Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Jordan

The vast Arabian Desert stretches east of the Judaean Mountains and the Jordan River; it's a land of dry hills and wadis (valleys) with a few streaks of green.  The Jordan River brings rare areas of green trees and crops.  After a border crossing from Israel that took 1 ½ hours, we crossed the Jordan.  As Moses led the Israelites through the desert, so we wound around the desert hills to Mt. Nebo.  From the top we saw through the haze to the Dead Sea and Canaan.  Moses, the only prophet God spoke to face to face, died on this mountain, seeing the Promised Land, but not allowed to enter it.  The Dead Sea is above the center of the trees in the top picture.




The serpent cross reminding us of Moses getting rid of snakes

in the Israelite camp on their journey from Egypt. 

 

Our Jordanian guide Eddie spoke of changes in the last 30 years, much of it due to money and tourism becoming so important.  Years ago it would be a disgrace to leave one’s parents when getting married; now the elderly are often neglected.  There used to be peace among the Arab countries, but now countries have enmity and no longer have open borders. In Jordan women have more rights than in most Arab countries—they can vote and make decisions.  In some tribes this is not the case, but national policy means most women have freedoms.

We thought Israel had litter and junk around, but Jordan is worse.  Many houses have rebar sticking up from the flat roofs, ready to add another story for a younger couple to build their own space above the family home.  Minarets and small mosques are everywhere in the cities and even in small clusters of buildings in the countryside.  We often heard the call to prayer broadcast from the minarets, just below the crescent on top.

Jerash

Jerash, occupied for 6,500 years, was built on a crossroads of the Mideast with roads leading to Damascus in the north, Jerusalem to the west, Petra to the south and the Silk Road leading east.  Its golden age was during its Roman rule as one of the Decapolis—ten provincial Roman cities controlling the Mideast region.  These cities were built in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries to show the glory of Rome.  Jerash is one of the best preserved, all original sites of the group.  Earthquakes demolished the town, but it is being excavated from the sand and put back together only as far as the ruins fit together with no added reconstruction.

Hadrian’s Arch on the south entrance.  Hadrian ensured Rome’s control from here to the north of England.

 

Colonnaded Jerusalem road, part of the crossroad.

 

Looking to the Damascus Gate

 

 The Hippodrome was built for chariot races and later saw gladiator fights.

The Greco oval plaza was the town center.  It was easy to imagine Roman soldiers and women in flowing dresses.

 

The south theatre seated 3000 and had wonderful acoustics so that we could hear the music and voices from the top row.  We were entertained by a bagpiper and drummer.

 

 Pastor at the top.

 Mosaics in one of the Christian churches built after 350 AD.

Corinthian columns show fine workmanship.

 

 

Petra

Our guide Eddie told us of a large lake that provided water for the large city of modern Petra and makes possible irrigated farms that grow melons, tomatoes and other food crops.  As we drove through the desert we saw the occasional spring that fed an oasis.  We all found it incredible to imagine the Israelites wandering in this vast emptiness for 40 years.  They would have perished quickly without God’s providence.

Upon late night arrival at our hotel in Petra, we found that 23 suitcases were missing, including ours.  We had been encouraged to leave some luggage in Israel to shorten the time at the border crossing.  Apparently the Jordan suitcases were not loaded back on the bus after border inspection.  Most of the group had no change of clothes, no meds, no toiletries.  So people slept in the buff, wore the same clothes another day, shared meds and make-up, and had a few laughs over our common predicament after we got over the frustration.  You have to laugh sometimes, or you will cry.

The 2000 year old city carved into the caves and sandstone at Petra was made famous by Indiana Jones, but the sheer beauty and history of the place has made it one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Hidden deep by slot canyons for access, the city was built by the Nabataean Arabs 2200 years ago and is still shown by Bedouin guides and their camels and horses.  The Nabataeans were ancient Arab traders who adopted certain facets of Greco-Roman style and made it all their own.

As-Siq is the ancient main entrance to the Nabataean city in the canyons.  We walked in; some in our group opted for small horse-drawn buggies that bounced over the rocky slot canyon floor.  The walls soar up to 250 feet high. 

 

 Djinn blocks are carved rock tombs.  
 

Troughs carved in the rock walls carried water for residents.

 

Eddie remarried us in the old Bedoin style.

 

The Treasury, rumored to hold hidden treasures in the past, was carved from one huge red wall of stone.  It served as a tomb and temple and a town center.

 We wandered further and found colorful cave homes in the cliffs.

 

 

 

The theatre originally seated 3000, then was enlarged for 7000 people.

We opted for a camel ride back to the Treasury.  Our guide looked like he could be Omar Sharif’s grandson. 

 

 

How do trees grow in solid rock?

 Roman soldier reenactment

 

We hated to leave the wonderland that is Petra with many miles and structures and ruins still to explore, but we had more adventures to come in Jordan. 

 

Wadi Rum

We drove to southern Jordan to Wadi Rum Wilderness Preserve, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The Arabian desert seems more barren than the American Southwest with few plants or cacti.  Bedouins still wearing Arab headdress and long black caftans tend flocks of goats as they have for centuries.  They live in black goat-hair tents and still ride camels through the desert. 

 

At the Preserve entrance we had the usual restroom break and were surprised to find an Arab man in the ladies room passing out toilet paper as we entered.  In the inevitable line he looked at me and at the scarf I had bought the day before.  He took it from my neck and wrapped my head in a traditional Arab women’s flowing turban.  He then wrapped three others.  So we were dressed for our desert trek.  It was surprisingly secure and did not blow loose.  The rock formation is called the Seven Pillars of Wisdom for T. E. Lawrence’s book of that name.

As we approached Wadi Rum (valley of high places), the rock outcrops rose higher with flat sand between the jagged peaks.  We had a traditional lunch at a Bedouin tourist camp with tea in this lounge tent. 

 

We were told we would take a jeep ride into the desert, but it was actually small pick-up trucks with a bench and blankets on each side of the truck bed—six people in the back of each truck.  A few people who could not climb up there rode inside the trucks.

Kyle, Lynn and Pastor

It was a magical ride into the Wadi, tearing up and down tracks in the sand, past Bedouin tents, donkeys, camels, herders with goats, and golden or reddish rock formations.  Some peaks in Wadi Rum rise a couple thousand feet. In some places the sand had blown into dunes high against the cliff walls.

 

 

At one stop our guide Eddie invited us to climb the dune with “naked feet.”  Uphill was a serious cardio workout, our pale feet bluish in the red sand.  A few of us topped the dune, exhilarated.  The view was stupendous—our trucks small, with tiny camels near a black tent.  Then we went slip-sliding down the dune, laughing.

 

Mindy and me

 Our trucks are to the left of the large black tent way down there.

 

Pastor climbing rocks. 

 

Another stop was T. E. Lawrence of Arabia’s hideout from which he encouraged and aided the Arab tribes to cooperate with each other and revolt against the Ottoman Turks during WW I.  Lawrence, a British officer, traveled great distances on camels meeting various Arab tribe leaders, making promises, and fighting battles with them. He is an almost mythic hero here.  We were so glad we had watched the old movie starring Peter O’Toole before the trip. 

Cliffs are fantastically carved by erosion into holes and ribbons of rock.

 

We returned to the Bedouin camp, skidding in a roller coaster ride down the highest rises in the trail.

This whole day was one of those euphoric times when I sighed and announced that I could die now, a happy woman.