The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

After our departure from the Kibbutz, we took a bus down to the port city of Eilat. This city, at the very southernmost tip of Israel, owns a small portion of coastline on the Red Sea. The borders of Egypt and Jordan are only a few miles on either side and Saudi Arabia is only 40 miles down the road.

My sister, the only one brave enough for the Red Sea.

We were only in Eilat long enough for two lemonades and a quick evaluation of our currency situation, but we spent it down at the beach watching big oil tankers come in to dock and bikini-clad Israelis smoking their cigarettes go out to sea. With its towering hotels framed by desert mountains and billboards galore, it reminded us all of Las Vegas. And on that note we flagged a taxi to take us to the Jordanian border.

The border crossing was quiet. Supposedly it is packed at 8am as people commute to work, but by 11 the station was isolated. At the passport window, a radio in the back played Phantom Planet's song "California." We pondered whether they play homeland anthems for everyone.

The history of the relationship between Israel and Jordan has been a tumultuous one, but since the signing of a peace treaty in 1994, it has been relatively stable. Because of Israel's geography, its language, and other more quirky characteristics of the country and its people, it has given me a taste of the foreign. Its culture is strange to me, but it is still a very Western place and after only a short period of time (especially in Tel Aviv), you can forget that you are in the distant Middle East. Entering the Arab nation of Jordan, it hit me that I might be leaving my comfort zone.

We are one of those families that despises the classification of the word tourist. If it's possible we desperately avoid going to "touristy places" and eating at "touristy restaurants." Several times on this trip, I have wondered the streets of a foreign city for much longer than necessary because I would be mortified to pull out and unfold a large map in public, thus exposing myself as just another lost American. However, on our trip through Jordan, we decided to bite the bullet and hire a travel agency to book transportation and beds for us. We didn't really have to worry about standing out as foreigners though. The brightness of our white skin and the bulge of our fanny packs could have stood out to even a blind local.

Our first stop was the ancient city of Petra. First settled by the Nabataeans in the 7th century B.C., this region was the center of the global spice trade for centuries. The walking tour of the site starts with a stroll at the bottom of a dry gorge. The walls, tall as skyscrapers, still have carvings from the ancient civilizations that called this their holy city.

Now, the most famous feature of the "rose-red city" is "The Treasury." If you have ever seen the third Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, then, one, congratulations on having great movie taste, and, two, you will for sure recognize this amazing structure built straight from the rock face.

Future Album Cover

Camels, just chilling.

We stayed a night in a hotel in the town just outside the archaeological site. The next day, we drove to Amman, the capital and biggest city of Jordan. 80% of the country is desert, so that is what we saw on this drive, until we reached the outskirts of Amman. The city is very busy with lots of cars, which all use their horns as if they were turning signals. Although the parts of the city that we saw were far from third-world status, there appeared to be many positive signs of development. Immediately outside our hotel window, they were building what will be the tallest building on Amman's skyline.

Watch out King Abdallah, there's another monarch in town.

In the morning, we left for the Allenby bridge, the border crossing over the Jordan river to enter the Israeli-occupied West Bank.