Jordan/Syria

The more I see, the less I know….

We left Egypt and headed to Jordan where we spent some time in Amman and drove towards the border with Iraq to visit the Desert Castles. The Desert Castles are ancient outposts, baths, and “hotels” that were used throughout time, our favorite was one fortress where “Lawrence stayed”. We had an excellent driver, Ibrahim, who invited us to have dinner with his wife and two children. Immam, his wife, made a simple yet wonderful dinner called “upside chicken” or Mushakan. They live very simply in what we would consider a small apartment with their two beautiful daughters Dona and Hiatt. Ani had a great time playing with girls her age. We visited Petra which exceded our expectations, despite our “guide” playing the Indiana Jones theme song on his cell phone when we reached the end of the Siq to the first major tomb in Petra (the tomb used in the 3^rd Indiana Jones for those of you who remember). The Bedouins were everywhere around the site selling necklaces and jewelry or haggling for a donkey or camel ride. We stayed at the Dead Sea for a night and attempted to float in the waters despite the waves created by the winds and rain (it burns when it gets in your eyes!! Really burns!). Then we crossed the border from Jordan to Syria. Without getting into too many details about this ordeal, rest assured it was shorter than anticipated and went better than expected. Our sense is that most Jordanians are fine with Americans as are most Syrians. We met many Jordanians, Palestinians and Syrians during our time in this part of the Middle East and all we can say is, “the more we see, the less we know.” Everyone seems to want peace and to get along with each other. General consensus is that people are people and politics are politics regardless of if you are American, Jordanian or Syrian.