-changed for the first of three times during the week), while Mom packed up the cooler for the overnight trip to Wadi Rum. Everyone scarfed down a donut or two and then piled into the Nissan SUV for the four-hour drive to Wadi Rum. The trip across Jordan (with Dad driving) featured a smattering of small towns, mostly-marked speed bumps, Al Zumayla, Al Qatrana, Al Hasa, Jurf Al Darawish, Ma’an, Quweira, and  finally Wadi Rum. At the Visitors’ Center, Mohammed’s brother introduced himself as one of the five brothers who run the Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp. He sent them to the parking lot 6 km ahead, where they met up with Sultan and hopped into the 4x4. 

Sultan

There was some debate to establish the validity of the group and confirm the reservation, but Ayeed ultimately pulled up a sheet on his phone with the reservation name so everyone was relieved and ready to proceed. They proceeded through the small Bedouin village and to Lawrence’s Spring, the first stop on the tour. There are many references to Lawrence of Arabia, which was filmed and set here, on the tour. This park is also where they recently filmed the 2015 best picture nominee, “The Martian”. Pete grabbed his laptop bag and began scampering up the mountain. Dad and Sam went the other direction to take some pictures of a lone tree. Mom convinced Pete to come back down, as there would be much more climbing later. The next stop was lunch (turkey sandwiches and fruit) at Khazali Canyon, washed down with some Bedouin tea. 



The tea was sweet and tasty, with a hint of cinnamon. Pete tipped the sleeping tea-master 1 JD, and headed off into the rift in the rock for a short hike. There were some primitive drawings in there, along with some ancient inscriptions from the Qur’an. The next stop was the Natural Bridge. It was pretty windy and narrow on the bridge, so Sultan took a quick picture of the unfortunately off-centered family after which they scampered back to safety. 



Pete then managed to scale up higher and somehow drop his sunglasses. He scampered down the steep back side of the rock in search of the glasses (still with laptop bag). Dad, Sam, and Sultan drove around to find Pete somewhat stranded on the other side. Sultan quickly took off his sandals and ran up the steep face to help guide Pete back down. 



The next stop was “Lawrence’s House”, which looked more like a pile of stones (with another inscription). The last stop was another rock with inscriptions, where Pete took a “nap” in the small indent in the formation. Finally, they arrived at the Luxury Camp. Their tent (#11) was pretty hot inside. Sam stayed back to read in the tent while Mom, Pete, and Dad headed over to the sand dune for some sandboarding. It was started to get chilly in the evening air, but the hike through the sand kept them warm. The dune appeared to be close by, but deceptively it was about a 15 minute walk, plus another 10 minutes for Dad to chase Pete as he scaled a long hill with the board. Pete soon discovered that you need a pretty steep hill to sandboard. There were several failed attempts. Finally, there was some brief success on the steep part of the dune grade. 



Mom and Pete headed back to camp, to find a shivering Sam now reading under several blankets. Dad hiked until sunset in search of a geocache atop a different nearby sand dune. Dinner at the camp was chicken and rice. 



Everyone enjoyed playing “Timeline” in the “lobby” tent after dinner. Sam actually won every game that they played as teams. It was a chilly night, but everyone bundled up and slept well.