Raindrops

The Castle

It wouldn't be lying to say that Jordan is the driest place that I have ever lived. When we arrived in the middle of May, the vegetation was already dry and brownd. I don't know what this place looks like in the winter, but I imagine that is the time when things are green and beautiful. I was surprised at the amount of dead vegetation I saw. Back home, May is when things turn from brown to green because we have finally reached the end of the winter. The snow melts, usually we get some showers and then things really start to dry out until the end of July to the middle of August when we get thunder storms. However, to my surprise, I didn't have to wait until I go home to see rain. Prior to coming, I had heard that they had received a couple of showers in late May the last year. I also know how big of a shock that was to the people in Amman including my director Annie who had never seen rain that late in the year before. My time in Amman has been a dry experience excluding the time spent in bodies of salt water known as Aqaba and the Dead Sea. However things were shook up a bit last Friday. The day started early on a bus headed to Northern Jordan. The first stop was a place called Um Qais. There, many Roman ruins lay on a hill overlooking the sea of Galilee. When I stepped off the bus, I remarked to my roommate that the air felt a bit more humid than usual. It didn't feel humid, but it didn't feel as dry as it has been either. That day, I also saw some clouds which is also a rare occurrence in Jordan. One of the really neat things about touring Roman ruins in Jordan is that you can walk through them and touch them and walk and stand on them. I have a feeling that if they had been in America, you would only be able to stand on a raised boardwalk and look at but don't touch the ruins.  After Um Qais, we headed south to Ajlun where a castle is still standing that was built about 500 AD. It has a long history that includes several different empires and consequent additions onto the castle. At the castle, we were able to explore nearly every nook and cranny. I did decide that if you were to have a castle, the Middle East would be the place for that. In a dry climate, moving from sunshine to the shade is at least a 10 degree difference, but moving from shade into the castle, we got another 20 degree difference. It was very cool inside that castle in more ways than one. We left the castle and climbed back on the bus to head to Jerash which has another city of Roman ruins. I believe it is actually the most complete city of Roman ruins. However, prior to going to Jerash, we took a pit stop at a game refuge. The main attraction was some deer. They looked very similar to the deer back in the States except that they keep their spots even when they are older. There were also a few people offering horseback rides on half-dead looking horses. I didn't take them up on the offer, but I did notice that the horse's tail were splayed out as if there was a storm coming. I didn't think too much of it until it started raining. It wasn't a downpour, but the rain was definitely heavy enough to get the road wet and slick. After that, our bus was fishtailing around the corners on every switchback down the mountain. We didn't die, but we also weren't able to go see the ruins in Jerash. However, a group that went on the same trip the next day reported that the castle in Ajlun was still wet and damp.  Maybe it rained a bit harder than I thought.

=)