Camping in the Desert

I went to Wadi Rum and Aqaba this weekend with the University (University of Jordan) and most of the Miami U kids who are in Jordan. It was sweeeet!!!!! It took forever for the bus drivers to get us there because they kept stopping, but it was worth it. It was ridiculously hot and there were tons of ants, but the desert was beautiful. Some people rode camels, others went rock climbing,....I fell asleep in the tent. In the evening we watched students and other tourists awkwardly dance. And we ate this delicious dinner (some of the best meals--lunch, dinner, breakfast--I've had in Jordan so far). Unfortunately, one of the bus drivers was being a bit too forward with the foreign girls, but oh well. He dragged us out onto the dance floor multiple times.

*aside: a little bit about the bus he drove- I would like to quote one of my friends from class, "It looks like a 70s porn bus." It really did too. The seats were upholestered with this ugly green and brown fabric, a carpet with tassels was hanging from the window, and, of course, there were many poles.

We drove around the desert in truck (and by "we drove" I mean we had drivers). My groups driver was sweet. He totally held down the pedal with something and stuck almost his entire body out the door. Another group had a 10 or 12 year old kid driving. One of the students has a really good picture of him. Some of the highlights of the day: watching the sunset and hearing about my friend getting proposed to by some guy she had just met. Also, it was just really cool being in the place where Lawrence of Arabic was filmed; I love that movie.

The next day we drove to Aqaba, which is a resort town along the Red Sea. Four counrties meet there: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel/Palestine, and Egypt. We used the facilities at the Movenpick resort, which was absolutely beautiful. I didn't really explore the city, but I did hang out at the beach and pools for most of the day. Now, I'm going to stop boring you with my writing and post some pics!

The first picture is of the tents at Wadi Rum. The second is me and a random camel we found (we actually passed wild herds of camels, as we were driving....are they called herds?). The third is of the sunset. The fourth is of, what looked like, the first train ever made. The fifth is of the hotel in Aqaba.