So after a soak in the hotel pool in Petra, much appreciated after our six-hour morning trek, we drove out to Wadi Rum desert to live it up with the Bedouins. We met with Sabbah, a Bedouin recommended to us by my roommates, who had gone to stay with him before and really enjoyed the experience. As we had arrived a little early, he invited us into his home and offered us tea before driving us out to our rock (on which we would sleep that night) to drop off our things.
Sabbah is a man with a great sense of humour, and a clear drive towards adventure. There was an openness about him that was very refreshing, but I suspect it's what brought him to England and South Africa, rather than a product of it. What was a product of it is his English - still a little broken, but he has enough of a grasp to make and appreciate jokes, making him a very pleasant guide. He explained to us later that the Jordanian government sent him to international conferences and courses for environmental tourism (or something of the sort - sorry, my memory fails me right now), where he met fellow Bedouins from all over the world and, with his English, was able to bridge the language gap with other participants. As he drove us out to a good site to watch the sunset, you could sense the sheer happiness of racing in the sand (evidently there were no roads) and his giggle was like music.
After drinking some more tea and taking many many pictures of the sunset, he drove us back to our rock, where we drank more tea and waited for dinner. At our 'campsite', a Sudanese man made us a great dinner of.. I'm not sure what the pasta was exactly - a bit bigger than couscous, but not quite rice. The important part was the sauce it was covered with, with chicken and vegetables, and the stories that accompanied it, by candlelight.
After dinner, in the dark, we moved up our bags on the rock, and some mattresses and blankets. As tired as I was, I didn't fall asleep right away - watching the stars, cherishing the moment, trying to engrave it in my memory. Tried to focus on the silence, on the feeling of stillness and intemporality (is that a word? Oh how I'll miss academia and the freedom to invent words..). I wanted the moment to last forever, that quiet peace, where nothing was really of that great importance. I don't know what I dreamt about, but waking up the next morning, the feeling remained - how could it not when you see the sun rising on sand, and mountains as far as the eye can see. No people except the sleeping ones sharing the rock you're lying on.
But then people stirred, the sun rose all the way, and breakfast was served - hardboiled eggs, yogourt, bread, cheese, jam, tea. Wonderfully simple yet delicious. Sabbah's son came by with the jeep, and drove us out to rocks and sand dunes. I don't remember the names (were they even given to us?), unfortunately, but I do remember the excitement of climbing higher and higher, to get that great view for a picture, and that feeling of peace, as everything in my life seemed so small and insignificant in comparison to the greatness of the desert. I remember stopping at the bottom of a sand dune, and deciding I would run alllll the way up. I didn't quite make it, but it was oh so liberating to push my muscles until my legs could keep me standing no longer.
On a lighter note maybe (I read back what I've been writing, and it's a whole lot of deep observation on the greatness of the desert), we had loads of laughs and quirky adventures. Like when my friend, as a joke, suggested we go grab a random goat and bring it back in the jeep and Sabbah's son agreed that it would be a good idea. He remembered seeing little boys with a goat herd, and figured it was probably theirs. I guess they hadn't looked like they were paying attention really to make sure all their goats were tagging along. So they climbed up to the rock where the goat was, grabbed it by the horns and dragged it down to the jeep, and we went on an adventure to find its owners. It was one thing to be driving along in a jeep in the desert (in terms of feeling a little unreal) - it was quite another to have a goat with us. Not long after we found them, two little boys that seemed to be about 5, and gave them their goat back. Seeing how hard it was for them to drag it back to their herd, it was no surprise that they happened to lose one here or there - it was almost bigger than them!
After the goat incident, we went to another 'mountain', which we climbed to see Laurence of Arabia's water spring. It was really more of a green pond than a clean water spring, but the climb up was satisfying and offered other great views of the desert. And of desert animals. We didn't get to climb camels, but we did see a lot of them - such beautiful, graceful animals! So that's the end of our desert adventure - I'm torn about wanting to go back and repeat the experience or just keeping the fond memories of that one in my mind. For now, I look at my pictures over and over again, and it seems sufficient. We'll see! :)
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