The night at the Bedouin campsite was pretty wonderful. A full moon shone in a sky dotted with multi-colored stars. The resort-style camp sits in the middle of a nature reserve, solitary and isolated, so no lights spoiled the view. Kajsa, a new friend of ours, and I climbed up a mountain on the side of the camp to see the panorama.
Even though my alarm was set to wake up for the sunrise, I got lazy and slept in. Oh well.
I finally rolled out of bed to eat a delicious breakfast of hummus, pita bread, and the most delicious olive oil ever. Then, we climbed into trunk beds lined with benches to explore the Wadi Rum desert.
We drove away from every semblance of civilization to see the unearthly rock structures and blazing sand.
"Where the heck am I?"
It honestly felt post-apocalyptic. It was about 110 degrees outside, and only lizards and camels roamed the sand.
Hey there, camel
Panorama!
We wandered into a cool, natural cave..
Saw a mushroom-shaped rock...
And beheld gigantic mountains that looked like melting candles.
After a couple of hours of exploration, we jumped into a shuttle to get back across the border through the town of Aqaba. Our driver had some eyebrow-raising comments on the miraculous success of monarchies and interesting observations about his country.
Driver: "The only reason we have peace is because of our king. Monarchies are the best."
Me:
Mhm okay I see.
Aqaba was a city in development. Money pours in from Gulf countries and even the United States to build up new housing complexes and city centers. Lots of propaganda spouting from our driver... I couldn't tell if he whitewashing all the problems with this Jordanian city... Or if it really was as perfect as it seemed. We never actually got out of the car, but here's a picture through the windshield.
Aqaba was clean, kind of empty, and lined with palm trees and beautiful buildings. It actually reminded me of Palm Springs sort of! It's hard to compare the places and sights and experiences I have here to things back home; I don't want to "cheapen" the uniqueness and singularity of my time here. However, I do want to try and relate what I see and hear and feel in this region of the world in a way that makes sense. So, there ya go!
Our group made the same walk across the deserted expanse of no-man's-land back to Israel. Kajsa got questioned a little harshly (they asked for her grandfather's name) but I skated across with no issues.
me #strutting back to Israel
After a quick lunch, Kajsa and I walked to the bus station for our 5-hour bus ride back to Tel Aviv.
Do you really think it was uneventful? Do you?
Kajsa and I sat down in some seats near the front of the bus, and within minutes, a random girl came up and told us to get out of her seat.
Kajsa and I looked around at all the empty seats around us like,
But this young lady insisted we move. And even asked that we show her our tickets to prove we had bought them???!!!
So we got up and sat in the seats right behind her, eyeing her the entire time like--
We settled into our seats for about an hour, picking up a few more passengers as we made our way to Tel Aviv.
Then--I kid you not--I got roused out of a nap with a tap on the shoulder, and I was told I was in someone's seat.
WHAT.
Kajsa and I were slightly annoyed--
But we decided that since everybody was so concerned with sitting in the exact seat printed on their tickets, we'd go back to seats 50 and 51, which were the numbers on our tickets. Only... all the seats were full.
And four people were simply sitting in the aisle.
Let me say that again.
Kajsa and I had paid twenty-five dollars each for seats on an over-booked bus.
(Cue the constantly-recurring question of, "Is this abnormal or are we just spoiled Americans?")
How could this be?
Well, when Israeli soldiers are dressed in their uniforms, they're allowed to get on the bus for free. However, this means that sometimes they'll get onboard buses that have already sold out. Meaning that people who paid money for their seats sit in the aisle.
In. The. Aisle.
Some guy insisted that Kajsa and I just kick the people in our seats out because "f*ck them," but we realized the futility of this. Everybody would be kicking everybody off until they got to a soldier in his or her seat. So, Kajsa and I decided to bite the bullet and just occupy the floor... Not with any silence or acquiescence of course. Did you really think we'd sit nicely, quietly, lady-like?
Many loud sighs, lots of almost-shouted , open-ended comments ("I guess we will just SIT ON THE GROUND THEN"), and multiple pictures filled the bus as the onlookers sat uncomfortably.
That picture above is Kajsa and me literally laying in the aisle because we were pretty damn exhausted!!!!!!!
Three hours after being resigned to the ground, two people got off the bus, so Kajsa and I sprawled across some seats.
I got on my next bus--IN A SEAT--and after another hour and a half, I was finally, finally, FINALLY home. I took a quick shower, then passed the eff out.
Today, I will be sitting on the couch for 12 straight hours because I need to remember what it is like to not sit on a floor. I'll call it a sanity day. Back to the grind tomorrow.
And with that, I end another blog entry and get back to reality.
With much love,
"My feet SURE ARE SORE" Aubs
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