JOURNEY unchecked™
FEATURED JOURNEY
Between Stone, Sand, Salt, and Stories
Jordan—From Amman to a Martian Landscape
Words & Photography by Mark Cross
After leaving a country I won’t name—where taxi drivers, hotel managers, merchants, guides, and even immigration officials kept me on high alert for the next attempt to extract some $$$—I landed in Amman somewhat guarded.
I normally don’t have a driver from the hotel pick me up, but after the “fun” I just had in the previous country, I thought it was well worth the $25 for the hour-long drive to downtown.
My welcoming driver, the hotel staff, restaurant workers, the woman at the fresh juice stand, and many others collectively obliterated any memories of “that other country” into molecules of chickpeas smaller than anything found in hummus.
A restaurant worker at my hotel told me his restaurant didn’t serve lamb chops, but if I could meet him after his workday, he would show me a good place. We met at 3:30, checked with a phone-card vendor, then ducked deep into an alley to a restaurant filled with locals.
The smile on my face as I looked over the menu confirmed that I had found what I wanted. He glanced at the price then began a prolonged and heated “discussion” with first the waiter and then the manager. After that concluded, he firmly told me, “The price is 11. Do not pay any more than 11!” I asked him to join me, but he had to go home to his family, so after we embraced, he loudly told the staff once again, “11—No more!”
Everything is Up
One of the early things you realize when walking around Amman is that wherever you need to go is probably UP! Recommended coffee shop? Just 250 meters that way… UP. Need to buy a SIM card… 120 meters the other way… UP! “Dinner? Of course. My favorite kebab restaurant is very near your hotel, only 700 meters.” That kebab place wasn’t just up. I needed Air Traffic Control to give me clearance before ascending to that altitude. In all fairness, the kebabs were ridiculously amazing (and $2 USD), though next time—Uber.
JORDAN AT A GLANCE
LOCATION
Jordan & Mars
ELEVATION
-1,447 ft Dead Sea
+2,657 ft Petra
BEST TIME
Spring & Autumn
TIME NEEDED
As much as you have
LAMB CONSUMPTION
Shhh
RED SAND SMUGGLED
200 GRAINS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Bring the big camera
An Afternoon in the Theatre
Since the Roman Theater is right in downtown Amman, quite close to where I was staying, I decided to walk there (only a little “up”). It’s referred to as a “ruin,” but it honestly didn’t look that ruined to me. I’ve seen worse in Chicago.
It’s not a Colosseum like Rome’s, but a 2nd-century Roman theater built during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius, when the city was still called Philadelphia. It seated 6,000. What struck me was how little separated visitors from the structure. There were no fences or ropes restricting you from getting up close and personal with 2,000-year-old antiquities.
Noting that the Temple of Hercules was only 1 km away, I decided that should be my next stop. After mapping it on my phone, and starting to follow the route, I suddenly noticed, “Oh… it’s UP! And it sits on the highest hill in downtown? Great, even better!” Nearest Uber is 3 minutes away? JD 1.4—no problem.
On the ride up the hill, a cat was strolling a bit too leisurely across the winding road, so the driver slowed to allow the cat to cross safely. Then a little further he stopped again, this time for two more cats. I smiled and pointed and said, “I have a cat.”
As we neared our destination, I saw him reaching for his phone. No doubt to find the next ride order. I don’t really like when they do that, though I understand, especially when fares are so low—they need to make a living. Then pointing to himself he said, “my cats”. I pointed to him, then to my heart. I pretty much forced him to take a tip.
to himself, he said, “My cats.”
“The journey up the hill
was worth going
before we even arrived.”
Amman Citadel: Hercules’ Hangout
The hilltop ruins area is known as the Amman Citadel (Jabal al-Qala’a). Sprawling is an understatement. Literally an ancient city unto itself. The more I continued, the more history unfolded before me. A beautiful Byzantine church, Umayyad Palace, and the Jordan Archaeological Museum (containing some of the world’s oldest human-shaped statues) are just some of the places up here to explore. And of course, the Temple of Hercules.
Hercules’ temple did not disappoint, of course, as I took dozens of photos of the towering pillars from as many angles as the hot sun allowed. I considered returning for better light, but the noonday sun cast haunting shadows of its own.
After petting a few more cats, and enjoying a few more cooking smells wafting my way, I found just enough left in my legs to walk back down the steep hillside, which rewarded me with grand views back up to the ruins as well as of the cityscape below. Now where can I find some more lamb kebabs for the JD 1.4 I just saved?
Onward…
I was originally thinking of stopping at one of the Dead Sea resorts, either to spend the night or just as a day visitor to float in the salt water.
I’m not sure if it was the flies (there were a lot of them—and they were not very friendly), or simply my eagerness to get to Petra, but I settled for stopping a few times along the way for photos from afar. The flies were nice enough to come greet me anyway…
Petra… At Last
Apparently “smoke” (as it is called locally) is quite rare and considered very lucky
The town just outside of Petra is called Wadi Musa (“Valley of Moses”). It, too, is built on the side of a mountain, and though we arrived just past sunset, it was still quite impressive to behold. After a brief chat with the hotel owner over tea, my driver brought me to a local restaurant where he insisted on treating me to dinner. The food was delicious and the friendly four-legged street urchins meowed their way into my heart (and into sharing the feast).
Waking up early, which is always a relative term for me, I stared out my hotel window in disbelief. This wasn’t even Petra quite yet, but I would have come here just to see this view! After a lavish breakfast (whether I wanted it or not), time to set off…
After my driver dropped me at the entrance, I agreed to text him when I got back and set off, though I probably should have clarified, “If I make it back!”
As is usually the case in tourist areas, an immediate gauntlet of goods and services assaulted me as I entered the Petra area. I was tempted to buy one of the red-and-white scarves (shemagh). I normally don’t wear a hat but probably should have had something to help with the intense sunshine. Then horses on offer. We hadn’t even gotten to the camels, let alone—THE DONKEYS!
The pathway between the beautiful mountains grew ever thinner as I edged closer to the world-famous “Treasury” structure. I paused often as I was in no hurry to pass these fascinating sheer rock faces in their colorful array. There were crowds already, so I patiently waited for my opportunities to grab “people-free” angles within the beautiful “stone forest.”
No ATM in the Treasury?
The “Treasury” certainly doesn’t disappoint. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, among other movies, made good use of this iconic structure carved into the side of a mountain some 2,000 years ago (likely during the reign of the Nabataean King Aretas IV, who ruled until AD 40).
Like in most world-famous areas, there is no shortage of people trying to sell you the essentials. I didn’t see food or water, unless some of the animals lingering around were past their prime (pun intended).
No, I don’t need a camel ride, but seriously, have you considered giving them breath mints?
Onward to the Monastery. How hard can it be?
I was told walking would take two hours, versus 30 minutes by donkey. Ten minutes later, the donkey was down to 20 minutes—but somehow walking was now only an hour. Had I stepped through a wormhole distorting space-time, or was I somehow outrunning the donkeys?
The donkey Ubers (as the touts called them) started at JD 30, dropped to 25 after 100 meters, then 15. A boy followed me up the rocks until I finally heard 10 over my shoulder. The last pitch was an air-conditioned donkey. That made me laugh, but I told him, “It’s not the money; it’s something I want to experience.” Be careful what you wish for…
I didn’t realize that it was 5 kilometers each way and the climb up involved 800+ uneven rock-cut stairs. I also didn’t realize that the elevation gain was between 650 and 980 feet depending on your route. I’m sure my route was similar to ascending Mount Everest. Did I mention there was zero shade? Thinking of a joke about a jackass right about now.
Besides a few glares from riders (and their donkeys), I also met interesting people along the way. Several women from Turkey who had been here once before assured me I could make it. Later I found myself agreeing with a British couple that our cardiologists would probably charge us for a wellness checkup when we returned home. Farther up (and I do mean up) I discussed political leadership with several Haitian women and felt strangely more at ease after that conversation.
I think this was also the first time I started referring to the idea of a “journey.” People responded well to it; it felt appropriate for what we were all attempting to do. Measuring a journey by the number of two-liter water bottles consumed was also a shared sentiment.
A while later I overheard two European tourists on donkeys, asking the local driver, “Are we the worst riders you’ve ever seen?” He thought for a moment—a long moment—and then replied, “Nooo!” Since I was already eavesdropping, I asked their driver to turn on the donkey air-conditioning for his passengers, and I thought the man riding the trailing donkey might fall off laughing. I guess he hadn’t heard that line.
Was it worth it? It was an intense struggle, but a rewarding one. I need to find easier ways to get a sense of accomplishment. The Monastery, however, was certainly impressive.
Walking back down was mostly easier and certainly more serene, but more than a little scary in places where the stairs were replaced by slippery and quite narrow rocks. If you fall climbing up, you fall a little forward. If you fall walking down, you fall not so little forward…
For the last half hour tracing my steps back to the tombs and the treasury, I found that I could no longer walk in anything close to a straight line. My motor control was… no longer well controlled.
When I finally reached my driver, he said, “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?”
I didn’t realize I’d been gone over five hours. I just muttered, threatened his tip, and sank into the car seat, putting it back as far as it would go…
“Not only unlike any desert
I’ve ever seen…
Unlike any planet
I’ve ever seen!”
—me
Wadi Rum
I didn’t nap so much as collapse. When I looked outside, a Martian landscape stretched beneath the red-desert sunset. And this literally was used as a Martian landscape in the Matt Damon movie, “The Martian.” I had been in Wadi Rum for 20 minutes and I guess I was ready to live on Mars since I was already thinking of asking the driver if he wanted to just leave me there—I’d find a way back to Amman eventually. I was happy even before I found out that my driver had called the Bedouin camp ahead of our stay. After learning that dinner was to be chicken, he told them, “This guy really likes meat,” so lamb was added to the evening’s menu.
The traditional underground cooking method used here in the camps is called zarb. Meat and vegetables are stacked on metal racks and lowered over hot coals into a sand pit and slow-cooked underground. The smells that arose when the pit was first opened were heavenly. The chicken was moist and delicious, but the lamb…
The Egyptian manager took my plate away during dinner and insisted on piling it high once again with lamb and wonderful rice. There were several guests there from China, and listening to their conversation, I heard that he knew how to say “I love you” in Mandarin. I replied (also in Mandarin), “Just hugs!” The Chinese couple burst out in astonished laughter.
As the sky went from dark to darker, the stars were everywhere. I had only been privileged to see stars like this once before. I later learned that skies around Wadi Rum are often described as Bortle Class 2. What that means is it’s one of the best places on Earth to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. I will never forget the beauty, and unfortunately did not have the right camera with me to even attempt to capture its magnificence.
I can’t say enough about my driver / guide / now friend. He showed true kindness through his humor, his extraordinary helpfulness, and his generosity. After the desert journey, he even invited me to his home. On the way, we stopped at his father’s store, where his father offered me a gift. After trying to politely refuse a few times, I found a small plastic sheep and tried to explain that, to me, it represented the wonderful lamb I had enjoyed so much in Jordan. I don’t think he understood.
After a short drive up the hill (of course), we arrived at his home, a sun-filled and spacious apartment. His son had just gotten home from school and started making us some fresh snacks while we sat on the couch talking. I felt a real sense of “place” in that moment.
Maybe stay another day or two here? I was just happy I didn’t have something booked already, forcing me to leave. No idea where I would even want to go after Jordan. Cyprus? Turkey? Maybe on another journey, but right then, why would I leave this place—and even more so, these people? Oh, and the lamb!
