We were thrilled to discover that our bus for Jordan has WiFi, USB charging, and a bathroom. We had a Sunday devotional on the bus since LDS church services in Jordan (and UAE) are held on Fridays. After a four-hour bus ride we arrived in Aqaba at our hotel right on the Red Sea. After a nice breakfast we went swimming in Red Sea and pool. Others in our group played beach VB, or went scuba diving or parasailing.
After lunch we visited ASEZA-the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority and heard an interesting presentation on the government investment in the area.
We drove to Wadi Rum on the bus and then got in the beds of some old of Toyota trucks for a ride around Wadi Rum. We saw petroglyphs and some Bedouin camps. There was a pretty strong sandy wind storm. We finally arrived at our camp which has concrete buildings with Bedouin style black outer shells, includes AC and shower, toilet, and electricity.
We had a sunset camel ride out and back, mine was one of the largest, named Shahaine. Dinner in big tent was pretty good, chicken lamb and potatoes cooked in a pit barrel (more on this later…)
The next morning we had about an hour bus ride to Petra. Sarah and I were better prepared this time. We had our sunbrellas and plenty of water this time. It seemed more crowded this year and quite dusty. Some in our group ran to get to the Monastery and back in time. We did the Treasury, Royal Tombs, and everything in between. We had a sack lunch on the bus on our way to Amman.
We stopped at the Tafila Wind farms.
On to Amman.
herdaughteranderson 