Another beautiful sunrise on the sea of Galilee. It is still pretty hazy so you can only see the outline of the mountains around the sea, but it is still very beautiful. The evening was quite restful and enjoyable. Dinner was fantastic. Stuffed bell peppers, beef goulache, and a host of other options. Once again, I ate too much. I will definitely have to cut back when I get back home. The best part of the evening was getting to Skype with all of my girls -- Sonya, Jennifer, Ashley, and Hayes. I even had the opportunity to show them the full moon over the Sea of Galilee and one of the party boats celebrating Purim with a nighttime cruise and loud music.
Purim is the celebration of the Jews deliverance through Esther and Mordecai. It is the most joyous of all Jewish holidays in which the children (and some adults) dress up in costumes and people give them candy.
Today we go to Jordan. We will be in Petra today and then to Amman tomorrow. I was hoping to be in Israel for the Sabbath, but Pat said it is incredibly difficult to get anywhere during that time. Still, it would have been very interesting to observe the people. Every hotel has a "Shabbat" or Sabbath elevator. Once Shabbat begins, the elevator goes up and down constantly stopping at every floor so that the people do not have to push a button which would be classified as work. Amazing. But Jesus said it: they strain the gnats and swallow the camels. Well, I will share more from Jordan. Shalom.
Friday 10:45 a.m. Jordan time
What a morning! We left the hotel and have driven to the Jordanian border. After I had taken pictures of the guard with the big gun
and the "Welcome to Jordan" Sign, they said, "Do not take pictures!" The lady behind me, Shannon, wanted to take the same pictures as I did, but her husband was afraid of being shot or arrested. I honestly thought he was going to wrestle the camera out of her hands, but she prevailed. You have to go through Israeli passport control to exit, and then we have to go through Jordanian customs where passports are checked by facial recognition camera. Then our bags are x-rayed again. We had to go from our tour bus to a public bus that took us from Israel to Jordanian customs and then transfer our luggage to the next tour bus. Whew! Once we got our passports back, we all breathed a sigh of relief.Friday 3 p.m. Jordanian time
Wow. How can first impressions be so wrong.
As soon as we left the border, the land was filled with green trees and shrubs. Almond trees, apple trees, and so many other varieties. And the people we passed on the road were all smiling and waving at us. One little boy was yelling, "I love you." Of course there was one that flipped us off, but so far, our welcome in Jordan has even been nicer than Israel. People are more apt to talk to you -- especially the vendors. I must say that I bought some souvenirs from the vendor. Don't tell Hayes, but I bought three whistle/flutes. It started out as one for five dollars. I talked him down to two for five dollars. To impress one of the other people, he gave me a third one. I am good. Three for five dollars. I am good! Right? Until 50 feet later I saw a kid offering them one for a dollar. Yay me!Lunch was outstanding. It was a buffet at a top of the line restaurant called Artemis. I had mutton, chicken, cole slaw that actually tasted like cole slaw, some sort of battered and fried cauliflower that was fantastic, a chicken roll that was outstanding. I guess I shouldn't talk so much about the food, but oh man, it was good.
We toured the ancient city of Jerash, and saw the temple of Zeus. The ruins are so well preserved that it was amazing. Today is Friday, so all the businesses and schools are closed. Families were out in great numbers, many having picnics beside the road. Any green patch was covered with people. Except for the patches of green that were covered with snow. Can you believe it? The storm last week dumped snow everywhere, and some of it hasn't melted. I cannot believe it because walking through Jarash, I was sweating like crazy. The thermometer reads 26 degrees Centigrade. I think that is close to 80 degrees Farenheit. And still, people are dressed in sweaters and long robes. Women are covered from head to toe. How can they do it? So now we are heading to Petra. My camera battery is dead -- I forgot to charge it last night. But thanks to Rob, I have plenty of charge on my Asus tablet with keyboard.
What a difference an hour and a half makes. Driving south through Jordan, we traversed Amman headed to Petra. The wealth was amazing. The poverty was astonishing. But suddenly, the green fields have turned to brown deserts. Small areas of grass are grazed by small herds of sheep. Along the side of the road, into the fields, whereever the grass is, the shepherds head that way. We passed by a Palestinian refugee camp with 250,000 people. We saw our first camel. Tents along the sides of the road are evidence of Bedouins or Gypsies. The guide says that the Bedouins work for land and the Gypsies steal it. A group of kids play soccer on a barren field. It truly is a dry and dusty land, barren in so many ways.
At Petra and it is cold and very windy.
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