Amman

Our last day tour as a JUC group started at the citadel and museum in Amman. The ruins were interesting but not spectacular (after Jerash, it takes a lot to impress us!) and the museum was pretty dull. Many of the display items were missing - moved to a new museum that hasn't opened yet. Leaving the city, we passed the largest Starbucks in the world ... sorry for the bad picture. Next stop was Mt. Nebo, where Moses viewed the land that he was not allowed to enter. From the top, he would not have been able to physically see all the areas mentioned, so it was either divine intervention allowing him to see these places, or he was remembering how they looked from having seen them from across the Jordan when fighting further north against the kingdoms east of the river. We weren't able to see much from the lookout, it was too hazy, but I'm sure that on a clear day the view is amazing. Our final sight-seeing stop of the trip was in Madaba, to see the mosaic map of the middle-east. It contains the oldest known map of the city of Jerusalem. While the others finished looking around the church, I tried to find a post office where I could buy a stamp, but when we finally found the post office (the directions we where given weren't exactly clear), they only had stamps for Europe, not North America. Guess the postcard will get mailed from home! We then went and had lunch at a fairly fancy restaurant - the appetizers (dips, salads, and pita) just kept on coming, then a main course of roast chicken, and finally desserts!

Then it was back on the bus for the drive back to Jerusalem. It took us over an hour to cross back into Israel - one girl's middle name is a popular Arabic name, so the immigration officials questioned her for quite a while to verify her ancestry (it didn't help that she's Hispanic, so has Arab colouring). Another person in the group was randomly pulled out to be questioned at a different part of the process. I got a few extra questions because I was a Canadian travelling with a bunch of Americans ... I think they just wanted to make sure that I was really with the group and wasn't just trying to slip through with them.

Our new bus met us on the other side for the ride back to Jerusalem. My roommate and I then headed into the Old CIty to exchange some money and for her to pick up a ring that she had ordered, then we met with two other girls for the group for ice cream and waited with them at the school for their sherut to arrive to bring them to the airport. After they had left, we walked up to the New City for supper - shwarma! (My roommates first! She's been missing out!)

Petra

Petra! The entrance gate was only a five minute walk from the hotel, so loaded up with water and a few snacks, we headed down the hill and towards the canyon. Our guide lead us on a slow two hour guided hike to the amphitheater. It was interesting to learn the history of the site and have the carvings in the canyon walls pointed out to us, but the pointing out of all the rocks that looked like something (a duck, a fish, an elephant, etc.), got to be a bit annoying after a while. I hiked with two other girls from the group up to the Monastery - 800 steps up in high temperatures with no shade! We took a while to get up there (resting in every tiny bit of shade we could find), but we made it! I then climbed up to two lookouts to look into the wilderness and the rift valley. It was a hot two hour hike back down and then up to the hotel. We had lunch, then headed north to Amman, taking the windy, scenic route (which was a bit of a scary drive) past Bozrah, where we talked a bit about the kingdom of Edom. They had a long, narrow territory, and controlled the trade routes through this area so became rich.

Dana Canyon

Bozrah

We had a super fancy hotel in Amman (and had to pass through metal detectors before we could enter), but the pool closed before we got there, so we were a bit disappointed with that! The four of us girls just hung out in one of the rooms and chatted, since it was our last night together.

Jerash

Day 1 of the Jordan Extension! We met our bus as 6 am and headed for the Jordanian border. We got there just before it opened, so were able to get through without all the pushing and shoving that is normally required! Our Jordanian guide helped get us through immigration, and our bus, with driver and tourist police officer, were there to meet us. After a short drive we got to the Roman ruins at Jerash. These ruins are the largest set of Roman ruins in the world! It was amazing to see how much was still standing after 2000 years. There is a large theatre with amazing acoustics - standing in the middle and talking in at a normal volume, you can be heard in the back rows ... and hear your voice echoing back. Luckily we got to test this ourselves before the drums and bagpipes started up. (Huh?) There is a large oval plaza just outside the theatre - it's lined with columns, and even has a drainage system under it! After lunch, we stopped at Dibon - an ancient city on the Madeba Plateau. This area was given to Reuben as an inheritance, but control of the area was always changing hands. There isn't much left on the site except a pile of rocks ... but we did see a shepherd leading his flock right through the middle off it! We spent the rest of the afternoon driving south, past the Arnon Canyon, to the town of Petra. We got to the hotel after 8 pm, had supper, then the four of us girls went for a late night swim in the cold pool.