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New bridge over Suez Canal at sunset. |
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Very large container ship sailing "into the sand" of the by-pass channel. |
Through the Suez Canal, into the Red Sea – and now we are
parked in the harbor of Aqaba, Jordan
for two days.
Winter is fast
approaching this area of the Middle East, which really means it is a
comfortable 70 plus degrees going up to low 80’s in the middle of the day.
We would call it ‘comfortable”.
What was not so comfortable was the early
morning call to go “sightseeing”.
That
call was accompanied with bleary eyes, groans, and a few interrupted snores.
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Typical bands of granite seen in the hills as we approached Wadi Rum. |
Our tour of choice was a trip to Wadi Rum, the location for
“Lawrence of Arabia.”
The car ride was
about an hour from port and our driver was a loquacious Arab who talked a lot
while we laughed, as we had lots of trouble understanding his English.
He told us how he loved King Abdullah and Queen Rania. He told us how, if a young woman married
without her parents’ permission, she would be killed and the young man would be
jailed. He told us that this is a Sunni
nation.
Jordan has no oil, so it is one of the poorer Middle Eastern
countries. What it does have in
abundance is refugees. Originally, Jordan
got lots and lots of Palestinians. In
fact, Queen Rania is Palestinian. And
now, Jordan has received more than a million Syrian refugees, along with 20,000
US soldiers to help them keep the peace.
What is “Wadi Rum”?
We learned that “wadi” means valley, so Wadi Rum was a village in a
valley. There are 1,050 people in this village and almost all of them are from
the same family. And surrounding the
village were behemoth sandstone mountains
that reminded us of the American southwest. That is what we were there to see,
primarily. But you know me. I was much more interested in the people and
how they live.
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Getting into our ride, a beat-up Toyota 4x4 with a burlap sun shade.
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Entrance |
This is the area of
the Bedouins, with all the drama that name implies.
Yes, the Bedouins do have tents, some very
large ones, with camels wandering around their encampments. These camels are
used for riding, camel racing, heavy duty work. But so are the trucks,
ramshackle trucks used mostly to haul we tourists out into the desert. And the
Bedouins still do move their
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You can rent these to camp out here at the entrance |
tents in the spring, to check up on their
wandering camels and their sheep and goats.
But, for the most part, they park themselves in ramshackle villages,
using not just tent material, but also tin sheets, sandstone blocks, concrete –
anything you could consider “building material.”
Why, you might ask, has this change occurred?
It is because of schools.
Even the Bedouins want their children
educated.
So they have built schools,
one for boys, another for girls and they are only semi-migrant in the modern
world.
How did we find this out?
Well, when we got to “Wadi Rum” we were introduced to our “driver” on a
4x4 truck to take us into the desert for a couple hour introduction to Lawrence
of Arabia-ville.
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The vast expance of Wadi Rum. |
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More vastness. |
Abdel was 20 years old,
dressed in traditional Arab garb with the headwrap, long robe to his feet and
sandals. He lives in Wadi Rum with his family, goes to Amman for school, and
comes home to “work the tourists” on his days off.
And, even though his schooling was in the
village, he answered our questions about his life and his family’s life as
Bedouins.
I, personally, found it way
more interesting than the landscape (although Bos was in “hog heaven” with all
the rocks, fissures, stones surrounding him!).
In fact, I wanted to adopt him and bring him home, figuring his family
wouldn’t miss him.
You will see why I
think that…
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Narrow slot in the 1500meter tall wall we explored. |
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Inscriptions found in the slot; in Arabic, Thulmic and other lost languages |
As we bumped along, I asked Abdel if he had brothers and
sisters. “Yes,” he replied. He had 10 brothers and 7 sisters. I was amazed and intrigued. “But my father has 3 wives,” he
explained. “I am the second son of the
second wife.”
What does your father do for a living?
Supporting 17 kids, 3 wives and 20 camels has
to require a hefty income.
This kind of
stumped him.
After much thinking, I
think I know why.
In this typical
Bedouin village, the men really don’t work.
They sit around and drink tea, gossiping with their friends. The
family’s needs are really not much, compared to a traditional American family.
Seldom do they have a tv or computer.
Yes, they do have cell phones, interestingly enough.
The women, on the other hand, stay at home caring
for the children and doing all the housework (and I say “housework” loosely, as
the houses are more like shacks).
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School for boys; there is one for girls. |
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A peek into one back yard. |
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Camels at the ready. |
When we were leaving the village, our first driver explained
that Abdel’s father was a retired military man and had a pension, which made
him a “rich” man in this place.
And
while Abdel said his father was “old”, we learned he was really around 60.
So to Abdel, we must have appeared ancient!!
As we said goodbye to Abdel, I asked my final
question:
Are you planning to leave Wadi
Rum when you are done with school?”
His answer made me reflect on life. “No,” he said. “I love
the desert. It is quiet here and I like
that. My brothers and sisters stay
here. My family is here. I will stay.
I like to come to America for one year to learn English better, but I
come back here.”
This must be where “Home is where the heart is” comes from
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So glad to see one of your character descriptions! I think I learn as much about far places in the world from your blog as I ever did in geography class!!
ReplyDeleteWell that is a lesson on family. I have no desire to go there! I am thankful you did to see it really first hand. We are so spoiled as American's and have so much. We forget to be thankful for our blessings. As Thanksgiving approaches maybe we can have a new point of view on what is important. Thanks for sharing your trip!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind having Abdel as an extra brother. You can bring him home with you. Iris says she agrees.
ReplyDelete