Jordan 2018
Petra was a place Mike and I had long wanted to visit, after Mike’s Dad had told us how hospitable the Jordanian people are. Jim had been there a few times for medical conferences and said that Petra was amazing. As luck would have it, my new friend Salam had sent me an article on the Sun City resort in Wadi Rum, where the movie The Martian was filmed. Yampu Tours helped me to craft an itinerary early in 2018, and it felt like October would never get here. October 20-27 was the first and only vacation time Mike took off from work in 2018.
Amman
We started off our visit in the capital city of Amman, after flying for 19 hours (LA-Paris-Amman). Our private tour package, which I had some misgivings as to the value of since it was quite expensive, turned out to be totally worth it. Upon landing at the airport, we were met by a facilitator who had our visa paperwork completed and got walked us through a separate immigration line. After the long travel, we were grateful to get to the newly-opened W Amman. After crashing the first night, we met our guide the next morning for a city tour of Amman and then to Jerash.
Jordan is a peaceful, predominantly Muslim country in the Middle East, located between Syria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Israel. With a population of close to 10 million, 4 million live in the capital city of Amman. Jordan also hosts 1.5 million refugees from Syria in camps, which I learned about from my friend’s documentary, Salam Neighbor. The Citadel in Amman was a great place to start our trip, and to learn of all of the different rulers and civilizations that have influenced the area over the centuries and millenia. There are many well-preserved Roman amphitheaters and other structures that are still in use today. An enterprising photographer offered to take some ridiculously posed photos of us at the site, and somehow he ended up sending us another white lady’s photos as well.
Jordanians
Our friend John Chihade is one of the most fun people we know, and although I knew he frequently travels to the Middle East for work, I somehow didn’t know that he has family in Jordan. We really enjoyed meeting his cousin Osama and his wife Serene (above left) on our only free night in Amman. We had drinks at a bar near our hotel and then Serene met us for dinner at a fabulous Armenian restaurant called Levant. The food was amazing and we enjoyed so much hearing about their lives in Jordan and previously in the U.S. Osama once FedEx’d a hamburger and fries to Serene from the U.S. after she moved back to Jordan. That is my kind of person.
The photo on the right is from lunch on our first day in Amman at a Lebanese restaurant, Um Khalil. Asraf was our tour guide for the week, and Issa drove us all over the country. They are freelancers for the Karma House, a top tour agency in Jordan. The green drink picture is mint lemonade, which I drank all week. Mike immediately spotted an ouzo-type local alcoholic beverage called “arak”, which became his go-to.
More photos of our time in Amman here and Mike’s 360 video here…