It was Friday, at 3:00pm and we had just finished swimming in the Dead Sea. Spirits were high, but there was one thing missing....our driver.
Friday was definitely one of the more memorable days of my life. A group of 8 of us set out at 7:00 in the morning to tour 4 sites in Jordan: Wadi Mujib, the Dead Sea, Mt. Nebo, and Madaba. We had hired a driver to take us around in a van all day, so that we would be able to get to all our destinations without having to be at the mercy of taxi drivers and insufficient public transportation. As we traveled to our first destination, Wadi Mujib, it became apparent that our driver didn't really know exactly where he was going. He took a lot of back roads, winding around mountains and through towns instead of taking the main highways that any bus would take. He must have had some idea, though, because we got to Wadi Mujib 2 1/2 hours later, and he only had to stop and ask for directions 3 times (2 1/2 hours from Irbid to Wadi Mujib is making pretty good time).
When we got to Wadi Mujib, we stuffed our cameras inside ziplock bags that were inside of other ziplock bags - when you are required to put life jackets on, you know you're gonna get wet! Wadi Mujib is basically a valley in the middle of a canyon, which has a river running through it. Our hike took us upriver, against the current and over a few small waterfalls to the base of a 20 meter high waterfall, and back again. At the beginning, the water was only just splashing over our feet. We were enjoying taking pictures of the awesome cliffs and of the intricate designs etched into the rocks over thousands (or millions) of years in which water cut through the canyon. Pretty soon, however, the water was up to our knees and we were scrambling over slick rocks and up small waterfalls. It was pretty intense at times because if you slipped, well, let's just say your day would have gone downhill real fast.
Upon arriving at the end of the trail, we were met with a 20 meter high waterfall, which was simultaneously powerful, peaceful, and beautiful. We took our time, exploring underneath and behind the waterfall; trying to walk under the falls, but being forced out by the tremendous water pressure; and just lying down in the cool water, looking up at the majestic walls of rock jutting out hundreds of meters over our heads. It was, in the words of one of the guys that I hiked with, "a spiritual experience."
The way back was almost as entertaining as the ascent, because all of the waterfalls that we climbed up, we could ride back down like water-slides. When we reached the end of the trail, we took off our life jackets, dried off in the sun, and hopped back into the van. Next destination, the Dead Sea.
After about 20 minutes of driving, we arrived at Amman Beach, a complex which housed several pools, a restaurant, and of course, a piece of the shoreline on the Dead Sea. We walked down to the beach, took some pictures, caked on the sunscreen, and took the plunge. Well, it was less of a plunge than a slow walk out until...wait, I'm walking on water?? Well, we were not doing anything as cool as Jesus did, but it was definitely possible just to stand up straight and float with our head and shoulders above water without touching the sandy sea floor or treading water. If you tilted ever so slightly one way or the other, your whole body would be pushed up and you'd be floating either on your back or stomach in no time. It was relaxing to just float, with absolutely no effort, for as long as we wanted. The sea was like bath water, almost a little too warm due to the relentless rays of the hot Jordanian sun. The one thing you realize quickly when you step into the Dead Sea is that you definitely have more open cuts on your body than you think. Water with 33% salt content stings you in a hurry! A few of my friends had the misfortune of splashing some water in their eyes - that is painful! At one point, I was stupid enough to wonder what water that was 1/3 salt would taste like - I'll never do that again!
Having floated to our hearts content, we started to do the only other important thing you do when you go to the Dead Sea...lather our bodies in mud! Apparently the Dead Sea has a really rich balance of minerals, so that when you rub the mud from the sea floor on your body, let it dry, and then wash it off, it leaves your skin feeling softer than it's ever felt before. The funny thing was that everywhere you looked you'd see people slopping mud all over themselves, walking around completely covered in the stuff. Naturally, we had to try it. It definitely worked.
After we washed the mud off, we changed our clothes and headed back to the parking lot to rendezvous with our driver and head out to the next stop. When we reached the van, we found that it was locked up, with our driver no where in sight. Where could he be?? We told him 2 hours, and it's been two hours. Well, maybe he walked somewhere? But there's nothing around...
We asked around and the security guards told us that most of the taxi/bus drivers go to a restaurant right inside the beach/pool/tourist-trap complex, so one of us went to look for the driver, but came out empty handed. Then, a couple of us walked down the road to the right, a few others to the left, and a couple others back inside the restaurant to double check that we hadn't missed him the first time. Unfortunately, nobody found our driver. We sat around for a good hour waiting, until we finally decided to call Ayham, a Yarmouk University employee who deals with logistics for foreign students. He also happened to be the man who connected us with this van service to begin with. Only one problem with that...we didn't have his number.
As luck would have it though, as we waited in the parking lot, 3 different groups from Yarmouk arrived in succession, all of whom were visiting different sites throughout the day, just as we were. The last group was led by none other than Ayham himself. It turns out he had arranged for a Yarmouk University bus to take a few groups (not from my program) to the Dead Sea for the afternoon. We asked Ayham if he could get in contact with our driver, so he called the bus service and after talking for about two minutes, he started to chuckle wryly. He hung up the phone and then explained:
"هو في السجن" (huwa fii sijin). Ok, so he is in...sijin, sijin, what is sijin?...PRISON?!? He's in prison? What?!!
Yeah, that's right. Our driver got arrested. Why? Well, apparently he was driving a van that belonged to a school, and was not legally allowed to use this van for his private business...go figure. The tourism police at the Dead Sea must have seen this van, questioned the driver, and when it became apparent that he was breaking the law, threw him in jail! We could not help but laugh at how ludicrous this situation just became. Our driver just got arrested, we were at the Dead Sea, where there is absolutely no public transportation, just private taxis who already have customers, and half of our stuff is locked up in this van! We could also laugh about it because Ayham assured us that we could ride with his group, back to Yarmouk when they left in a few hours.
So that's what we did. After Ayham went down to the police station to get the key from the driver so we could get our stuff out of the van, we went back down to the beach and hung out for two more hours. At about 6:00, we loaded up the bus and set out for Irbid. As our bus putted along at about 35 miles per hour up steep hills, we realized that the trip home was going to take awhile. Sitting next to our driver, on the front step of the bus, was a French girl from another program as well as one of the driver's friends. As he drove, they were all talking and flirting, etc. So, naturally, since our luck was awesome on Friday, something else had to go wrong. And it did.
Halfway up another steep hill the bus' engine just cut out. The driver pulled to the side of the road, looked at the engine for about 25 minutes and came up with this mechanically astute diagnosis: we ran out of gas!! The driver claims that the fuel dial was broken, but I wonder if maybe this French girl took his mind off the ever-decreasing fuel gauge. In any event, we were stranded again. Our driver had to hitchhike to the nearest gas station to fill up a canister of fuel, which he used to get the engine running until we reached the next gas station. All told, we sat on the side of the road for an hour, waiting for them to fix the bus. We made sure to make the most of the opportunity, by walking across the road to take pictures of a sunset overlooking a beautiful valley.
When we finally got back on our way, it wasn't long before we were sitting in a traffic jam. Thus, the drive from the Dead Sea to Irbid, which should have taken 2 hours, took a whopping 4 hours! Surprisingly, though, we all kept a pretty positive attitude the whole day. Despite the fact that our driver was arrested, we didn't get to see Mt. Nebo and Madaba, our bus ran out of gas, and it took 4 hours to get back to Irbid, we were able to laugh it off. The situation was so ridiculous and beyond our control that all we could do was laugh. We also lucked out since Ayham showed up. If he wasn't there, things could have been a lot worse. We were really lucky that none of the officers at the checkpoints along the road arrested our driver during our morning drive to Wadi Mujib - then we really would have been in trouble. The best thing about our misadventures was that we only had to pay our driver 1/2 of what we originally agreed to pay him. Now, if this were the U.S., we would not have paid him a cent because he was acting illegally without our knowledge, got thrown in jail, left us stranded, and didn't bring us to half the places we wanted to go. However, we talked to our program director and he said we should pay half of the price, because he was with us half the day. Not wanting to violate cultural norms or jeopardize Ayham's connections with this company, we decided to pay the guy half the rate. Either way, it cut our costs significantly, which is always good.
So, that's the end of this exceedingly long story. It will definitely be a day that I remember for a long time.
Now, for some pictures:
Friday was definitely one of the more memorable days of my life. A group of 8 of us set out at 7:00 in the morning to tour 4 sites in Jordan: Wadi Mujib, the Dead Sea, Mt. Nebo, and Madaba. We had hired a driver to take us around in a van all day, so that we would be able to get to all our destinations without having to be at the mercy of taxi drivers and insufficient public transportation. As we traveled to our first destination, Wadi Mujib, it became apparent that our driver didn't really know exactly where he was going. He took a lot of back roads, winding around mountains and through towns instead of taking the main highways that any bus would take. He must have had some idea, though, because we got to Wadi Mujib 2 1/2 hours later, and he only had to stop and ask for directions 3 times (2 1/2 hours from Irbid to Wadi Mujib is making pretty good time).
When we got to Wadi Mujib, we stuffed our cameras inside ziplock bags that were inside of other ziplock bags - when you are required to put life jackets on, you know you're gonna get wet! Wadi Mujib is basically a valley in the middle of a canyon, which has a river running through it. Our hike took us upriver, against the current and over a few small waterfalls to the base of a 20 meter high waterfall, and back again. At the beginning, the water was only just splashing over our feet. We were enjoying taking pictures of the awesome cliffs and of the intricate designs etched into the rocks over thousands (or millions) of years in which water cut through the canyon. Pretty soon, however, the water was up to our knees and we were scrambling over slick rocks and up small waterfalls. It was pretty intense at times because if you slipped, well, let's just say your day would have gone downhill real fast.
Upon arriving at the end of the trail, we were met with a 20 meter high waterfall, which was simultaneously powerful, peaceful, and beautiful. We took our time, exploring underneath and behind the waterfall; trying to walk under the falls, but being forced out by the tremendous water pressure; and just lying down in the cool water, looking up at the majestic walls of rock jutting out hundreds of meters over our heads. It was, in the words of one of the guys that I hiked with, "a spiritual experience."
The way back was almost as entertaining as the ascent, because all of the waterfalls that we climbed up, we could ride back down like water-slides. When we reached the end of the trail, we took off our life jackets, dried off in the sun, and hopped back into the van. Next destination, the Dead Sea.
After about 20 minutes of driving, we arrived at Amman Beach, a complex which housed several pools, a restaurant, and of course, a piece of the shoreline on the Dead Sea. We walked down to the beach, took some pictures, caked on the sunscreen, and took the plunge. Well, it was less of a plunge than a slow walk out until...wait, I'm walking on water?? Well, we were not doing anything as cool as Jesus did, but it was definitely possible just to stand up straight and float with our head and shoulders above water without touching the sandy sea floor or treading water. If you tilted ever so slightly one way or the other, your whole body would be pushed up and you'd be floating either on your back or stomach in no time. It was relaxing to just float, with absolutely no effort, for as long as we wanted. The sea was like bath water, almost a little too warm due to the relentless rays of the hot Jordanian sun. The one thing you realize quickly when you step into the Dead Sea is that you definitely have more open cuts on your body than you think. Water with 33% salt content stings you in a hurry! A few of my friends had the misfortune of splashing some water in their eyes - that is painful! At one point, I was stupid enough to wonder what water that was 1/3 salt would taste like - I'll never do that again!
Having floated to our hearts content, we started to do the only other important thing you do when you go to the Dead Sea...lather our bodies in mud! Apparently the Dead Sea has a really rich balance of minerals, so that when you rub the mud from the sea floor on your body, let it dry, and then wash it off, it leaves your skin feeling softer than it's ever felt before. The funny thing was that everywhere you looked you'd see people slopping mud all over themselves, walking around completely covered in the stuff. Naturally, we had to try it. It definitely worked.
After we washed the mud off, we changed our clothes and headed back to the parking lot to rendezvous with our driver and head out to the next stop. When we reached the van, we found that it was locked up, with our driver no where in sight. Where could he be?? We told him 2 hours, and it's been two hours. Well, maybe he walked somewhere? But there's nothing around...
We asked around and the security guards told us that most of the taxi/bus drivers go to a restaurant right inside the beach/pool/tourist-trap complex, so one of us went to look for the driver, but came out empty handed. Then, a couple of us walked down the road to the right, a few others to the left, and a couple others back inside the restaurant to double check that we hadn't missed him the first time. Unfortunately, nobody found our driver. We sat around for a good hour waiting, until we finally decided to call Ayham, a Yarmouk University employee who deals with logistics for foreign students. He also happened to be the man who connected us with this van service to begin with. Only one problem with that...we didn't have his number.
As luck would have it though, as we waited in the parking lot, 3 different groups from Yarmouk arrived in succession, all of whom were visiting different sites throughout the day, just as we were. The last group was led by none other than Ayham himself. It turns out he had arranged for a Yarmouk University bus to take a few groups (not from my program) to the Dead Sea for the afternoon. We asked Ayham if he could get in contact with our driver, so he called the bus service and after talking for about two minutes, he started to chuckle wryly. He hung up the phone and then explained:
"هو في السجن" (huwa fii sijin). Ok, so he is in...sijin, sijin, what is sijin?...PRISON?!? He's in prison? What?!!
Yeah, that's right. Our driver got arrested. Why? Well, apparently he was driving a van that belonged to a school, and was not legally allowed to use this van for his private business...go figure. The tourism police at the Dead Sea must have seen this van, questioned the driver, and when it became apparent that he was breaking the law, threw him in jail! We could not help but laugh at how ludicrous this situation just became. Our driver just got arrested, we were at the Dead Sea, where there is absolutely no public transportation, just private taxis who already have customers, and half of our stuff is locked up in this van! We could also laugh about it because Ayham assured us that we could ride with his group, back to Yarmouk when they left in a few hours.
So that's what we did. After Ayham went down to the police station to get the key from the driver so we could get our stuff out of the van, we went back down to the beach and hung out for two more hours. At about 6:00, we loaded up the bus and set out for Irbid. As our bus putted along at about 35 miles per hour up steep hills, we realized that the trip home was going to take awhile. Sitting next to our driver, on the front step of the bus, was a French girl from another program as well as one of the driver's friends. As he drove, they were all talking and flirting, etc. So, naturally, since our luck was awesome on Friday, something else had to go wrong. And it did.
Halfway up another steep hill the bus' engine just cut out. The driver pulled to the side of the road, looked at the engine for about 25 minutes and came up with this mechanically astute diagnosis: we ran out of gas!! The driver claims that the fuel dial was broken, but I wonder if maybe this French girl took his mind off the ever-decreasing fuel gauge. In any event, we were stranded again. Our driver had to hitchhike to the nearest gas station to fill up a canister of fuel, which he used to get the engine running until we reached the next gas station. All told, we sat on the side of the road for an hour, waiting for them to fix the bus. We made sure to make the most of the opportunity, by walking across the road to take pictures of a sunset overlooking a beautiful valley.
When we finally got back on our way, it wasn't long before we were sitting in a traffic jam. Thus, the drive from the Dead Sea to Irbid, which should have taken 2 hours, took a whopping 4 hours! Surprisingly, though, we all kept a pretty positive attitude the whole day. Despite the fact that our driver was arrested, we didn't get to see Mt. Nebo and Madaba, our bus ran out of gas, and it took 4 hours to get back to Irbid, we were able to laugh it off. The situation was so ridiculous and beyond our control that all we could do was laugh. We also lucked out since Ayham showed up. If he wasn't there, things could have been a lot worse. We were really lucky that none of the officers at the checkpoints along the road arrested our driver during our morning drive to Wadi Mujib - then we really would have been in trouble. The best thing about our misadventures was that we only had to pay our driver 1/2 of what we originally agreed to pay him. Now, if this were the U.S., we would not have paid him a cent because he was acting illegally without our knowledge, got thrown in jail, left us stranded, and didn't bring us to half the places we wanted to go. However, we talked to our program director and he said we should pay half of the price, because he was with us half the day. Not wanting to violate cultural norms or jeopardize Ayham's connections with this company, we decided to pay the guy half the rate. Either way, it cut our costs significantly, which is always good.
So, that's the end of this exceedingly long story. It will definitely be a day that I remember for a long time.
Now, for some pictures:
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| Wadi Mujib |
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| It was awesome to be surrounded by the cliffs |
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| One of the smaller waterfalls we climbed. If you look closely enough, you can see the rope we used to climb up it. |
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| This was quite disconcerting...we definitely walked right under that massive boulder without even realizing it. It's hard to tell the scale from the picture, but trust me...it was huge. |
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| The sides of the canyon had fascinating designs from the years of erosion, etc. |
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| Some of Jim's pictures. Here's almost the whole group (minus Kevin, who was taking the picture) |
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| Into the great unknown... |
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| The waterfall at the top |
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| Under the falls. |
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| Floating... |
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| The Dead Sea. The Mountains across the Sea are in Israel/Palestine. |
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| Floating...again |
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| In honor of Mattis and Ernest's university, we spelled "UNC!" in the mud. |
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| Some pictures we took while waiting for our bus to fuel up |
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| Waiting... |
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| Our bus driver looks for a ride |
Just read the story out loud to my parents. We all had a good laugh. Loved the pictures! I want to float in the Dead Sea!
ReplyDeleteI want a hat like yours Phil. Way to keep the sun off your face. :)
ReplyDelete