Tuesday, February 3rd

Today we got to know a little bit about this island paradise of Moorea by taking a tour around the north side of the island with Mario Safari Tours. I guess the 4×4 transportation is the reason it’s called “safari”. And our guide was not Mario, but Dan, who is not Italian but Dutch. Dan was really knowledgable about the island, and it’s flora, history, etc. And a really good driver going up and around difficult and undulating roads.

To give you some context and background, here is some info about Moorea (also spelled Mo’orea). Moorea is one of the more than 100 islands of French Polynesia, in the Society Islands group, located in the South Pacific. The islands stretch over 2000 km, south of Hawaii and north and a little east of New Zealand. In addition to Society Islands, there are 4 other groups of islands or archipelagos in French Polynesia named Austral, Gambier, Marquesas, and Tuamotu. I think the TV show Survivor has used some of the islands as the location for their seasons.

French Polynesia is described as a “overseas collectivity” of France. From my reading my understanding is (and I hasten to post my normal warning that I may have some of this information wrong or partial or misinterpreted) there is a local elected government that overseas the administration of the islands, but that France still holds some administration function over more national and international issues such as national defence and post secondary education.

The islands are known for the over-the-water-bungalows which you will have seen pictures on in my last post, as well as the beautiful clear water, coral reefs and safe lagoons. The beach at our resort is similar to beaches we’ve seen all over the island (except I heard rumour that the beach at the Hilton is imported sand) and is hard packed sand with lots of sun bleached shells. It’s excellent for swimming with a gentle drop and sandy bottom. Within the lagoon in front of the hotel, which is closed to motorized boat traffic except those owned by the hotel. We’re hopefully going to snorkel here before we leave.

The islands of Polynesia (an area including Hawaii and Samoa as well as French Polynesia) were formed by volcanoes where hot spots in the earths crust allowed eruptions of lava to form the islands. The mountains are irregular and rugged and mostly covered in lush vegetation making for breathtaking scenery. Around Moorea, like most islands in the area, there is almost a complete circle of coral reef some distance off shore. It has a couple of breaks in the reef, where rivers of fresh water come down from the mountains and pour into the ocean in levels high enough to keep coral from growing in those areas. These natural breaks in the coral allowed for early exploring and allow for ships to enter the bays also formed by the rivers. Dan explained to us that the island is shrinking but the coral reef is growing and in some millions of years, there will be no island but just an atoll left (circle of coral reef) on which to live.

So, with that background, here is our day.

Dan picked us up at the hotel and we headed north west on one of the only roads on the island, the one that circumnavigates it. We passed by the local airport and a Jack Nicholas designed golf course. It looked challenging from the small bits we saw, very undulating. We had our first stop at Cooks Bay which was named after Captain Cook who visited the island in 1777. Cook actually explored a bay to the west of Cook Bay but the name of that Bay was too sacred to the Polynesians to change, so they named this one after him. Mount Ratui at just under 900 metres overlooks Cooks Bay. It is one of the highest peaks in French Polynesia.

We also got a look at Mount Mouaputa (830 metres) which has the distinction of having a hole right through the top of the peak. Ron helped us to use our imaginations to see the princess with her hands in prayer in the profile of the mountain. Later in the day when we came back through Cooks Bay, the cloud had covered up the hole and most of the princess.

After picking up two couples at the Hilton Hotel, (one from San Francisco and the other from Kona, Hawaii) we headed for a rustic Tropical Garden to see various native fruits growing. The road up to the Garden was very steep and narrow. I was glad that Dan was driving. He was great a pointing out the various species and explaining how some of the growing processes worked. The gardeners have vanilla growing under a shade tent. It’s not indigenous to the islands, but grows well here. Dan pointed out some of the local flowers including the national flower of Moorea, Tiara Tahiti or gardenia. This flower worn behind your right ear, means you are single/available, however if you wear it behind your left ear you are married, engaged or otherwise taken. One source I read said if worn behind both ears it means you’re married but available and worn backwards means you are available immediately! The women wear the bloom fully open and the men wear it closed. We also got to try samples of the jam that they make from the various fruits that they grow and enjoy the amazing view from the mountain side location.

This flower below is called a Monet Flower. For some reason I missed taking a picture of the national flower.

Back into the 4 X 4 and down the narrow road and on to drive around the largest bay on the island, Opunohu Bay on our way to Magic Mountain. Again up a narrow winding one way road. And I have the bruises on the inside of my upper arms to show as to how difficult it was to stay put in the 4 X 4. At the top of the road was a short steep path to get to the look out, but it was worth every step. It’s beautiful everywhere you look on this island but they were extra special from this view point. We could see down over the entrance to Opunohu Bay where a medium size cruise ship was unloading it’s passengers on to tenders to spend the day on the island. You could really see the different depths of water from this vantage point and the natural break in the coral reef at the entrance to the bay.

After sufficient Kodak moments we loaded up again and headed down the mountain and back to the main road again. At the head of Opunohum Bay, we turned on to a side road that lead to the Agricultural School. This school is the only post secondary school on the island, and students who wish to study something other than agriculture must travel by ferry to neighbouring Tahiti either daily, weekly or for the term. Those that stay over, usually stay with a family member. This time we were on our way to another lookout point called Belvedere. The road traveled through the agricultural school and some pineapple fields. The thing that struck me was how well kept and tidy everything was.

The view from Belvedere, which is the highest point you can get to by car on the island, was special because we could see both Opunohum Bay as well as Cook Bay and the mountains surrounding each. We ran in to a pile of ATVs who were touring around the island as well.

Back on the road, we followed an inland road through the PaoPao Valley and into Cooks Valley to join up with the main road again. Along the way, we got to see the commercial growing of pineapples. It’s very labour intensive and we saw one fellow at work with a machete carving back the weeds to expose the pineapple plants. He had to wear protective clothing on his arms and legs to prevent him from getting cut by the razor sharp leaves of the pineapple plants. A full 80% of the pineapples grown commercially (generally by farmers renting small plots of land from the owners) are sold to the pineapple juice factory on the island. The rest is sold domestically and we’ve had great pineapple on our fruit plates while we’ve been here.

Ron explained how pineapples and bananas grow including the male and female parts. So much to learn, so little time. The bottom purple coloured part at the bottom is the male part which is lopped off at the appropriate time to allow all the energy of the growth to go into the fruit.

He even showed us how to make a plate out of leaves – the ultimate in recycling. The Ti plant is used for all sorts of things from grass skirts, to decoration, to making harnesses for harvesting cocoanuts. He showed us a wild hibiscus whose bloom opens as yellow in the morning and by the afternoon after being in the sun it is peach colour.

Dan also showed us how much the leaves of some plants smell like their fruit. He ripped some mango and lime leaves and let us smell them, and lo and behold, they smelled just like their fruit. All these years and I didn’t know that.

Our last stop was at the pineapple juice plant, where we got to taste some of their products. They make juice as well as alcoholic drinks and they had all of them for sale in their small on-site shop.Some were delicious, although some were a tad strong for my liking, and they were all really sweet. We didn’t actually get to see how the juice was produced, unfortunately.

After dropping off the other tourists, it was back to our hotel for a lovely late lunch on the outside deck, but under the cover of the roofline because what started out as a beautiful day had turned cloudy and the heavens opened as we were having lunch. We really did well with our choice to go snorkelling yesterday and take the tour this morning instead of this afternoon.

Much of the afternoon was spent on the porch of our bungalow reading and working on blogs, etc. It was raining off and on, but the temperature stayed the same. I found it so relaxing to be sitting still not feeling like I have to be somewhere, and enjoying the unbelievably beautiful scenes around me.

There are a few restaurants on the island that cater to those staying in hotels that didn’t rent a car by providing transportation and last night we got the concierge to book at one of them for us. We were just leaving the hotel to jump in their van with another couple who were also headed to the same restaurant and there were another group of four who were also waiting but for a ride to another restaurant. I looked at one of the fellows and thought I know that guy, but then thought, couldn’t be, your around the world away from home. But I stopped and looked back and realized who it was and I did in fact know him. I called out his name and he answered. It took him a minute to remember me, as it’s been 18 years since we’ve seen each other. We only had a chance to shake hands and marvel at the coincidence and I had to leave, but how weird is that.

It was a wonderful dinner of fresh seafood, mine a seafood casserole and Nanci’s a shrimp curry. And we both saved room for a delicious dessert – mine a guava and something tart, (sorry, I forget) and Nanci’s cocoanut and chocolate ice cream. Yum.

What an excellent day.

I’m having trouble uploading pictures this morning, so I’ll add more when/if I get better wifi.

Mon, February 3rd – First day on Moorea.

Just a housekeeping note – I have added more pictures to the post from yesterday since it was published so you might want to go back and take another look at the post.

While enjoying the excellent service and our lovely (free) breakfast overlooking the turquoise South Pacific we took a look at the activities that the hotel had to offer to see what our next three days might look like. One thing that caught our eye was snorkelling and so after breakfast and some pool time we stopped in at the on site dive centre to get more details. First of all we got complementary flippers and snorkel and mask to use during our stay here. The beach off the hotel apparently offers some good snorkelling, with a band of coral running across it and the over-water bungalows provide a habitat for lots of fish. But the dive shop also offered an excursion to a small private island about 20 minutes by boat south of our location for a reasonable price. So, despite little sleep on our flight over, we decided to spend our afternoon doing that, since the weather looked good and the diver master said tomorrow’s weather won’t be as good.

By now our bungalow was available and so we went in search of it. We’re about 25 metres from the beach with no other bungalow in front of us, so this is the view from the front porch.

Our bungalow looks like this one with a beautiful wash area. Double sinks and a shower surrounded by glass windows into an outdoor garden. Hibiscus flowers were placed as decoration everywhere. I think we could be quite comfortable here.

We changed into our snorkelling gear and coverups and had a lovely lunch at the beach cafe that is right on the other side of the bungalow opposite us. It’s a limited menu but we both found something we would like to eat and most importantly it had a million dollar view.

I felt more like a nap than snorkelling but I hoped that once I got out in the boat and the ocean air, not to mention the water, that I’d wake up. So off we went with 3 couples, all from the U.S. I think, the dive master, and the official photographer. We travelled only about 20 minutes through a well marked channel. The water depth changes dramatically in the area between land and the reef which almost entirely encircles the island. From the boat you can see the light turquoise areas where it is shallow, dotted with dark spots which is coral, or a stingray! And within feet you can see the dark blue areas where the depth dropped off dramatically.

The captain tied up along side a small privately owned island that has been transformed into a snorkelling Mecca, especially for newbie snorkelers. They have laid out a ropes in a grid in some areas and along a track through the coral in others. So you can use the ropes to hold on to in order to stay in one place, to help propel you along the way. There were different coloured buoys to mark special points of interest or to show you a channel through the coral. And the water is really, really clear, and very warm. We were in for a couple of hours and I didn’t get cold at all.

We started out just standing in knee deep water and the people that own the island brought the stingrays over to us so we could see and touch them and learn about them. Then we put on the snorkel gear and floated holding on to the line while the owners dropped food for the fish, rays and sharks which brought them really close to us. It felt like cheating to have them brought to us rather than having to work for it, but it actually did feel like being in an aquarium with them.

Don’t be worried about the sharks – they are black-tipped reef sharks and unless cornered won’t attack a human. And they are very used to people here. I saw a lot of them in the Galapagos, where they are wild and we steered clear of them when we saw them just to be safe.

After having our fill of watching the feeding, we followed the dive master out along the line almost all the way to the coral reef surrounding the island. The current got stronger and stronger along the way, and you could feel the waves that were splashing over the barrier. Along the way we saw lots of coral in various shapes and sizes and some of the most brilliant colours. One iridescent blue one that was gorgeous. There was even one that looked like penne pasta swaying in the current.

Once we’d had our fill of snorkelling we were able to visit the little island and they had tea, coffee or hot chocolate which was free, you just had to clean your own cup. They had some really rustic one room huts along the beach which they rented out, for day or overnight use but they were mostly empty on this day. Everything was adorned with strings of sun bleached shells hanging from the railings and roofs.

I’m sorry I didn’t take along a camera on this trip. Because I was sleep deprived I didn’t want to worry about taking pictures and keeping myself alive while snorkelling. But we did have a photographer along for the trip. We saw the rough clips from the video that he shot and of course had to order it. He will sent a link to a customized version to us by email in the next couple of days. We’ll try and figure out a way to post it or a link to it.

The ride back included juice and water and the warm sun. All in all, an excellent 4 hours.

We finished up the day with happy hour and dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants, on a deck overlooking the ocean. I am now well outside my normal eating program with a burger and chips and Diet Coke for dinner.

Monday, February 3

When I last blogged in September, I had just come back from a month in Morocco, Israel and Jordan. Christmas has since come and gone, I spent a week in Palm Springs with friends Karen and Allen, and my little timeline yard stick (my grandson) is now 15 months old! That’s him with his parents on the canal in Ottawa. The weather hasn’t been too, too bad this winter, but it’s so nice to be able to get away.

Today I’m sitting on a lounge overlooking the infinity pool and the turquoise blue South Pacific Ocean with waves breaking on the reef a few hundred yards out creating a demarcation between the calm waters in our bay and the rougher waters beyond. But I’ve jumped ahead haven’t I? I haven’t talked about the journey to get here or the fun day in Los Angeles.

So, I’ll backup.

My travel buddy Nanci and I left snowy Ottawa on Saturday afternoon bound for a hopefully sunny Los Angeles. Our eventual destination is Tahiti but we purposely built in an extra travel day just in case we ran into weather related delays and break up the long flights. (When I say things like that I feel old). We arrived at the Crown Plaza Airport on schedule after an uneventful travel day (always the best kind of travel days) and had a good night’s sleep.

Our flight for Tahiti left on Sunday evening at 11 pm, so on Sunday morning we decided that we’d go on a city tour instead of sitting around the hotel putting in time. I have to admit that I resisted this, given the potential for terrible freeway hang ups in LA and because I’ve already spent lots of time in this city, but Nanci prevailed and so I joined her in this adventure.

We had an “interesting” jokester of a tour guide. He told bad jokes all day long and so when we were tipping him at the end Nanci gave him a tip and told him it was to get a new joke book. He took it really well. Throughout the day people asked questions and his answers were less than helpful. Nanci asked a question at one point and he actually told her to look it up in Google! When someone asked who lived in a house that Kirk Douglas used to own, he said, “someone rich” and carried on with his rehearsed script.

We started the tour with Venice and Santa Monica beaches where we had time to wander around each of them. They have quite different character and Venice Beach hasn’t gotten any less weird than the first time I saw it a million years ago, and still would vie for the most tacky beach in the world I’m sure. But it was interesting nonetheless. And with my new interest in resistance training I took some pics of the original Gold’s Gym and muscle beach activities to send to my personal trainer.

The most interesting part of Santa Monica Beach Pier for me has always been that it’s the terminus of the famous Route 66. During my former partnered days, we travelled a lot of the route on our Honda Gold Wing. And this year, brother Rae with sister Lynn and brother-in-law Wally hit some of the route as well.

Next we went up and down some of the streets of Beverly Hills to see the Beverly Hills Hotel and homes of various former and current stars. The guide pointed out that Ellen Degeneris has drought resistance plants in front of her walled in space to encourage others to do the same. One house, that is now owned by the city looks like a wicked witches home! Sorry no pics of the homes because the bus had to keep on moving.

Tour buses aren’t allowed to drive down Rodeo Drive so we parked nearby and walked a couple of blocks of this glittering shopping strip with every high end store you’ve ever heard of, made famous by the movie Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. (We also saw the apartment building where she lived in the movie).

One place in LA I’d never been was the Farmers Market, which is not really a Farmers Market at all any more, but rather a shopping mall at one end, attached to the original farmers market area that has been there for years. Now there are kiosks serving every kind of prepared food known to man. By then I was so hungry I had trouble deciding on what to get to eat because there was so much choice and everything sounded great. I finally selected a Caesar Salad with chicken – how boring is that!

Then one more stop at Hollywood Boulevard to see all the famous things along that strip. The Grauman Chinese Theatre with it’s famous hand prints, Dolby Theatre (former Kodak Theatre), Walk of Fame and the HOLLYWOOD sign from afar all within a couple of blocks. Well, unfortunately clouds prevented us from seeing the Hollywood sign, but we settled for a pic with a backdrop in a candy store in the mall attached to the Dolby Theatre. There was lots of hubbub around the Dolby because it’s the location of the Oscars and they were setting up for it. It’s a bit of a seedy area, with piles of cheap tourist shops.

One interesting phenomenon we experienced is the grieving that is going on in LA for basketball star Kobe Bryant. There were tributes to him all over the city, even the city buses had “RIP Kobe Bryant” signs flashing back and forth with the route info. Outside Madame Trousseau’s Wax Museum the likeness of Kobe was in a special display. At Grauman Chinese Theatre there was a memorial that had bouquets of new flowers and messages, etc. His picture was beamed onto a huge building near the Staples Centre. And on our way back to the hotel, we drove past the Staples Centre where thousands of Kobe Bryant fans were standing around in tribute to their fallen hero. There was a street long line of kiosks selling all sorts of Kobe mementos, t-shirts, flowers, etc. I guess it will continue until his funeral.

Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, have a drink and then head to the airport. Our check in process was painless, and our flight on Air Tahiti Nui was as good as could be expected with an overnight flight. We were on a brand spanking new Dreamliner, that was decked out in pastel shades of turquoise, pink, yellow and green, which was really cheerful.

We arrived at 5 am, and yet the airport was pretty busy and there was even a greeting party of musicians to greet us.

We found the taxi stand and grabbed a short ride to the ferry terminal. I really did feel like I was back in BC. The process was the same, tickets from the ticket booth, drop the luggage off on to carts, up the stairs to the waiting area, and up the ramp to the ferry when it was docked and ready to take on passengers. The island of Moorea is only 15 km from the island of Tahiti and it was a calm passage. And the ferry terminal is right next to, and within walking distance of, the cruise ship terminal. So when we go back on Thursday to pick up the ship it will be really easy.

Once on the island we took another taxi to our hotel where it was too early to check in, but they provided us with towels and shampoo, etc to have a shower and stored our luggage until the rooms were ready. We were also given a coupon for a free breakfast buffet and were able to use all the facilities.

And that’s where this very long blog post started, with me over looking the infinity pool out to the South Pacific Ocean.

Friday, October 4

I’ve been home from my latest adventures for 5 days now.  Time enough to start to feel human again, having caught up on my sleep, done oodles of laundry, reconnected with family, and started to get back in the habit of putting toilet paper in the toilet again after a month of trying to remember to put it in the little garbage pail provided. Haha, you can count on me to talk about all aspects of travel.

Every trip is a learning experience, but my head almost exploded on this one. So much to absorb, from the sensory overload of Fes, to the compelling stories we heard from those affected by the conflict in Israel, to the history and awe of Petra in Jordan.

People often ask me what my favourite country is, or part of the trip, but I’ve tried hard not to compare these three countries to each other, but rather consider each of them as they came. Increasingly as I travel, it’s actually the people I meet along the way that I find the most interesting and memorable. G Adventures does a great job of providing fabulous CEOs (Chief Experience Officers) and especially on the National Geographic joint ventures, the locals we have been able to interact with adds so much dimension to the experience.

We lucked out with all three of the groups with whom we travelled. There were no whiners, no one chronically late, and no one who monopolized the conversations. There were only 10 of us in Morocco, and 15 in each of Israel and Jordan. We were frequently reminded we were glad to be on a small group tour, rather than the huge groups of 35 – 50 we saw trying to make their way through the crowded streets of Fes or Jerusalem.

Visiting Morocco for two weeks (and 2996 km on our trusty bus) gave us the opportunity to see some of the many sides of the country that our guide often called “country of contrasts”. From the ancient medinas and handicrafts in Fes; to the beautiful countryside of the High Atlas Mountains; to the laid back beach lifestyle of Essaouira; to the night clubs of Marrakesh; to the modern shopping centres of Marrakesh and Casablanca; to the traditional villages where Muslim women were covered head to toe walking along side visitors who didn’t always respect the modesty dress code; and from the poor villagers contrasted with the expensive villas in the Tarflout area sitting empty save for the summer vacation time. Even the flavours of Morocco provided contrasts – through dishes with combinations of sweet and savoury, to the simplicity of fresh fruit for dessert contrasted with the complex spices of tajine dishes. From the red earth of the Air Mansour Gorge, with its stunning green palm trees to the desert regions, to the vistas along the Atlantic, and the mountain ranges of the Atlas Mountains, even the landscapes provided that contrast.

Although we spent only a week in Israel, we seemed to have tromped all over every square inch of Jerusalem, and yet I know that’s not the case. It’s impossible to cover anything but the highlights in a 7 day trip in a country with so much history both ancient and current. Here especially it was the interaction with people, both planned and spontaneous that I will especially remember. Images of the third generation book store owner in Old Jerusalem fighting for his Palestinian citizenship, a young mother fighting for proper treatment and schooling for challenged youth in a Palestinian Refugee camp in the West Bank and an older man originally from Montreal seeking peace from antisemitism by moving to Jerusalem to pursue religious studies will stay with me for a long time. The images of Holocaust survivors talking about their experiences in videos in the Holocaust Museum brought tears to my eyes, as did the simple reading of names of children who died in the concentration camps in the darkness of their museum. It wasn’t all serious, and there were many fun times; wine tasting in the Golan Heights; bobbing in the Dead Sea; the spontaneous group singing of the Walls of Jericho in Jericho; and naturally one of my favourite experiences, sailing on the Sea of Galilee and dancing to Hava Negela.

I knew going in that I was going to find a month a long time to be away, and I was right. It was hard to maintain the energy and interest in the last week, but thanks to the fun itinerary and amazing country of Jordan (seeing Petra was the genesis of this trip after all) I think I kept it going. And in fact, our most physically challenging day was at Petra in the last week, and we made it. The other physical activity aside from the ever-present walking, was snorkelling in Aqaba and it was so much fun. The hotels were definitely a little less comfortable than the ones in Israel and Morocco, and the guide did not provide as much information as the the other two but I’m still glad we decided to take the classic tour version that included the snorkelling. Our desert stay in Jordan was more comfortable than the one in Morocco because it was cooler and the beds were much more comfortable, but the camel ride in Morocco was definitely one of the highlights.  Oops, now I’m doing what I said I wouldn’t and comparing experiences between countries.

I keep remembering different experiences and I could go on forever with this blog, but I’ll stop now.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure with me. If there is anything you’d like to suggest for future blogs I’m all ears. Help me make it better next time.

I’ll spend the next few months, enjoying time with our little man, Benny, hitting the gym to stay strong for future travel and planning the next adventure.  Watch for the tell tale pic of a pedicure.

Just a bit of housekeeping, I’ve gone back in and added pictures to the posts I did during the last 10 days or so when we didn’t have sufficient wifi bandwidth to post them. If you want to take another look the additions begin at September 20th.

Saturday and Sunday, Sept 28 & 29th

On Saturday morning the start from our hotel in Aqaba was at a reasonable time even though we had a long day of travel back to Amman for the end of our tour.

The day was pretty uneventful other than getting to enjoy the changing scenery as we headed north from the Red Sea, through the desert areas, into the agricultural areas, along the Dead Sea, and north into Amman.

Our only stop aside from bathroom breaks today was for lunch at one of G Adventures projects supported by their Planeterra Foundation. Numeira Environmental Association is a not-for-profit working in Jordan to create a sustainable future for a small community south of the Dead Sea. They raise money from providing lunches for G Adventures tour groups to support their environmental education projects for children, and promote sustainable farming practices. They provide desperately needed jobs and training to people in the community.

We visited another Planeterra project in Morocco, at the beginning of this adventure where divorced women with children are supported through programs and assistance also funded by providing tourist lunches. Two of the best meals we’ve had have been at these stops. G Adventures has over 100 such initiatives all over the world, and this and the fact that they are so conscious of sustainable tourism make it an easy decision to decide to travel with them.

We arrived back at our hotel in Amman around 2 pm and spent the afternoon resting and getting re-packed for our long journey home. Then it was out for our Farewell Dinner at a really cool restaurant across the street from our hotel. The food was fabulous and it had a really nice atmosphere. I had a Jordanian specialty, Lemon-Mint juice, which I’ve come to really enjoy and for dinner I had a traditional meal of chicken and vegetables cooked in a pottery container and then broken apart at the table.

And then it was time to say goodbye to Hakam, our guide as he was headed home to Jarash to spend only one night with his family before heading out tomorrow with another group to do the trip all over again. But as he pointed out, “it’s only the beginning” of us knowing each other and he encouraged us to stay in touch and to let him know if we knew of anyone coming to the region and if he could be of any service.

And it was time to say goodbye to our fellow travellers. It has been a great group of people in Jordan, with no whiners, and no one chronically late. We’ve shared each other’s pictures on our What’s App group and by airdropping to each other, we’ve helped each other up the side of sand stone cliffs, we’ve challenged each other to jump off the top deck of our boat, and we’ve kept each other company on the bus drives. And now our little family are scattering all over the globe.

Nanci and I have made it to Frankfurt once again, on a red eye from Amman that went smoothly, and we’ll be here for another couple of hours before catching our flight to Ottawa.

I have to admit that after a month on the road, with changing locations most days, a pretty intense schedule and visiting countries where the culture is very different than our own, that I’ll be glad to be home. To sleep in my own bed, to have some quiet time to myself, to start to detox from so many carbs and too much food in general, and get back into my exercise routine, all sounds amazing. And of course to be able to hug Gill, Phyl and Benny………..

I’ll put together an epilogue post and add some pictures to the past week entries once I’m home and have had a chance to decompress a little. It’s been an amazing adventure. As always, thanks for your interest and coming along for the ride.

Friday, September 27

Imagine waking up at 4:30 am or so, as you normally do because you have to pee. Then realize that you’re in the desert and the lights have all been turned off, and the toilette is across the camp and behind the row of tents on the other side of the camp. Also realize that it was hot when you went to bed so you’re not wearing a lot. That’s how my Friday started and it made me realize how incredibly lucky I am that this is an adventure for me and not my everyday life.

Around 6:15 am, the group that was camel riding this morning were up and out to meet their rides. Nanci and I opted not to join them, having had the fantastic experience we did in Morocco riding camels as the sun went down over the Sahara. We slept in til 7:00 and then with a glass of tea and some bread in our bellies, jumped in the 4X4s to head back to base camp for breakfast. Enroute we met up with the camel travellers and they squished into the 4x4s with us for the last 10 minutes of the trip back.

After breakfast, we joined up with our trusty bus again to traverse the short distance from Wadi Rum to Aqaba on the Red Sea and our planned snorkelling outing. What an amazing transition.

We dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and threw on our swim suits, grabbed our sun screen and jumped back on the bus for our afternoon of sun and fun, and lunch on board a lovely boat equipped for snorkelling and scuba diving.

This was my first time in the Red Sea and was one of the main reasons we chose the Highlights of Jordan trip instead of the National Geographic one which doesn’t get as far south as Aqaba. Aqaba is one of only 2 ports that Jordan has along the tiny slice of access they have on the Red Sea, wedged in between Israel and Saudi Arabia It’s a bustling beach destination for Jordanians with lots of hotels, restaurants, bars and night clubs. Yes, night clubs in a Muslim country, primarily visited by foreigners.

Once on the boat, Hakam pointed out to us the unbelievable views of the countries we could see from our location: Jordan; Israel; Egypt; and on a clear day Saudi Arabia.

Our first snorkelling stop was called the Japanese garden. It’s an area of beautiful coral in many shapes, sizes and colours of white, pink, blue, and fluorescent yellow. I’ve been lucky enough to snorkel at some great spots in the world, and the fish life here was not that exciting but the coral was really lovely. The water was warm and clear, with good visibility.

The snorkelling guide was really helpful for anyone that needed help and in particular for one of our group who had never snorkelled. When I jumped in, the air tube came off my mask and thankfully one of our group saw it go down and was able to grab it for me. The dive guide was able to re-attach it for me in the water. He did a great job of herding cats and keeping us all together and safe.

After 30 minutes or so in the warm water we moved to another site to see an airplane that had been submerged for divers to explore. But for snorkelers, or this one at least, it was not that exciting. Some of the fellows with Go Pros spent some time trying to capture each other underwater with the plane in the background. I enjoyed just bobbing around in the small waves and watching the others play. Before long we were back on board enjoying our lunch of chicken and the regular accompaniments of rice, pita, hummus, etc.

After lunch we had some free swim time and got into jumping off the upper deck of the boat. Tom definitely won the prize for style, doing back flips in, and Thomas did a horrendous belly flop that must have hurt but only a few of us were brave enough to make the jump. And of course you know I was one of them. When am I going to start acting my age?

After our excursion, we had some down time at the hotel and then walked down the road to a seafood restaurant for our dinner. I had fish and chips and for the first time ever, the fish was sea bass. It was delicious but the fries were better in Morocco.

Some of the group went out to a bar on the rooftop of a major chain that had a great view and a DJ playing music. I was exhausted and to be honest getting tired of being with people 24/7 so I begged off and spent the time working on my blogs and catching up on FB, Instagram and surfing in the hotel lobby.

As you will know, time spent on the water is always special time for me, and this day is one of the highlights of our Jordan week.

Thursday, September 26

We’ve seen Petra and you might think we would now be coasting to the end of the week here in Jordan, but Hakam worked hard at keeping up the momentum. We’ve come to know that one of his favourite expressions is, “it’s just the beginning”, and he’s used it liberally in the last couple of days as some of us started to think about nearing the end of our adventure.

And it wasn’t hard for him to keep the momentum going because today we head to the desert for the second time in our month in MENA. Because of our early start yesterday we lazed about a bit this morning and didn’t get on the road until 10:30 am. We only had a couple of hours drive to our next destination and it was strategic that we not arrive too early so as to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Hakam hasn’t given us as much background as the tour guides on the G Adventure/National Geographic tours, but when he does speak to us about the places we’re visiting he has a lot of knowledge and answers our questions patiently. He did give us some background on the way to Wadi Rum. One of the interesting points he raised was that Jordan actually exports sand to Saudi Arabia because of the high silicon content, I am assuming to make glass, but he didn’t really say. Seems a tad bizarre that Saudi Arabia would have to buy sand. We saw wind turbines along the way and Hakam noted that the Jordanian government has gone with wind turbines rather than solar panels because the initials costs are less. He said that they are starting to convert over to solar panels.

At a few points we saw remnants of a Turkish Ottoman railway that (if I got it right) ran from Istanbul through Turkey and in to Syria and Jordon and on into Saudi Arabia to Mecca and Medina. There were a few cars from a bygone era sitting on a siding that have apparently been used in a couple of movies. The movie Lawrence of Arabia was shot in many spots in this area.

Wadi Rum is a small town that has sprung up to service the desert camps. Some of the camps are right in town and others take a “two-hour 4×4 ride” to get to. We were booked into the later, and to spend the night in the dark desert gazing at the stars and talking around the campfire.

We had a late leisurely lunch and lounged around at the base camp in Wadi Rum until the heat of the day was starting to die down and then piled into the back of pickup trucks with benches on each side of the rear bed of the truck and with fabric sun shades overhead. Three truck loads of us headed off into the beautiful Arabian desert. The sand dunes are light and dark golden beige and red in some areas, moulded into ripples by the wind in places, like waves on a beach. Our little caravan stopped a few times for points of interest, and I think just to take up some time so we didn’t end up at the desert camp too early. I was getting pretty tired of climbing over the tail gate to get in and out multiple times.

Some of us opted for the additional 2 hours of 4X4 riding, since there really wan’t anything to do at the camp given the lack of electricity and the heat. And I’m glad we did as we made some interesting stops along the way.

One of our stops was to let anyone willing to roll down the sand dunes to give it a try. The sand is soft and dry so I’m sure it felt good to do, but the pragmatic side of me said, you have to go without a shower at the desert camp tonight, don’t add getting sandy on top of the heat and sun screen. A couple of our crew did give it a try. There are some natural arches near where we were staying and some of us climbed up on top of one of them. It was a team effort with myself and one other young woman getting help from a couple of the guys going up, because the footing on the sand stone was a little treacherous. Coming back down we slid a good portion of the way on our butts and I was praying the one pair of capris I had on this desert trek held together and they did. This was one of the many times on the trip that I was glad that I’ve been working out and had the strength and stamina to participate in these activities.

We then stopped by the local Bedouin tea dispensary and tourist goods shop in his tent in the middle of no where. He played for us on an ancient musical instrument whose name I missed, and served us tea with cardamon and sage. It was lovely. He lived in a typically black Bedouin tent which actually seemed to stay relatively cool despite the colour.

The ride in the 4x4s was mostly sedate, but from time to time the drivers gave us a little thrill like coming down a steep hill or swerving to and fro. One particular hill had us screaming like we were on a roller coaster. Then we stopped to watch the other 4X4 come over the hill. They were screaming and we were laughing and a pile of people had stopped to watch the action as it’s a regular stop on the desert trip track.

We asked to do the hill one more time, but Hakam said we needed to get to the spot to watch the sun go down. We, and other 4x4s coming from every direction, raced to a certain spot where the desert floor is quite flat and the mountains in the background provided a great backdrop for the setting sun. In a clear sky, the sunsets are often not terribly remarkable, and this was the case this evening. However I did enjoy the quiet of the evening with everyone scattered and sitting up on the rocks waiting for the sun to go down.

We then headed off for our desert camp in the wilderness, although I have to say that I’m pretty sure that the lights of Wadi Rum were just around the corner from the camp and the 4 hours in the desert were spent going in circles. Nonetheless, it felt like the middle of no where and with only minimal power in the camp supplied by solar panels, and no light in the tents where we bunked down. Right after arriving, we ate a huge feast along with an Italian group who were staying at a camp just around the corner from us. After they headed for their camp we all sat around the campfire and played word games. By 10 everyone was exhausted and headed off to bed, scrambling to find our clothes using only our head lamps. It wasn’t the best night sleep I’ve ever had but it wasn’t the worst either.

Wednesday, September 25

Most days I take notes about what we’re seeing, what the guide is telling us, and what I’m seeing. Today I took very few notes and to be honest, I took very few pictures. The reason – Petra is just so overwhelming and wonderful that it’s hard to put into words and I wanted to experience it without the encumbrances of either taking notes or pictures.

Our guide, Hakam, was determined to be first in line at the ticket booth this morning and so we were in the lobby by 5:45 am ready to head out and none of us minded. After all, today was the reason most of us are in Jordan. The big day, the money shot, the bucket list item. Petra.

Once on site, the road starts out quite wide and open and because we were one of the first into the site we had the advantage of being at the front of the pack and able to experience it without the mobs of people that would come later. After a while the canyon, or Al Seq in Arabic, narrows and it feels like the walls are coming in on you. At times, it’s quiet except for our footsteps. And the click of camera shutters.

 

First of all a little history. Petra was the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom dating to approximately 300 BC. It’s nick name is the Rose City and it’s easy to see why, given the red tint to the rock naturally occurring. We noticed many other colours in the cliffs as we explored the site. Petra thrived because of it’s strategic location along the travel route for those trading in frankincense, myrrh, and spices. The long canyon made it an excellent defensive position. The Romans later took over the site and it grew to about 30,000 inhabitants but much of it was destroyed by earthquakes in the 4th century AD. The Bedouin from the area continued to live there, as a few still do today, but otherwise it was pretty much abandoned.

It was “rediscovered” by a Swiss explorer, Johanne’s Burckhardt in 1812, and there are stories that he dressed up as an Arab to convince his Bedouin guide to take him to explore the city. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and visits to the area have continued to grow, driving tourism into the spotlight in Jordan. Interestingly we were reading on the BBC Website today that Saudi Arabia has announced it will open the country to tourism including reducing the clothing restrictions for women visitors. I’m sure the booming tourism industries in some of its Middle East and North Africa neighbours has had something to do with that. Not sure I’ll jump at the opportunity for travel there in the near future.

So back to our experience…… as we walked along our guide encouraged us to imagine we were visiting in the time of the Nabateans. I was doing fine trying to take it all in and imaging a former time until I saw an ancient Bedouin woman on her cell phone! Hakam worked at building the suspense for us as we got closer and closer to the moment when the canyon opens up to where the famous Treasury towers over the square at 40 meters in height. I have to admit to having a huge lump in my throat as we rounded the last corner with video rolling. I’m always a bit afraid when visiting these iconic sites that I’ll be disappointed when I finally see it in person, having seen it in pictures so many times. I remember feeling that way when I visiting Machu Picchu last year. But I wasn’t disappointed there and I certainly wasn’t at Petra either. Pictures just don’t do any of the site justice.

The Treasury facade is so well preserved it’s unbelievable. Its Corinthian columns, funeral urn and other features were carved out of the sand stone which erodes quite easily and we later saw the toll the wind and water had taken on some of the other structures. Hakam explained that the carving was done from the top down so as not to harm the work below had it been done the other way around. Amazing workmanship considering it was done in the 1st century. Originally there was some speculation that the Treasury was a calendar of some sort, given some of the structures, and early explorers were hoping to find treasure behind the facade, thus the name, but they were disappointed. Turns out it was a tomb for the VIPs of the time.

We took a multitude of pictures before carrying on, but given the facade was in full shade, the coloration wasn’t great, so we planned to try and be back to take pictures when it was in full sun, between 9 – 11am.

We tore ourselves away from the Treasury (or rather Hakam did with his “yella yella” which means “let’s go” in Arabic) and on to see some of the other structures on the site. We walked along the main walkway to see the Royal Tombs, the theatre (build in classic Roman style), and the Great temple, oh and a bunch of tourist trinket stalls.

To this point, we’d already walked 8 kilometers, but Nanci and I decided to attempt to make the trek to the Monastery, a further 2.5 km, rated as “hard” on the maps because it was all pretty much straight up hill. As time went on, the sun was getting higher in the sky which meant the shadows were disappearing, but we persevered and made it up to the huge Monastery. At 47 meters wide and 48 meters high, it’s clearly one of the largest on the site. Time, wind, sun and rain have take a toll on this one but it still is pretty magnificent.

After a short rest, we started down with the rest of our crew, who had been up at the top checking out some other view points for quite some time before we joined them. They went on ahead on the return trek and we took our time getting down. There are steps for part of the path, (although they appear to have been made for giants) but in some places it’s just the sandstone which, with loose sand on top, tends to be rather slippery. And on top of that we were constantly having to dodge donkey’s making their way up and down the pathway with visitors making the trek that way. They are amazingly sure footed.

We made it back to the Treasury, and what a difference. Hundreds of people were arriving in twos or fours or 50s. We took some more pictures around the mobs of people, camels and horse and donkey carts. We stopped for a local specialty, a Lime Mint drink which I’ve come to love, before the return trek through the canyon. I certainly wasn’t up for trekking up any of the other trails at that point, as all I could think about by then was the hotel pool on the roof top.

It was brilliant to get up so early because not only did we miss the crowds, but we missed the later part of the afternoon heat and were back in our hotel by noon or so. Although some of our crew did many of the other trails Nanci and I spent the afternoon at the pool or napping. Over 100 flights of stairs and 21,500 steps, much of it in the heat, was enough for me. We had a delicious supper in the hotel and after an excellent day we made it an early night.

Tuesday, September 24

Today we left the big city of Amman behind and headed out into the countryside and travelled down parts of the Desert Highway, and the Kings Highway.

This morning we had two places associated with mosaics on our itinerary. The first stop was at the top of Mount Nebo, to take in the views form there and to see the beautiful Moses Memorial Church. The Benedictine Monks own and operate this site which is at 2,680 feet above sea level. It is thought that Moses was buried on this hill after having ascended here to see the Land of Canaan although the exact location of his grave is not known. The views that he saw, like the ones that we saw today are fabulous. We lucked out and had a pretty clear day, with not much haze. We could easily see the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and Jericho from the top, although they don’t show up in pictures very well. Like most churches in this part of the world, it has been built and rebuilt many times starting in the second half of the 4th century. The modern reconstruction is very simple and quite refreshing. The mosaics in the church are well preserved and visitors have excellent viewing of them while they are protected. Pope John Paul visited the church in 2000.

Madaba just down the road from Mount Nebo, is the mosaic centre of Jordan. The mosaics in the floor of the Greek Orthodox Church or Byantine Church of Saint George in Madaba is known to be the oldest map of the middle east and it’s in fantastic shape despite it’s hard life. It’s survived fire, neglect, and vandalism and now is incredibly accessible to visitors with just stantions and a velvet rope separating it from the visitors.

We stopped in to a mosaic workshop to see how these mosaics were made. They used all natural stone in various colours that is cut with huge saws into widths needed to make the specific designs. Then the pieces are cut and placed by hand on to a traced design and glued down. Once the design is cured, cement is added and the glue dissolves. It’s incredibly painstaking work, and this work shop is sponsored by the Queen of Jordan to employ those who are mobility challenged, to provide work for them and to keep the craft alive.

As we left Madaba the driver picked up shawarma (sorry Phyl) and falafel sandwiches for us to eat in the bus since we had long distance to drive today. These shawarmas were very different than others we’ve seen or tasted, but they were delicious and hot the spot.

Further south was our stop at Karak Castle. Something new for us in Jordan. This Crusader castle with it’s typical moat around it, was built in the 12th century but various bits and pieces were added on over time. There were some really neat winding passages through both commercial and residential areas of the castle. Built strategically on a hill, near the Dead Sea, the castle location was able to control Bedouins and other trader routes in the area. It changed hands several times over history and even suffered a modern day terrorist attack in 2016 which killed 14 people including a Canadian.

Then it was back on the bus heading south once again, destination Wadi Musa (or Moses Valley). It was a long afternoon of driving but before stopping at our destination, some of us took an optional tour of an area called Little Petra to wet our appetite for the main event tomorrow. Little Petra was a Nabatean town on the main trade route and the traders spent time at Little Petra celebrating their successful business dealings. Also, animals were not allowed in Petra and so they were bunked down here.

We didn’t really do that much today but I’m tired and our enthusiastic guide has us leaving the hotel at 5:45 am tomorrow to try and be first in line to get in to Petra. He did a great job of getting us into the places we stopped at today without any crowds, although they seemed to be only 30 minutes to an hour behind us.

 

Monday, September 23

Today is our first full day in Jordan and we’ve got a full agenda.

We met our other 4 fellow travellers, who were joining us last evening from their tour of Egypt. The retired father and 2 sons from the UK and a mid-aged Australian woman all loved the Egypt trip. So the UK is cleaning up in this group. Nanci and I are the lone Canadians.

Our first stop are the Roman Ruins of Jerash, or Jarash about an hour outside of Amman and only 30 minutes by road from the Syrian border. Although a 7am departure was early, we got to the site before any other buses and had the place to ourselves for the first little while. As you can see there aren’t too many people in the pictures.

These ruins are amazing and if not for a festival being held annually on the site, they would likely be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. They are supposedly the most intact outside of Rome despite the multiple earthquakes that has hit the region. Seems a little short sighted of officials to stop the progress on getting the UNESCO designation because of an annual festival.

The oval hippodrome could seat 16,000, and there are two theatres, one holding 2000 and one 3000. There are some huge chucks granite on the site that had been brought to Jerash from Aswan Egypt but most of the construction is lime stone. The Artemis Temple is undergoing some reconstruction work.

There is so much to see, and 75% of what’s there is original and not restored. I found it much more interesting than Ephesus in Turkey. We spent 2 hours there with the guide and with some free time. As we were leaving, we ran in to the group that we travelled with in Israel. They were just arriving and talked to our guide and new we were there. Certainly was strange to be walking across the site and hearing my name shouted out!

Then we headed for the Dead Sea for the second time in two weeks but obviously on the Jordanian side this time. Since we bobbed around last week, I didn’t go into the Sea today, but I did remember to get a shot of my toes which I forgot to do last week. It was the first time for everyone else and I think they all enjoyed it. This beach club had a swimming pool which people enjoyed for a while and it included a lunch buffet. The entry into the water was a little easier than we had on the Israeli side because it was more gradual.

We had a bit of a break back at the hotel and then jumped in Ubers that Hakam had organized and we were off to a cool restaurant on top of a book store on one of the hills that had a phenomenal view. We were able to see the light leave the sky, the lights come on and listen to the Call to Prayer echoing across the city and I tried a specialty of the region, a mint lemonade. It was fabulous. Our food took a long time but it was worth the wait.

Some bits of info garnered from chats with Hakam today:

There are 9 million people in Jordan, 6.5 Jordanians and the rest immigrants, and the bulk of them refugees from Syria, Lebanon, and other places. The refugees are putting a strain on the economy of Jordan and it is significantly in debt.

The main export is olive oil and the olive tree is the national symbol of Jordan as the altitude in the hills is just right.

They have little in the way of natural resources except potash and uranium.

The unemployment rates is high with more than 50% of those working in the government. The average wage is $US 400-600 per month and average rent is $500 in Amman.