Getting to Amman

I woke up early this morning to go to Amman.  It is Sunday, first day of the week.  Weekend is Friday and Saturday. A driver came to take me to the reception center. The bus driver is supposed to meet me there at 6. We leave the lodge at 5:15 AM. The manager on duty gives me a packed lunch. This is excellent lunch, as I found out later.  The sandwich is made from thin fresh flat bread filled with goat cheese, a packet of dried dates and apricots. The rest is an apple and a carton of orange juice. Anyway we reach the reception center at 5:45. I wait and wait. It's 6:30 and I am sure the bus driver is not showing up. I can wait for the reception center Staff to wake up or walk back to the lodge, it's about 8 km of hiking. I decide to wait. Around 8 a guy comes out, goes to wash up. After a time he walks over we talk. I ask him if he can get in touch with head office. He doesn't work for the lodge. He is a farmer. He has a melon farm. He tells me exactly where the farm is. I learn later this region grows excellent mellons and watermelons. We talk about various things including how I can get to Amman.
The farmer is also looking for a ride to his farm.
Finally another guy comes out. He is the brother of the guy who staffs the center. He wakes up his brother. It's pretty cold, maybe 50 and cloudy. Luckily I am dressed for it. We go inside. The farmer has been making tea. We drink tea and talk. They smoke, a lot. People smoke everywhere, buses, restaurants etc. I feel I am getting addicted to nicotine. Slowly people start leaving. I talk to the staff, they tell me a driver will be by to take me to the lodge. It is about 10. Around noon a driver shows up. I learn later that the official lodge driver is out sick. This driver fills in as he has time and apparently is quite busy as I found out the next day. I get back to the lodge and take a nap.
After dinner we gather around the fire. There is an English tour group of 8. There is a crew of 4 that do documentary films. This is their last day in Jordan. They have spent 5 weeks living in a refugee camp doing a documentary. They look very young, mid twenties. They are from California. They look exhausted. I talk to them for about 15 minutes. They need to go to bed. They give me their web site URL, www.salamneighbor.org. The English group and film crew go to bed. There is a couple from last night. They want to know why I am still around. I explain the bus stuff. The lady works at the American embassy in Isreal. The guy works for a company that let's him telecomute from anywhere.  They also go to bed.
I start talking to a couple. We are the only ones left. They live in Switzerland. The guy is from Barcelona and the lady is from Lithuania. He used to be a dentist got bored and started working on his PHD. He now does basic research in molecular biology. The lady works for the UN in the humanitarian area. She was in the Philippines and training for next assignment in Africa. We talk for a couple of hours, quite an intellectual conversation. The guy is really smart and grasps things fast. I have to go to bed to wake up at 4:30. Starting to feel like ground hog day.