Eilat and Jordan

After leaving our Hannukah party we headed for the bus station in Tel Aviv. A shady area this was, with beggars and young partying Israelis. Our Aunt Ariana accompanied us on our trip to Eilat/Jordan and we all got on the 5 hour bus ride to the tip of the country. Regrettably we were stuck on the Party bus with loud Hannukah celebrators, drunk and behaving badly the whole way there. We found our hostel no problem and even got to sleep at 6am!! Unfortunately some of the savages followed us to the hostel and disrupted our sleeping for one night until Hannukah finished. We enjoyed our first day there with a trip to the Aquarium, Eilat’s most famous tourist site. We saw sharks, corals, fish (every color imaginable) and even took an underwater submarine ride. Too cool!!

Later on, we walked around the beautiful resort town, and dined at a popular Israeli restaurant with tons of little salads, cold corn, pickles, hummus, eggplant with big pita and chicken. Soooo delicious. The food in Israel has been the best food so far. Presentation is key and the prices are so cheap. Then we walked around the open market at night and bought jewelry.

The next day I (Elana) was very sick and so I spent the day in the hostel sleeping while Nina and Ariana enjoyed the sun, surf and beer!

We retired early for a good nights rest before waking at 5am. We packed all our belongings and headed to the Eilat-Aqaba border after a brief encounter with a crooked taxi driver. The price and his attitude dropped once he realized Ariana spoke Hebrew!! After a short wait at the border, we met Egos, an Israeli army deserter, who now lives in England. At 6:30am we began our exciting journey into Jordan. The border on both sides was so slow, with the authorities taking their sweet time to get us in and out of the country. The Jordanian side was intimidating, mainly because it was new. They asked "how many" several times and reviewed all our passports together. Arianna was particularly nervous with her Israeli passport. We all nervously stepped into Jordan to find our taxi. I had previously arranged with our hostel to send a taxi driver to meet us. We were in luck that he had arrived and we were whisked away (along with Egos) to our hostel in Petra. The hour and a half drive through the desert was very beautiful. Tall mountains shadowed the road and I was quite surprised at how different it seemed from Israel, its neighbour.

We arrived at the hostel Cleopetra (correct spelling) to meet Mosleh, the manager. Tea time ensued before we were finally allowed to enter our rooms. For $10/night, we were pleased. Needless to say, we kept our shoes on and only went into the bathroom when necessary! Mosleh drove us to Petra for a 10:30am start, where we grabbed a map and headed to the Siq, a kilometer from the entrance. I can't really explain just how exciting it is to be in this city. The romantic, elusive writtings on the wall, the skills and work put into every carving. The infamous entrance to Petra, when you see the Treasury for the first time. Breathtaking, really extraordinary, pictures cannot begin to explain how moving the experience was. We snapped away and tried to capture the uniqeness of the experience. The day was hot, but bearable. Such a change from December weather at home!! We thought we were prepared for the overeager arabs, but quite frankly it's unerving to have an eight year old try to sell you necklaces while saying "blue light K-mart special" and "happy-hour." One even looked at me with jaded eyes and uttered "I love you". Very creepy. We stopped for a quick lunch before plowing ahead for a full hike to the monastary, the highest point in Petra. You can take a donkey up the steep steps, but we opted to walk as we felt bad for the overworked animals. We were mistified again by the beauty of this place. Nothing quite prepares you for the magnitude and beauty. We were in awe at every step. I tried to keep the camera under control!

We saw much and rested little, after 6.5 hours of complete bliss, we headed to the exit exhausted and satisfied. Mosleh's Uncle picked us up and took us back for some well needed r&r and a final farewell to Egos who decided to head back to Eilat that evening after a lovely day spent together. Although the manager probably saved our trip, we had to put up with his lame lines and calling us princess' far to frequently for our liking! He recommended a simple restaurant down the road where we found half of our hostel dinning. Under the agreement, they were obligated to give us a discount considering they rip all the other tourists off. We got ripped off, but only a little according to Mosleh! We enjoyed schwarma and salad which was so satisfying, we went there for our second evening as well! We endured the catcalls all the way back to our hostel, despite ignoring the men. They are extremely aggressive. Number one question "where you from"? "oh, welcome to Jordan." Seems pleasant enough, but just wait until the taxi driver, the hotel manager, every worker in Petra, Wadi Rum and anywhere you walk, asks you!!

The next day Mosleh arranged for a taxi to Wadi Rum where we met our beduin guide, had more tea at his house before setting out on the desert. We drove in an uncovered jeep for 4+ hours seeing the made up house of Lawrence of Arabia (the movie), the sand dunes (with red sand) and incomprehensibly beautiful mountains and rock structures. We dined on a simple lunch in the desert prepared by our 23 year old beduin guide before and after he toured us around. We discussed bedouin life versus western culture and I explained to him how women can beat their husbands too! This came as much of a surprise to him. Super sweet, I believe he really enjoyed our company since he invited us to stay in his home for the evening! We finished off the day with a beautiful desert sunset ontop of a tall rock structure. Unforgettable in every way. We made our way back to the hostel for our last night before another early morning. I wish I could effectively portray this country as the gem it was. By far the highlight of our trip and all of our travels so far.

We got up early for the 1.5 hour trip to the border where we dropped Ariana off. We waited the 10 minutes till the border opened, since she was all alone. I must preface this email with: THERE ARE NO WOMEN IN JORDAN. Ok, just joking, but seriously, they don't seem to work anywhere and you hardly see any of them on the streets. At the border there were at least 20 men, plus cab drivers and none were women. Very uneasy feeling. It was sad to see Ariana go, but we realized how lucky we were to have shared such an incredible four days together. Nina and I then headed to the port of Aqaba for a ferry ride to Neuwbia, the Sinai in Egypt. We soon realized that again we were the only women in a sea of men (definite;y the only white women). We endured the stares and smiles and the "where you from" while Elana went and purchased the tickets and departure tax. I'll say this much for the country, they let women budge and for that we are thankful! While we waited for our sailing, we met a group of four travelers, all men, all travelling seperately. Elana helped them pay the departure tax and buy tickets, much to their relief. Not exactly the most organized country. Well compared to Egypt....!

We borded the ferry with our new friends from Japan, Korea and Turkey (and a Russian man who spoke no english, but we helped get onto the bus and ferry). Sometimes fellow travelers need to unite to survive!