Aug 17-22
Our return from the Dead Sea coincided with the return of Gus and his father, also Gus, from the south of Jordan. They were heading to Jerash in northern Jordan and asked Josh, Chris and I if we wanted to tag along. We eagerly agreed.
Jerash is the modern name of the Roman city Gerasa. The city stems from the time of Alexander the Great and reached its peak in the 3rd century A.D.
We spent a few hours wandering past impressive ruins like Hadrian's Arch and the hippodrome, which is still used for mock chariot races and gladiator fights, but unfortunately postponed until the end of Ramadan.
Ramadammit!
From there we piled into the Guses' rental car and tried to get into Bethany, the baptismal site of Jesus, but it too was closed early due to Ramadan. Go figure!
Feeling slightly rejected, we went to the Dead Sea again and watched the Guses enjoy the salty marvel.
The following day we went to Wadi Mujib, sometimes referred to as the Grand Canyon of Jordan. This valley is 1km deep and is part of the Wadi Mujib nature reserve.
The trail is much like that of Zarqa Ma'in, but is more beautiful and the water is cooler and therefore far more refreshing. Another fun difference is that ropes are set up at various points along the route to aid climbing up small waterfalls along the way. This short trek, taking only one hour each way, terminates at a beautiful and powerful waterfall.
For some reason, we seemed to have arrived in Madaba during the escalation of a feud between two powerful Muslim families, the Halmidas and the Alzaidas (no idea on the spelling of either of them). It all started when 2 members of the Halmida family took a member of the Alzaida family to the Wadi Zarqa Ma'in and killed him in cold blood. The victim's family is pushing for the death penalty (which doesn't exist in Jordan) for the perpetrators, but the trial is only slated to start in the fall, increasing the animosity between the two families.
Gus jr. told us there were riot police and tear gas being used at semi-regular intervals to break up the common skirmishes in the streets.
One night as the Guses, Chris and myself were enjoying some drinks at Haret Jdoudna, we noticed the staff continually looking out the front door. We were there until closing and the staff advised us to leave out the back door despite our hotel being just across the street.
As we exited, we saw flashing police lights and heard a commotion coming from the street over As we approached our hotel, we saw groups of young men running down the street towards us. There were riot police in full gear hitting stragglers with their batons and kicking doors. We were the only people moving towards the police. Gus jr. was telling the police that he lived here (we were next to St. Georges church) and when Chris asked the officer if we could just go back to our hotel, the officer gave a resounding No!, but followed it up with a comically misplaced "Welcome to Jordan!".
We ended up waiting at Gus' place before being escorted back to our hotel by a member of Jordan's equivalent of the FBI.
Crazy night!
Nearly every few minutes in Jordan, someone will stop and ask you "where you from?", and will immediately follow it up with "you are welcome". If people know only three words in the English language , they'll be "Welcome to Jordan". Despite the tense situation from the night before, Chris and I couldn't help but laugh when the officer welcomed us to Jordan after beating some rival clans and chasing people in the streets.
You can't make this stuff up!
After nearly a week in Madaba, we packed our bags and headed to Amman, Jordan's capital. While not much to look at aesthetically speaking, the city's mountainous landscape and lack of rival family clashes made it a welcomed change.
Our first day was spent walking along Amman's famed Rainbow street, followed by a viewing of the Dark Knight Rises.
Our arrival in Amman coincided with the second day of Eid al-Fitr or the festival celebrating the end of Ramadan, so people were in a more festive (i.e. drinky) mood. We celebrated Eid in the apparently typical Ammanian way: by getting drunk at bars that also double as bookstores during the day! There's nothing like losing brain cells while being surrounded by intellectual reading material!
During the night, Chris and I got in a little grappling match and he tripped backwards (I didn't push him I swear!) and hit his head on the street, knocking himself unconscious for a few seconds. Gus and I made sure he was okay and then we went for shisha.
The next day we nursed our hangovers and Chris the bump on the back of his head, not really doing much during the day. I decided to visit Amman's Roman amphitheater, one of the few remnants of the ancient city known as Philadelphia. The theatre can hold 6000 people and is still used for live events to this day.
From the theatre you can see the citadel, which sits on Amman's highest hill and comprises various ruins including the Temple of Hercules.
That evening, we were invited by some Jordanian girls who spoke to us the night before and somehow didn't realize how drunk we were, for some coffee and shisha (narghile in Jordan). We were later joined by some other people from Dubai, Palestine, Ukraine and various other places. We had a great time discussing, joking around and learning about each others' culture and backgrounds.
It was unfortunate that we met all these great people right before leaving for our next destination, but alas, such is life on the road!
