Friday, January 3rd, 2014
Today was a pretty leisurely morning. We didn't start out too early and there wasn't much on the schedule. We were making the trip back to Amman from Aqaba which was to take about 4 hours via the Desert Highway. Unlike the Kings Highway, the Desert Highway is a lot straighter, a lot quicker and there is a bit more traffic. We made pretty good time though with a couple little stops for food and shopping.
The scene as we left Aqaba and headed back into the heart of the desert.
Camels, camels everywhere. This one, like most we drove past, was hobbled (front or back legs tied so they can't wander too far). That gives you an idea that these are not wild camels but belong to someone in the area.
Through the haze you can see Israel. It really is that close. We would travel along this close for most of the 4 hours. Security towers and fences are a common sight along this stretch of the highway.
One of the security posts along the way. I like the laundry drying on the roof.
One of the many UNHCR tents you will find along the road. You will find thousands of UNHCR tents in the area belonging to refugees from Syria. I think I mentioned that nearly 2 million refugees have crossed into Jordan from Syria to escape the fighting there. So amazing because Jordan is a small country with very few resources but they are doing everything they can to help their neighbours.
They are growing vegetables under those little greenhouse domes. You will see field after field of these. They do a great job of turning otherwise useless land into fields of tomatoes and watermelons and other such things.
These tents most likely belong to gypsies.....nomadic Jordanians. You will find a large number of gypsy camps in this area. Funny thing.....they all have satellite dishes.
Now I cannot find the name of these rock formations but there is a long story about a father and his 2 daughters (pretty sure it's in the bible). Not a lot of other tourist stops along the highway.
The sun over the Dead Sea. A little bit more sun today than the day we went floating.
The water looks pretty and inviting today.....but there would be no swimming this time around. This was basically a travel day.
If you zoom in on this picture you can make out a trickle of water flowing here. Normally there would be more but the dam is closed and not controlled by Jordan.
Eventually we made it back to the hotel. We said goodbye to a few people who were travelling on and then the rest of us headed out for dinner. After dinner we hit the clubs. Final night in Amman so the whole group of us went dancing. Dancing lasted well into the morning, finally heading back to the hotel about 2am.
Saturday my tour of Jordan officially ended. Before my flight I managed to run a few errands including shawarma and mailing postcards (sorry no one actually got them, but I did write them I promise). It was a really amazing week. Met some wonderful people, experienced some great history and just had an all-round good time. It's a quick trip to Jordan so I can easily pop over for another visit to see anything I didn't get to see this time around.
Julie
