Israel & Jordan 2018 (Part 4)

Back in the bus, we are heading to Wadi Rum.  We cross the desert as the sun sets and it’s dark (and I mean dark!) by the time we get to the camp.  Except it’s not our camp.  This is where we transfer to trucks that have benches built into the bed of the truck.  At this point I’m tired, hungry, and desperate for a shower.  But off we go deeper into the desert and deeper.  We are driving on the sand so there’s no road that I can see and I’m just assuming they know where they are going.  At one point we stop in the middle of the desert and one of the guides/drivers gets out of show us the stars. It really is magically.  There’s no light pollution at all, so it’s so clear and bright.  We pile back into the trucks.  And one of them won’t start.  Lovely.  After trying to jump it and then finally towing it until they could get it to start, we head to the Wadi Rum Luxury Camp.  And it was pretty sweet.  Since we were so late, we went directly to dinner which was actually pretty good.  And then after dropping our luggage off in our hab unit, we went to a campfire to sit under the stars, have a hookah (the two apples flavor), and drink our vodka and peach ice tea.  It was really fun and we were just talking and telling stories.  The owner/managers were super nice and an interesting couple.  So I made the mistake of saying, “Oh, I bet sunrise is amazing here” which is how I ended up getting up at 0600 the next day.  So I quickly called it a night and headed to my hab unit. My hab unit you say?  Yes, I had upgraded to a bubble tent which is this plastic tent that looks like it came out of the movie “The Martian” which was filmed in the Wadi Rum.  The hab unit even had an air lock type of door.  And outer door and an inner door.   You couldn’t have both doors open at the same as the bubble would deflate.  But once inside, laying on the bed, looking up through the clear plastic roof, you could see the starts and it was amazing.  I was kind of bummed I was so tired and I would have liked to stay awake later, but it had been a really long day.  

Up at 6AM.  We meet the guide and his son and we head off across the desert floor.  It’s Victor, Caio, and myself and in front of us I see a huge sand dune. “We better not be climbing that” I say.  Yeah.  Guess what.  And it sucks.  My calves are in hell as we climb the sand dune.  And my shoes are basically rust colored from the sand.  And even though it’s early in the AM, it’s still hot.  And I’m climbing. Up, and up, and up.  We finally get about 2/3 of the way up and we stop for a break.  I take some pics and then just collapse in the sand which is actually kind of cool to the touch.  The guide, his son, Victor, and Caio keep climbing.  But I stay and just stare across the desert.  The sun is slowly coming up and the mountains, the rocks, the sand, the sky are all changing colors and it’s really amazing. And to be honest, I’m enjoying a little solitude on the side of a mountainous sand dune in the middle of the Wadi Rum.  As much as I hated the climb, and I did, it will definitely be a sunrise I’ll remember forever. 

Walking down the sand dune I determined that my shoes probably needed to be thrown away.  But I couldn’t do that yet.  Back to the hab unit, I shower and clean up. And pack.  Time for breakfast which had some sausage for the first time on this trip.  Oh, BTW, I love hummus.  Don’t get me wrong.  But not at EVERY meal.  Anyways, after breakfast, we hopped back into the trucks to go four wheeling through the desert.  And it was a ton of fun hanging on for dear life as we drove over dunes, through canyons, and across the desert.  We stopped a couple of times and the guide would tell us about the desert, the ancient trading routes that came through the deserts, the Bedouins who still lived there, etc.  It was interesting.  And of course there was another opportunity to climb up to a natural stone arch so I did that.  Of course.  Sigh.  I’m a glutton for punishment sometimes. Anything for a good profile pic.