To Aqaba

Saturday I did the Wadi Dana hike. This time we go further than what I have done in the past. The Wadi is completely dry. We cross from one side to the other a few times. There is an old gravel road here that is no longer mmaintained. The road connected Dana Village with Feynan Village.

It started with a big long rumble that continued for a few seconds. Looking out the window I saw dark skies. The rumbles continued mixed with intermittent lightening. It took sometime before the rain started, just a few showers on and off through out the day. Some people went for short hikes. I decided to stay put. It was still warm.
Later as I got ready to go to bed it started to rain. A steady rain, alternating between a soft and a hard rain. I openened a couple of windows so I could fall asleep to the sound of rain. I did fall asleep to the sound of rain and was woken up between one and two, by a much louder sound than rain makes. After listening to it for a while, I concluded that it must be a flash flood, with water gushing through the river.
In the morning when I woke up shortly after dawn, for the morning prayers, I looked out the window and could see the water running. My guess is that it was about three feet high in a river bed that has been dry for at least one month. The rain was subsiding. Some folks had gone down to the river at three AM and said it was quite high.
By eight the water was lower. I will post some pictures later.

I am supposed to go down to the reception center. It is nine and the driver is not here. I talk to the duty manager and he tells me the road has washed out and no vehicles can make it through. Actually, there is no road where the road has washed out. Vehicles cross the river bed at a point further down where the two valleys meet. The river bed shifts whenever there is sufficient rain, so the vehicle crossing gets washed out and a new one is created. This time the washout is bad enough to require a bulldozer. Plus there are a few guests who need to get out. Finally around 11 the traffic starts flowing again. It's too late for me to go to reception center, so I hang around.

I am supposed to go to Aqaba tomorrow to renew my visa. I made hotel reservations yesterday, but still need to get a driver to take me to the bus. I am told the bus leaves at 6.
Yesterday I started coming down with a cold. It is getting worst and I feel quite worn down. It is shaping up to be a nasty cold.

There is going to be a three day workshop at the lodge. Last night two moderators arrived. One is from Italy, the other from Norway. They both live in Beirut where the company is based. I think the workshop is about harasement in the work place. They are having problems with their computer and can't get the course ready. I help out and get the material ready on the computer.
The attendees start arriving in the afternoon. They have a late lunch. I learn later that dinner will be at 8:30 instead of 6:30 due to the late lunch. I need to go to bed. I am not feeling well and need to get up at 4:30.

It's almost 10 by the time I finish dinner. I ask the duty manager if my ride is all set for tomorrow. He has forgotten. He calls a driver and says I am all set for a 5:15 pickup.
I go outside around 5:05. At about 5:10 I see a light. It looks more like a single light instead of two headlights. In any case it stops moving. It looks like it's near the mosque, so it could be someone going to the mosque. Morning prayer these days is between 4:30 and 5:50.

Shortly after 5:15 the light starts moving again. About five minutes later I make out a truck with a single headlight coming over the hill. Another 5 minutes and the truck pulls up. I get in. Abu Isa is the driver. In general it is not polite to call people by their name especially if they are older, instead you call them as the father of so and so; generally their first son. Also it is not uncommon to name people after the prophets, such as Moses (Musa), Jesus (Isa), Mohammed, ect. (may peace be upon all of them.)
I've been given the nickname Abu Mohammed, not because I have a son named Mohammd, but because it is my father's name. The logic behind this was explained to me, but I failed to understand it. Other people call me Abu Zaid, after the famous Abu Zaid Al-Hilali, no relation.

So we set off down the hill. While the bulldozer has done a decent job, the road is still washed out in many places. It takes more than half hour to make it to the road, which has a lot of debris on it, so the going is slow. Also, I don't think this truck can go more than 30 miles per hour. Many of the trucks are very old and only the engine works. Many don't have seat belts and no one wears them anyway at low speeds. I think seat belt law here only applies when driving at high speeds. Of course the lack of seat belts poses a delima for parents with babies and baby seats.

We drive to the next town and finally make it to the main road that leads to the road connecting Amman and Aqaba. The driver stops the truck and we wait.
The bus shows up at 6:30. I get on the bus.

We are now south of the dead sea. There is more sand but not the large sand dunes. Also there is some kind of grass growing on the sand in many places, so there are patches of light green among the brownish sand. There are herds of camels here as well. On both sides there are mountains, but they seem to be different ranges, so this is not a valley. We stop at a roadside store. It's a clean store and the bathrooms are also clean compared to others. I decide to order a coffee. Of course there are many kinds, just like Seattle. I am not talking about double tall skinny latte, or regular mocha with no foam. Here it is turkish coffee with sugar, no sugar, nescafe (which I have now learned to enjoy), Arabic coffee ect. I only see pots for boiling turkish coffee so I order turkish coffee with no sugar. As I ask how much, a guy jumps in and pays for the coffee. He is related to a couple of people who work at the lodge and has seen me around. Now the rest of the folks on the bus are curious, so I tell them my story. There is a lot of welcoming.
We make it to Aqaba.