Sunday April 23, 2006 – Arabian Nights

Following a frustratingly slow Hertz rental car experience, we had our rental car for the hour and half Arabic only radio drive to the Wadi Rum desert (desert where Lawrence of Arabia spent quite a bit of time and where the movie was filmed). Our tan four dour tape decked Citroen was a significant step down from the Hummer, but she served us well. Jordan Tracks met us at the Visitor’s Center of Wadi Rum, and we shortly thereafter found ourselves coupled up with our camels and guide (Saleem) for our overnighter in the desert.

If you have never ridden a camel before (and we hadn’t), they actually are more comfortable than riding a horse. Our guidebook accurately stated, “nothing can compare to the gentle hypnotic swaying and soft shuffle of riding camelback in the open desert.” The whole getting up and getting down is always a little awkward as “they get up from sitting with a bronco-style triple jerk back-forward-back, and if you are not

holding on as soon as your bottom hits the saddle, you’re liable to end up in the dust.” While this bronco style triple jerk is going on, the camels are moaning and groaning the whole time…you really can’t help but laugh about the whole situation.

Our mini camel caravan loped through the desert for about three hours with opportunities to stop for photos and run up sand dunes. Throughout the three hour journey, I couldn’t help but
notice that my boney butt was not enjoying the ride as much as the previous day in Petra. Light was shed on my camel chafe situation when Saleem took the saddles off for lunch. In watching "C’s" saddle being removed…one camel blanket, two camel blankets, three camel blankets, four camel blankets. Count Dracula only got up to two camel blankets on my saddle. Chef Saleem pulled out canned tuna fish, pitas, sour cream, and cheese…and we were thinking “how are we going to force this down.” Surprisingly it made for a pretty tasty lunch – I’m sure three hours on a camel might have helped.

Lunch was followed by a rest in the shade for the heat of midday to pass. Our camel journey carried on for another few hours, until we reached camp. The camp, nestled against a huge rock mountain, included a couple Bedouin tents, a fire pit, a little cinderblock block kitchen, and as indicated by Jordan Tracks, a “proper toilet.” “C’s” careful water rationing for the day in anticipation of this “proper toilet” was for not, as the toilet consisted of two feet placeholders and a hole in the ground. Ten other tourist rolled in as well from either horseback riding or 4x4ing for a great chicken dinner followed by Arabic singing from our various guides. At one point, I strolled out away from the light and noise of camp, laid in the sand, and gazed up at the countless stars…all you could hear was the wind blowing sand across the desert.

Here's a photo from the 3 hour drive back to Amman on Monday afternoon...no road trip to Iraq for us.

For those of you who haven't gotten your fill of photos yet, here's all the digital taken on the trip:

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