AQABA is a beautiful city on the Red Sea, and was my home for six weeks while I worked on the excavation site at Humayma.
From the roof of my apartment I had a stunning view of the water, the city and the neighbouring mosque, although the 4 a.m. call to prayer made it somewhat less picturesque.
On weekdays I worked on an archaeological site in the middle of the desert, where the men rode camels to work. Breakfast on site felt like a scene from National Geographic. As camels grumbled in the background, I tried to describe the heavily forested mountain I grew up on to Bedouin whose stories were set in a landscape that sounded like Mars.
The Bedouin I met there opened up a new world to us when they took us camping. I watched the sun set and rise over sand that appeared to stretch to the end of the world and woke in the night with the Milky Way hanging over my head. I rode the camels one of our friends raced, and drank the same camel's milk in my tea, a rich and incredibly delicious drink.
Each place I visited had its tourist appeal that had called my attention, but it was the parts outside of the guidebook descriptions that truly captivated me. Every day seemed to offer a unique experience.
When the car we hitched a ride in broke down, it gave us the opportunity to drink tea on a cliff top while a snaking river ran below us. The next day's float in the Dead Sea was also more than worth the stinging eyes.
An iconic moment in Petra came as I travelled down the seiq, with its carved sandstone walls, and reached the end where the canyon opens and the Treasury appears from the stone. It was an amazing moment, which more than lived up to expectation, even with the strong smell of cat pee permeating the morning air. Petra is apparently home to many stray cats.
The image of Petra's Treasury from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is possibly the strongest association for visitors to Jordan. It covers every guidebook and possibly rivals the king's image in number of prints and postcards (an incredibly impressive feat). But in truth, the Treasury is a miniscule fraction of the city of Petra, and not even the most impressive tomb.
A long climb up, or a rather fun mule ride as I learned, took my group to the Monastery tomb, one that dwarfs the Treasury, and with a lot of ungraceful attempts, you can manage to climb into. The general rule of Jordanian exploration seems to be as long as no one tells you to get off something then you are allowed to climb it.
The entire area is filled with tiny sandstone tomb caves, none marked on the countless maps you can find of the site. In these I found my adventure. At the top of the peak where the Monastery lies, there is a vantage point over the valley, one I didn't see because I had found a path that once was a Nabataean stairway, which led to cave tomb after cave tomb.
The Wadi Mujib river hike is another trip well worth taking. For a small amount of money to enter the site we were given lifejackets and sent up the self-guided route. We had gone early, and it was so worth it. The sun poured down into the entrance to the canyon, creating a doorway to another realm. As we stepped in between the water-worn walls of stone and through the shadows the river swelled around our knees. And then we hit the boulders.
When we reached the first large boulder and waterfall, we were so lucky to have bumped into locals because despite my love of hiking and climbing nothing had prepared me for this. With their very helpful advice we clambered out of chest deep water and over giant boulders to make it to a towering waterfall. Climbing through the thundering water into a rock cavern at the back, for the first time in five weeks I felt rain as fish nibbled at my ankles. On the way back down the river boulders became water slides. At one point you slip down a boulder straight at the canyon wall (remember this is Jordan and not Canada, so no helmets), but fear not, because at the bottom a waterfall slams into you and shoves you sideways before you can come crashing into the canyon.
I went knowing a lot about Jordan's ancient history and very little about the modern country. I found a country open for discovery. I will happily book my next adventure to return to the sweeping deserts and ancient cliffs. Ma'a salama for now Jordan.
