Jordan

Hello again everyone! I am trying hard to catch up on our blog posts, so here's the scoop on Jordan!

We took the ferry from Nuweiba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan. Despite the chaos leading up to the departure, the ferry was really nice and Aqaba turned out to be an equally nice town right on the Red Sea. It was very easy to get around in, very clean, and many of the people spoke English. This is similar to what we found throughout the country, and it made for a very enjoyable leg of our trip.

In Aqaba, we rented a car. Jordan is a small country with a good road network, and it turned out to be an ideal and fun way to get around.

Our first stop was Wadi Musa, a desert National Park. Its known for its wide expanses of desert with beautiful rock formations and in general scenery that just invites contemplation. Its apparently where some of Lawrence of Arabia takes place, if you are familiar with the film or the story. We walked around in the desert for a couple hours and took in the scenery.

Andrej in the desert at Wadi Musa with the 7 Pillars of Wisdom.

Our next stop was Petra. On the way driving to Petra, we saw many Bedouin camps. The Bedouin are native nomads, and it was interesting to see their giant tents in the middle of nowhere, often with camels grazing nearby. There were some camel crossing signs along the road that I found quite amusing, but sadly did not get any pictures of.

Petra is a famous ancient city carved out of rock back in the early part of the first millennium. A lot of it is quite well preserved. The path into the city involves a street with is about a kilometer long that is very narrow and lined on both side by very tall canyon walls. Every once in a while a horse drawn cart goes by, and the echoing noise is something that really takes you back in time. Most of the buildings have intricately designed facades which are similar to Roman architecture. Often, the insides of the buildings are not decorated at all, but the rock is a beautiful, swirly pink color. The buildings included a famous treasury and monastery, a big temple, a theatre, a large number of tombs, a colonnaded street, and many more. They are often built up into the hillside. We spent two full days there walking the streets, going inside the buildings, and hiking up to the high places to get some great views.

The souq leading into Petra.

The treasury in Petra.

Petra.

An example of the beautiful, swirly pink rock of Petra.

A picture of Petra showing how only the facades are carved on most buildings.

Camels in Petra. You can hire one to ride around the city.

Jordan is also known for it's desert castles. We spent one day driving out to two castles- Shorouk and Karak castles. They were both old crusader castles. Andrej especially had a lot of fun exploring all the nooks and crannies. The Shorouk castle had an escape tunnel that was really cool. The castle itself is on a high hill (for better views of invading armies I suppose) and the escape tunnel comes out all the way at the bottom of the hill. We were feeling adventurous and tried going down in the tunnel, but I fell and dropped my flashlight, which is essential. So, I had to go back up, but Andrej made it all the way and said it was awesome!

One of the desert crusader castles.

Jordan isn't just desert and rock. We also spent a full day enjoying some water activities. First, we went to the Wadi Mujib national park. We did a hike/swim up a river canyon to a waterfall. The guidebook made it sound like a simple 2 hour hike where you might get your shoes wet. It turned out to be an adventure-sport sort of trek to the waterfall involving swimming against rapids, climbing over wet boulders, and trying not to get swept downstream. It was a LOT of work, but turned out to be really fun and we only came away with a few bruises and scrapes. It was also nice to see a lot of locals doing this well, including some girls.

Our other water adventure was a trip to the beach at the Dead Sea. This was not the smartest thing to do after getting all scraped up on the river adventure, but it was still really amazing. It is the lowest point in the world. When driving down the mountain to get there, you pass a sign that says sea level, but it still seems like you are way up in the mountains. Its pretty crazy. The salt content is so high, I guess because a long time ago it actually used to be part of the ocean. Anyways, we got in the water and bobbed around like beach balls for about an hour. It takes absolutely no effort to float- you can stick all for limbs out of the water and you still won't sink. You want to be careful though not to get any of it in your mouth- it tastes awful! Also, one other curious thing- the locals, particularly the women, tend to swim fully clothed, so that's what we did as well. Its quite a change from the beaches back home!

Andrej effortlessly floating in the Dead Sea.

We also spent a day doing a short tour of some Christian holy sights in Jordan. The first stop was Mount Nebo where Moses is said to have first sighted the Promised Land, then died. There is a very old church at the top of the mountain, and a lookout point where we saw some of the first green patches we had seen in a long time! It was the Jordan Valley and Israel. The second stop was Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan on the banks of the Jordan River. This is the sight where it is currently agreed and thought to be where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. There are small, ancient baptism pools there. The water level does not currently reach them, but it does when it floods and apparently has been at that level in other points during history. Once again, there are many beautiful churches in the area, and we got to go down to the river and check it out.

The baptismal pools where Jesus was baptized on the Jordan River.

Our last adventure in Jordan was touring the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Jerash. We saw a giant hippodrome where chariot races used to be held, a couple of grand theaters- which they still use for performances today, temples, roads with giant columns lining the sides, as well as plazas enclosed by these great columns. It is very well preserved, and you can get a sense of what it used to be like in Roman times.

A view over one of the plazas.

Andrej in Jerash with some of the magnificent columns.

At the end of our road trip, we did spend a couple of days in the capital Amman. We had filled up our passports already and had to bring them in to get more pages and got to see the very heavily guarded US Embassy. We also enjoyed some tastes of home. I thought it was pretty amusing when we got directions to the car rental drop-off place, and they told us to go past the Lamborghini dealership on our right, go past the mall on your left, then go straight until you see Fudruckers and Applebees and we are across the street. With those directions we very well could have been back home!

To wrap things up, we really enjoyed Jordan. It turned out to be a very safe and friendly country, and a wonderful experience of the Middle Eastern culture. On a side note, while I was there, I read a book that I absolutely loved and became totally engrossed in. Its a book about the lives of young Saudi women. I found it very interesting because women's lives in the Middle East are very private, and this provided great insight. I recommend it to anyone who wants an interesting and fun read! Its called The Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea.

Andrej with a typical Jordanian meal of pita and 'salads.'

Until next time everyone- our next post will be all about our adventures in Israel!

For those of you who were worried, Andrej did manage to make a new friend after leaving the goat behind in Mali...

Up the Nile and Back Down

The second half of our stay in Egypt took us to many different parts of the country. Where we left off on our previous post, we told you all that we took a night train to Aswan. Aswan is where I will start.

After a comfortable night on our sleeper train, we arrived in Aswan. Aswan is located in Upper Egypt (which is actually SOUTH of Cairo...a bit counter-intuitive). Its a city along the Nile River, and is yet another area of Egypt that was home to many ancient Egyptians who were sure to leave their mark, to the delight of today's tourists.

The southern part of Egypt where Aswan is located is extremely hot in the summer. Highs each day were around 110 F. But, Jill and I were determined to see what we had come to see:

A view of excavations on Elephantine Island with Aswan in the background

A ancient Nilometer (for measuring the height of the Nile river)

Jill and I exploring the excavations

The largest Mosque in Aswan

Our next adventure was finding a cruise boat to take us down the river to Luxor. After checking with about 10 of the 20 boats anchored in Aswan we struck an amazing bargain and set off the next day. The cruise boat took about two days and stopped at several excavation sites along the way. Here is the adventure in photos:

Late night search for a cruise boat. We settled on the third one in from the shore in this line up.

The view from the deck of our boat on arrival at the first excavation site

Hall of pillars

Examining a set of figures that were chiseled out by a later pharoh that wanted to rewrite history

Posing with the ruins

The most grand temple gate that we saw in all of Egypt--truly enormous.

Enjoying our cruise boat

Enjoying our cruise boat

Passing through the lock system on the Nile river

Once the cruise boat delivered us to Luxor we had several more archeological sites to visit. These included the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens where many rulers and their families were entombed in elaborate sets of tunnels hand chiseled deep into solid rock. Photos were not allowed inside the tombs so here are some of the nearby temples and monuments:

After visiting Luxor, Jill and I left the Nile and headed east for the Red Sea. Our stop was Suez where we spent the night watching enormous boats navigate the Suez Canal.

The next day we left for Mount Sinai where we spent a nice long day hiking all of the way to the top of the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. On top we found a nice little chapel some fantastic views.

St. Catherine’s Monastery at the base of Mt. Sinai

Jill next what we think is what’s left of the burning bush from what we gathered by overhearing tour guides

Hiking our way up the mountain

Resting at the top of Mount Sinai

Enjoying the view at the top of Mount Sinai

Finally our wonderful visit to Egypt came to a quick end the next day as we took a ferry across the border into Jordan.

Cairo, Egypt

Our decision to change things up and fly to Cairo turned out to be a wonderful decision! We are having such a great time here in Egypt, and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

First of all, the main thing that has made Egypt great for us so far was that we were hosted by a wonderful Minnesotan couple during our whole time in Cairo. They are Terry and Craig, and they moved to Cairo last year to work at an international school there. I had met Terry through work before they moved. They offered to host Andrej and me during our time there, and they have to be some of the most hospitable and generous people I have ever met. They had a beautiful, spacious flat in a nice neighborhood. It was a very welcome change to the cramped hotel rooms and life on the road that we had been used to. They were extremely helpful in showing us around and giving us advice on things to do. They opened their home and lives to us, and it was so nice and refreshing. Homesickness, cured!

So, now to tell you all a little about what we have done and seen over our past week or so in Egypt...

We arrived in Egypt after an overnight flight from Bamako, Mali with a layover in Algiers. The Algiers airport was very nice, and we felt like we had been transported to another world. This was a good sign that we were on our way to the change we had hoped for. We landed in Cairo, and were met by Terry's friend Khaled who is an English speaking driver. He took us to Terry and Craig's house in Heliopolis (a part of Cairo). We enjoyed a nice relaxing time catching up with Terry before we all went out to eat at a fabulous restaurant around the corner. We had great pizza, but more notably, this is where I got hooked on the fresh juices in Egypt. The fresh strawberry juice here is just heavenly and packed with strawberries. Yum! Also, we got our first experience of sheesha. Sheesha is the same thing as a hooka (as far as I know). People sit around smoking these nice smelling pipes in cafes all the time. It seems that they still have the bad effects of smoking regular tobacco, but in my opinion, this smells better. We didn't try it, but were fascinated watching other people do it!

That evening we took a walk around the neighborhood. Egyptians all seem to be night owls. Many stores don't even open until late afternoon. You can go shopping late into the night here. We got to see all the crowds and looked through some of the stores. We even saw some familiar sights like Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and McDonald's. For a minute there, I thought we had landed ourselves back home!

The next day, we did what everyone comes to Egypt for. We went to see the pyramids at Giza. They were every bit as fascinating as I had hoped. Surprisingly, they are pretty much right in Cairo. You can see them driving past on the highway, and basically it just suddenly goes from city to a desert landscape where the pyramids and sphinx are. So, we spent the day gazing at the sphinx and few different pyramids. The pyramids used to have a smooth granite surface on the outside, but over the years have either deteriorated or have had the stone stolen and now you see the layers beneath with show just how intricate the building must have been. There are huge stones upon stones forming perfect pyramid much taller than it would seem possible. Not only that, but there are passageways on the inside of them! We went into one of the pyramids, and you climb down a very long and steep tunnel where you have to be bent over the whole time, and then you find yourself in a big chamber. All of the things that used to adorn the pyramid or were inside had been removed and likely put in a museum. But it was still neat to see just how well designed these things were. Also, it was REALLY hot and humid inside. All in all, it was just really awe inspiring and fun to see. Its hard to appropriately describe, and I just have to say its best to see it for yourself someday!

Andrej and I enjoying the pyramids.

Giza- the sphinx with pyramids behind.

The Sphinx.

Pyramids and camels at Giza.

Andrej posing by the stones at the base of the pyramid to show their actual size.

The top of this pyramid shows how once the whole pyramid was smooth rock on the outside.

A restored boat found near the pyramids and reconstructed. It was used to carry the dead pharohs to their final resting place in the pyramids.

That evening, Terry and Craig met us downtown and took us to a get together with some of their coworkers at...TGIFridays! I know this doesn't excite many of you back home, but if you have been wandering Africa for 6 months, the thought of free refils, mozerella sticks, and french onion soup will make you drool. The restaurant was right on the Nile, and it was as good as I had hoped.

On our third day in Cairo, we saw another important Cairo tourist attraction- the Egyptian Museum. We took the subway downtown and enjoyed a few hours checking out all the displays. The museum is huge and you could spend days there. It really hit home how the ancient Egyptians were such an advanced society, and they really had some amazing acheivements. My favorite part was the King Tut exhibit. The items were so well preserved and fantastic works of art. And very shiny.

That evening, we had another fun outing with Terry, Craig, and some of their coworkers. This time, we went on a felucca (an old traditional sail boat) ride on the Nile. We sailed around for 2 hours, and we enjoyed watching the sunset on the Nile, lots of good conversation, and plenty of good food and drinks. It was a fun and relaxing experience.

A traditional felucca sailing the Nile.

Day number 4 entailed a tour around the city. Khaled picked us up and took us to a part of town called Garbage City. The people in this town collect much of the city's garbage and sort through it all, by hand, to recycle (and therefore earn a living). There is garbage and sorted piles everywhere. And, pretty much everyone here is Christian. The Coptic Christians (Egypts original version of Christianity) are a minority in Egypt, and apparently the Muslim majority doesn't always make things easy for them, especially in the job market. For example, the only pigs raised (for pork, which Muslims can't eat) in Cairo were raised by the Coptic Christians in Garbage City. When the swine flu scare started, the government came and killed every last pig. Even though there were no cases of swine flu originating in Egypt. Now those people are out of their jobs. Its not really fair. But, back to what we did there... Khaled took us to a couple lovely churches carved out of the rock of the hillside. There were many carvings and paintings on the rock, and it made it all very beautiful. We actually got the chance to meet the man who did all the art work, but he was pretty shy, so there is not much to say there.

The artwork inside one of the churches.

Afterwards, Khaled took us to a shop that uses left over cloth scraps from factories and recycled paper to make great textile products and paper products. It was neat to see a nice business based on recycled materials.

Continuing on our city tour, we stopped in the City of the Dead. This is an area of Cairo where there are tons of mosoleums. The thing is, people live in them! Basically, they are enclosed compounds with graves in them, and within the compounds, people who have been displaced from their regular home or have otherwise become homeless have moved into their family's graveyard. There are a large number of people who unofficially live there. Khaled took us to visit a family's home, and it was interesting to see.

A home in the City of the Dead.

Following the City of the Dead, Khaled took us to Islamic Cairo where we met up with Terry for some sightseeing and shopping. We saw two really grand mosques. I think these were the first mosques I have been inside of, and they were really works of art. One was built around 900 AD if I remember right, and the other in the 1800s. The artwork and Arabic inscriptions of the Koran were quite beautiful. In the second one (the newer one), we saw a number of graves inside as well. I had always wondered where the muezzin sings from and how he knows when to sing, and that day I found out. In the great hall of the mosque, I heard another mosque's call to prayer start up. Then I saw a man in ours stand up and go to a microphone in the hall and start his call to prayer. Now I know.

Inside the old mosque.

After visiting the mosques, we visited some of the shopping areas in Islamic Cairo including a tentmaker's area and a really neat papyrus art shop. From there, we had lunch at a nice cafe, where we had a delicious meal of dips and pita bread. I love hummus, so the Middle East is heaven for me! Afterwards, we went shopping for crafts. I had a lot of fun checking out the ebony and ivory, alabaster, jewellery, copper, lamps, glasswork, you name it! Terry really has an eye for these things, and she took us to all her favorite shops.

After a busy afternoon, we capped off the day by going to a free performance of whirling dervishes. They are a part of the Sufi religion. I honestly know very little about their religion besides it involves mysticism and this amazing dancing. Feel free to Google it if you need to know more! These men come out in beautiful costumes with giant skirts with bold prints that twirl around them as the spin. Along with the people who spin are a bunch of other men playing musical instruments- drums, a stringed instument, trumpet-like instruments, and a singer. It was really something else.

The whirling dervishes.

For our fifth day in Cairo, we decided to give ourselves a little break from the tourist scene. We spent the afternoon looking around the shops in Heliopolis near Terry and Craig's house. Most of the shops weren't even open in the early afternoon! That evening, we had a real treat. My good friend and former roommate, Emily, works as an international sales coordinator for a boat company in Minneapolis. Her company sells boats all over the world, including Egypt. She knows a boat dealer in Cairo who is really friendly, and she introduced us to him over email and we decided to meet up. So, that evening, we all met up with Walid (the boat dealer) and his wife Dalia. It was a great opportunity for us to meet and talk to Egyptian people and we enjoyed every minute of it. They took us to the Cairo Yacht Club, where we chatted about everything from education to religion over enormous amounts of tasty food. Walid was a very popular man there, and seemed to know every person who walked by! Pretty much all the boats parked out in the harbor were sold by him, so thats probably why. After getting completely stuffed, he took us for a fantastic sunset speed boat ride on the Nile. It was a really nice boat. It also had a great stereo system! Walid likes to drive fast, and we had a lot of fun speeding past all the faluccas. He even let Andrej and me drive! We drove all the way down to another yacht club where we had a great dessert, then headed back to Cairo for more drinks and conversation. It was a wonderful evening, and we were grateful to learn more about Egypt.

Andrej driving Walid's boat out on the Nile.

Our sixth day we spent back on the tourist track. We hired Khaled to drive us for the day, and we went out to Saqqara and Dashur, just outside of Cairo. There, we saw the first and second pyramids ever made. The first pyramid is called the step pyramid because instead of having smooth sides, it looks like it has giant steps. We also saw the bent pyramid (from a distance) that starts out looking like it was built like a traditional pyramid, but then it seems they decided to hurry and finish because the top curves inward instead of straight up continuing along the angle. There is also the Red Pyramid, which we went inside. I'm not sure why it is called the Red Pyramid- maybe the stone used to be red? Anyways, we walked quite a ways up the pyramid on stairs, where we came to an entrance about 1/3 of the way up the side. From there, we decended down a very steep and short tunnel, than up again through another steep tunnel! Then, we came upon the chambers, which were quite neat. Instead of being rectangular like others, these chambers looked like small, steep reverse pyramids on the inside! Pretty cool! At these sights, we also explored some temples where we saw a number of statues and were amazed by the heiroglyphs. That evening, we went back and had a very nice dinner and conversation with Terry and Craig. Again we were reminded of how nice it was to have their hospitality!

Me at the Step Pyramid in Saqqara.

Andrej in the temple ruins at Saqqara.

Some heiroglyphs in a temple. Its remarkable how well preserved they are.

The Bent Pyramid.

Our last full day in Cairo, I, unfortunately, was sick. So, we ended up having a bit of a slower day. Our camera wasn't working right and I was in need of some new clothes, so once I felt a bit better in the afternoon, we went to a really nice mall that would rival Mall of America in size. We were successful in finding a new camera, which made me very happy!

That evening, we had to say goodbye to our wonderful hosts, and Khaled took us to the train station where we boarded an overnight train the Aswan. We had a wonderful time in Cairo and we are very thankful to the wonderful people who made that possible!

Domo thought the pyramids were pretty scary.