Sand!

 

Between Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba, I probably brought home a whole sand dune! Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world, is several beautiful buildings carved into the sandstone cliff faces of Southern Jordan. One of the most ornate buildings was actually part of the set for the Indiana Jones movie which is where most of its fame comes from. This year marks the 200^th anniversary from the rediscovery of Petra. I can only imagine walking through a narrow canyon that looks like something from Arches national park and then coming around a corner to stare at a giant edifice carved into the wall of the canyon. It was so fascinating to see how advanced this culture must have been. Blocks of stone created a pathway that wound through the canyons. Small aqueducts lined the paths that led to these beautiful buildings. Roman ruins lay on top of some of the older ruins. An amphitheater carved into the rock sat just off to the side of one road while older Bedouin dwellings sat on the other side. After trekking through the ruins at Petra, we headed off into the heart of Jordan: Wadi Rum or the Valley of Rum.  However, all the rum was all gone so instead we played football in the sand, participated in a Bedouin dance party, rode in some beat up Toyota trucks, watched the sun set over the desert, and went star-gazing from the top of a sand dune. Bucket List: Check! The next morning we headed out to Aqaba or the gulf of the Red Sea that touches Jordan. From our spot on the beach, we were in Jordan and could see Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. The Red Sea was beautiful! Picture water as blue as Bear Lake the difference is that the water in the Red Sea is salty. The water is also very clear which was very helpful for going snorkeling. This was my first successful snorkeling adventure! And it was a great first time. I swam through several schools of fish and swam away from even more jelly fish. I was only tossed into the coral twice, but fortunately I wasn't cut up. While most of my time in Aqaba was spent in the water, I did spend a bit of time looking at the town. One shop I poked my head into was owned by a man named Osama, but not Bin Laden. =) After chatting for a few minutes, his brother also dropped by. His brother is the Imam of the nearby mosque and invited me to come and look at it. So yeah. I got a tour of a beautiful mosque by the Imam. What an amazing opportunity! This actually provided an opening to understand how Osama and his brother, the Imam, live their religion. Both told me multiple times that everyone in the world are brothers. Osama even has a Bible in his shop. It is in English, so that makes reading it difficult, but the fact that he kept it shows the respect that he has for other religions and the tolerance that Islam has for other religions as well. This is something that I think a lot of people don't really see or think about when they look at Islam. Just something to think about.

=)