Returning from the badiyya, I was a bit saddened. The relationships I made, the genuine honesty of the people, the respect between children and parents, family members and general communal respect. The weather, the cleanliness of the air, the quietness, the sunsets across the mountains of Petra.
The badiyya is with little comparison. It isn’t Orlando, it isn’t New York City, it isn’t Amman. It is not rural Ocala or Daytona. I’ve yet to visit the Grand Canyon, but I’ve been informed comparisons are tenuous, at best.
With these fond memories, I was floored to find out that SIT had an additional Southern excursion, as a class, not with homestays, into the South, passing through my beloved city of Rajif.
Beginning with Beir Methkour, we reached a small, nondescript outpost on the side of a road with several Toyota Hiluxes parked in front of it. Loading into the beds of the pickup trucks, we drove through the desert, between mountains and over sand, to a seemingly random crop of pink buildings, neatly arranged in a pair of rows. This desert oasis, far from light pollution, offered unbelievable views of the night sky. Never have I seen so many shooting stars as I spent the night atop the roof of my respective apartment with my roommate. Prior to this astronomic experience was a simulated trial based on tribal law, in which I acted as a beleaguered bedouin sheikh whose land had been invaded by an adjacent farmer. Tribal law seems quite rational, but under a different paradigm from Western law and legal codes, certainly.
Leaving Beir Methkour, we traveled to Petra. Oh Petra. Winding between two tall mountain walls, a narrow road takes a sharp twist and low and behold, the expansive city of Petra opens up before your eyes. Constructed by the Nabateans and rediscovered in the 19th Century, Petra has stood the test of time as one of the world’s foremost archeological and architectural gems. We happened upon the ruins of Petra on a rainy, cloudy day. Walking just for a half hour before the skies opened up, we, quite literally, witnessed Petra in a different light. The opaque clouds, dismal and dreary, the powerful thunder, the blinding lightning. We were quickly evacuated as the ruins tend to flood, but the huge juxtaposition between red, blue, brown, bronze stone and the ominous sky above proved almost unbearable. It was gorgeous.
Following up Petra, the next day, was a visit to Wadi Rum. The scene of countless alien and extraterrestrial films, Wadi Rum has mountains that seemingly rise from the flat, red, orange desert sand, resembling frozen, stone ships forever to remain in the desert sea. We slept in tents made from goat fur and spent the afternoon traversing the desert atop the backs of camels. Following our camel ride, itself preceded by a rainstorm, we drove all through the desert in the back of pcikup trucks. Stopping at different points to climb huge sand dunes (seemingly impossible in height), to jump into and play in the sand, to climb rock facades. Wadi Rum, by far and away, is an adventurous Jordanian destination, certainly not for the faint of heart or body. I loved it. I could climb those mountains forever and longingly looked at the peaks I could not top. I could look at the moon, the stars, the desert below me and the mountains beside me endlessly. I hope to return to Wadi Rum.