Day 9

Early out of the convent on the road south through Afula, and then west through Bet She'an to the Jordan River boarder crossing.  It took about an hour to get there.  The men literally dropped us off at the side of the road at the border.  They drove the rental cars back to Afula to turn them in, then got a taxi back to the border.  We sat on the side of the road for a good hour and a half or two hours before they got back.  It was a party.  We sat, ate, sang silly songs, and of course, baggage cart raced.

It casts 30 dollars to get out of Israel.  Every time the customs officers ask my name they say, "Stephaw?"  Every single time.  I just say yes.  There was a group from Brazil in line with us.  They were very nice, but it was tough to communicate.  I got to use some of my Portuguese!  I showed them my Brazilian visa, and told them I am going to Porto Alegre in three weeks.  A bus took us across the Jordan River to the Jordan customs.  The official name is The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  You can instantly tell the country isn't as well off as Israel.  It is an Arab and Muslim country, like Egypt, and is full of poor people who are starving for tourism.  It costs 20 dinar to get in which is over 30 U.S. dollars.  A dinar is worth more than a dollar, instead of much less like a shekel.

When I was walking out of customs a Jordanian soldier stopped me and asked, "You Arab?".  I said no and he let me keep walking.  Sawweeet.  I look Arab.  I am pretty burned, bearded, and wearing sunglasses, so maybe thats why.  They read our fingerprints and scanned our retinas.  I don't know what was up with that.

We finally got on our Scooby Doo bus with our driver Muhammed.  I decided to stretch out on the floor and sleep for awile.  We went through some small villages that look a lot like Palestine.  People just sitting around on the street.  Everyone staring at us.  A young man pretended to spit on me when we were driving by and he saw me through the window.  This happened twice.  yikes.  There are lots of shepherds and bedouin people living in tents.  Posters of the king everywhere.

Muhammed's arabian pop music is fun to listen to, and Gary is having a great time sitting shotgun talking to him.  I have been eavesdropping.  He is 27 and has eight younger sisters and a brother.  37 nieces and nephews.  He is very talkative and nice.  Muhammed says that he can drive people for 24 hours without getting tired.  I woke up from my nap to the smell of warm pita bread that Tim jumped off the bus to get for lunch.

I had it plain, but people were passing around Tuna, peanut butter, and jelly.  Weston kept dripping tuna juice on me.

Jerash was our first stop.  A 2000 year-old Roman city of the decapolis.  It was hard to focus on the sights with so many poor people around.

I was absolutely blown away by Jerash.  It is my favorite sight yet.  I know I have talked about amazing ruins, but those have not compared at all to this.  The entire city looks like it is still standing.  Not only the columns, but the long stones that run around the top of them.  It is the largest and most preserved city we have been to.  It has been baking and weathering for 2000 years, but nobody has come to destroy it like most of the other ruins we have seen.  Tall temples, buildings, and roads stretching a long distance.

Two theaters!  Completely intact with indoor staircases.

It had a chariot racing stadium too.  Jerash was so massive that we didn't even have time to explore the big temple, the other theater, and some of the streets.  I wish we could have stayed here longer.  I cannot believe how intact this city is.  If one of the intricate stones from here was in America, it would be in a museum.  But here you can just walk all over them for a mile.  A woman here wanted a picture with me and Weston because we were American men.

Next we drove through Ammon, the large city in Jordan.  We went to McDonald's again.  I got the McRoyale, not the McArabia.  This McDonald's was very nice and clean.

Ammon had nice parts and many more wealthy people than I expected.  It's weird though, because there are bedouin camps everywhere within the city on the side of the road.  The most interesting sight was a tent camp right by a giant mercedes-benz dealership.

We drove by a school called the Kings Academy, where 500 of the best and brightest children in Jordan go.  And the king's son of course.  Some shepherds were motioning us not to take their pictures.  We kind of did anyways.

Madaba, also called the city of mosaics, was next.  We went inside the Church of the Map, where the famous mosaic map of Jerusalem is in the floor.  The church was full of other mosaics.

 The final stop before the long drive to Petra was Mt. Nebo, the mountain where God took Moses and showed him the promise land that he would not be entering.   It was a great view of the dead sea and the promise land of Canaan.  Israel.  Dr. Pemberton, my message of the Old Testament and Pentateuch professor, would love to be here.

When we got to the hotel tonight in Petra after a long drive, Muhammed is driving all the way back all night to the border where he picked us up.  That is insane.  He wont even sleep tomorrow because he has to be back to do another job helping with a film being made about hardship in Palestine.  He says he loves working with the actors.  What a boss.  I slept with my sunglasses on for about 3 1/2 hours on the ride to Petra.  It helps when all the lights are on.

The Mussa Springs hotel is kind of jank.  But its all good.  Sam, Weston, and I have a room.  Party!

What an awesome day in Jordan!  We are continuing to be blessed with our travels, praise God!