Excursion through Southern Jordan

October was a very busy month. The week following our return from Egypt was spent, in addition to my Arabic studies, working on a case study to prepare us for our independent study projects. I conducted my case study research on the preservation of Palestinian identity in Jordan through food. While this is a subject I had never put much though into before, what I learned was interesting. There is a very emotional connection to food that ties Palestinians living in Jordan to their original homeland. They not only use food to distinguish their own identity from Jordanian identity, but also to distinguish local identities amongst themselves. In Palestinian culture, Arab names often indicate where someone is from. By knowing an individual's last name, Palestinians can determine where someone is from, and therefore, determine what kinds of food they like to eat since certain Palestinian foods originate from certain cities and villages in Palestine, such as Nablus, Hebron, and Jenin.

During our week back, I also attended an engagement party for a friend here in Amman. With over one hundred other men, we gathered into cars and cargo vans and drove to the hall where the party was being held. The event was completely segregated by gender. The men were in one room, and the woman were in another, with neither side interacting with each other throughout the duration of the party. The party began with members of the family (male only, of course) greeting all the guests as they arrived. After sitting down, a Muslim ritual was conducted in which a verse from the Quran was read, and then it appeared (although I don't know for sure, so don't quote me on it) that the group prayed after the reading of the Quran. After this, some cake was served and the rest of the evening was spent socializing and congratulating the future groom as he greeted every table. The party was surprisingly short, and I was expecting some music, dabke, and a large feast, but that did not happen. The purpose of the engagement party was to be just a social gathering of both sides of the family in order to honor the future bride and groom. The music, dancing, and big feast will happen at the wedding. Unfortunately, the wedding is in April, so I will be unable to attend it.

The week of October 19th was spent traveling through southern Jordan. We visited some well-known locations in Jordan such as the castle in the city of Karak, the Nebatean ruins at Petra, the desert of Wadi Rum, and Jordan's only port city of Aqaba on the Red Sea, which I had previously visited in mid-September.

Our trip began with a stop in the city of Karak. Karak is known for being a politically active city, as many of Jordan's top political leaders come from Karak. Karak is also well-known for its politics because the it is the center for the Baath Party-the political party of Saddam Hussein, in Jordan. Any revolutions that have been attempted throughout Jordan's history tend to have originated in Karak. Luckily, they have been unsuccessful, and revolutionary sentiment, when it does occur, tends to remain in the south, and rarely spreads to the northern cities such as Amman and Irbid. In Karak, we visited Karak Castle, famous for its former status as a Crusader stronghold.






Following our visit to Karak, we traveled further south to the town of Wadi Musa, where the famous ruins of Petra, the ancient, 2,000 year old capital of the Nabateans is located. Arriving at the entrance around 7 am, we walked through the Siq, a narrow gorge that leads to the the ruins. As we reached the end of the Siq, the famous treasury building, carved into the side of a mountain appeared. One of the seven wonders of the world, all of Petra's buildings are carved into the sides of mountains and cliff faces, with only one free standing building in the entire city. My tour of Petra began with a long morning hike with a friend up a set of stairs, roughly one thousand or so, that led to a sacrificial altar on the top of a mountain. As we climbed, Bedouins perched on different portions of the mountain attempting to sell souvenirs helped us find our way to the exact location of the altar. At the top of the mountain we were met with an incredible view that allowed us to see the entire ancient city. After hiking back down the mountain, we explored the rest of Petra, looking at ancient churches, marketplaces, and temples. After spending the morning in Petra, we traveled to the desert of Wadi Rum.






Our visit to Wadi Rum was my favorite part of our trip through southern Jordan. After spending the afternoon settling into our desert camp and experiencing the many sand dunes the desert has to offer, we spent the night in the camp, enjoying the company of the staff and each other. They cooked us a delicious dinner that evening, complete with chicken, lamb, salads, rice, and bread. We then sat around the campfire while the staff played us some Arabic music and hosted a mock wedding celebration with two students from our group. In addition to the music and mock wedding celebration, we received Debke lessons from one of our academic directors just before eating. It was the first time I had danced the Debke in about a year, so naturally my dance moves were a little rusty. After wondering through the desert that night with some friends, we went to bed and woke up early the next morning to watch the sunrise. After breakfast, I enjoyed a camel ride through the desert, an experience I could not leave the Middle East without.





Our next stop was the city of Aqaba, Jordan's only port city located on the Red Sea near Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. This was my second time in Aqaba, as I had already spent a weekend there in mid-September. I again had the opportunity to go snorkeling in the Red Sea, and this time around I made it out of the water with no sea urchin spikes in my foot. We had another enjoyable night in Aqaba as we returned to some of the same locations we went to during our first visit in September. After being treated to a great fish lunch the following day, we left Aqaba that afternoon and headed north to spend the remainder of the day and night at the Feynan Eco-Lodge.

The Feynan Eco-Lodge is part of the larger Dana Biosphere Reserve. Dana is Jordan's largest nature reserve, covering vast areas of desert, mountains, and valleys full of different types of rare animal and plant species. The Eco-Lodge, designed to be completely environmentally friendly is isolated from any type of real civilization, making it literally in the middle of nowhere. Electricity is non-existent, and any lights in the lodge are solar powered. All meals are vegetarian (and they were delicious), and the lodge is lit only by candlelight at night. We spent the day exploring the lodge, and during some spare time, I climbed a nearby mountain with some friends. After dinner, we ventured off into the desert for a two hour night hike with one of our directors.





The following morning, after the group went on a morning hike (I stayed back at the lodge, due to stomach problems...again), we made our way back to Amman, but not before spending an afternoon at the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, which is composed of such a high salt density that there is no real life (hence the name), is divided between Jordan and Israel, with a very small portion in Palestinian territory. With Israel clearly visible on the other side, we floated effortlessly in the water as the high concentration of salt kept us from sinking beneath the surface. It is almost impossible to touch the bottom, making it hard to gauge how deep the water really is. After washing a nice, thick layer of salt off our bodies in the fresh water showers on the beach, we headed back to Amman; arriving early that night.




Our journey through southern Jordan allowed me to see and do many things I cannot do back home, and I had a lot of fun in the process. In many ways, I found our excursion through southern Jordan to be more enjoyable than our visit to Egypt.