Jordan’s Beauty

by Daniel Resnick

Friday, June 27th was the most action packed and most enjoyable day of our trip to Jordan, at least in my perspective. On this day we saw both Jordan’s man-made beauty and Jordan’s natural beauty.

This busy day started at our hotel in Petra (The Petra Palace) at 6:30 in the morning, so that we could enjoy the wonders of the ancient city of Petra in the morning before the heat of the afternoon. Of course, like much of this trip, we didn’t follow the schedule. But it’s not what you think! We were out of the hotel by 7:00; it was Petra’s gorgeousness that made it impossible to leave before the afternoon. 

The city of Petra was carved into sheer rock by the Nabataean kingdom over 2000 years ago. This ancient trading city has but one entrance- a mile long walk between two rocky cliffs- and is filled with building displaying Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Mesopotamian, and local styles. After the Nabataens the Romans ruled the city, but it was soon lost to the west until the 1800s. In an interesting interfaith twist the site is also where Aaron, the brother of Moses, is buried. Sorry for the history lesson.

Anyway, it would be suicidal for me to try to type everything we saw in Petra, considering there is still 12 hours worth to describe afterwards. I will give you some highlights though: before we even reached the canyon that took us into the city, we saw small structures carved into the rock, which provided a small teaser as to what’s coming when we reached the city. Of course, us Americans fell into the tourist trap of a horse back ride that took us a meager 100 yards downhill- but never mind. Then we passed through the carved gates into the canyon, beginning our mile long journey into the actual city. By 9:00 o’clock we finally reached the city, our home for the next 4 hours. You might think that four hours is way too long to explore in an archeological site, but in reality, it would take days to explore all of Petra’s wonders. From the Treasury (which we were told by our personal tour guide was not actually a treasury), to the tombs, to the amphitheater, everything looked so foreign, yet amazing. It was mind-boggling to think that all the structures we saw were carved out of the rocky cliffs. During our exploration we also split into groups, some which wanted to explore more than others. What was great about these groups was that they naturally included both Jordanians and Americans, which meant that this beautiful expedition also provided for great bonding time. Alas, by one o’clock we were all tired (some Jordanians chose not to sleep the night before), hungry, and slightly dehydrated, so we started our mile long climb back up to the bus.

Reaching the bus was one of the greatest feelings on earth, as it meant getting out of the heat and into the AC. After a brief stop at a souvenir store, we began our hour long ride to the Wadi Rum desert. While most of our bus rides were filled with singing, dancing, and general mayhem, this one was quieter than a museum, as most of us took the opportunity and slept.

Wadi Rum is a desert filled with rocky cliffs and fantastic views, and our camp was smack in the middle of it. Our base camp for that evening and night was a Bedouin campsite, which included many sleeping tents, a bathroom, and an outdoor dining/party area. As a city person, I was a little taken aback by the camp- what were we going to do the entire afternoon and evening? However, I shouldn’t have worried because- like the rest of this trip- there was never a dull moment. The first thing we did when we reached the camp was eating a much needed lunch and wash up a bit. Then, some of the boys, including myself, started an intense soccer game in the middle of the camp. The teams were- of course- mixed, and while it wasn’t the most high quality of games, it was one of my favorite moments of the trip. People always say sport is the great equalizer, and this was one more example of that fact.

After our soccer game all of the Americans and a handful of Jordanians went on a jeep tour of the desert. Petra had shown us Jordan’s human-made beauty, and this desert tour showed us Jordan’s natural beauty. Again, it would be really hard for me to put into words what we saw that evening, but I’ll leave you with two images. One is the sun setting between two rocky cliffs. The second is all of us, adults included, climbing on a massive sand dune and the running/ rolling off. After a week full of sessions and meeting, it was so nice to finally have a day like this, in which we all had fun and acted like true teens.

Yet the highlight of the night, and maybe of the entire day, and maybe of the entire trip (you get where this is going) was stargazing in the desert with all 30 of our new friends. After we came back from the jeep tour, we had a filling Bedouin dinner and even danced a little bit at the Bedouin styled party, but we eventually decided to forgo the dancing and look at the stars. All 30 of us brought our blankets to the “parking lot” (basically a space away from any lights) and lay down and watched shooting stars. Yes; we actually saw shooting stars! And after a while of lying down and staring at the sky groups of discussions started to form. One group told, or at least tried to tell, ghost stories. Another had a discussion about dating in Jordan and in the US. And even another had a discussion about religion and personal beliefs. It was extremely gratifying participating in those conversations. I believe that that night cemented the relationship we had build over the past week and during that night we truly became one cohesive group.