11-3 (Saturday)

I got up early and walked down the street to look for a new hotel and an ATM machine since I had NO money. I picked out the Petra Gate for us to stay in when we return from Wadi Rum.

We packed into a van with the French couple and 4 Spaniards for our trip to Wadi Rum. The guy that was in charge of our tour picked us up at the Visitors Center and took us to his house (Wadi Rum Village) for tea which his wife prepared. We took off our shoes and sat down on fabric covered sheets of foam rubber which lined the walls of the living room. The only other furniture in there was an old desk.

After all that we met our driver and climbed into an open bed pickup truck to begin our tour of the desert. I was so lucky that I got in the cab with the driver because I was protected from the sun and all the dust and dirt that the truck kicked up. The road was similar to Africa in that it was just a path or make you own pathway. The desert scenery is extraordinary. The dramatic colors of the rocks change with the angle of the sun.

The 22 year old hot shot driver with a front tooth missing took a liking to me. We were planning to spend the night in a Bedouin Camp. The driver told me he wanted me to spend the night with him under the stars - yippee! How did I get so lucky? He drove us out to a red sand dune. Some of our group walked up but I climbed rocks which were not slippery like at Petra. They had the consistency of sandpaper so they were easy to climb.

Our driver (my boyfriend) took us to see some Nabataean writing on the wall of one of the rock faces. We stopped to see the remains of a house that Lawrence of Arabia once lived in. There was a huge rock next to it which most of us climbed. As we were doing this the driver was preparing our lunch: sardines, olives, pita bread, tuna, hummus and raw tomatoes and cucumbers. After lunch we saw the Burdah Rock Bridge. It was here that I talked to an older Bedouin who has 4 wives. He said he would take me as #5! Finally we arrived at camp - there were 3 huge tents. I decided to sleep in the one with the Spanish group because I heard that Christian (the French guy) snored. My boyfriend had told me he wanted to take just me to a "special" place to see the sunset. I avoided him like the plague!

In the evening we all had dinner around a fire in one of the tents. The driver/cook and 2 of his buddies were eating with us. Then the driver got out a bottle of gin and started offering it to everyone. A couple of people took a shot but mostly he was drinking and shooting off his mouth. Every time a car would drive up they would run out to see if it was the police. Then they started singing Arab songs. They got on the cell phone and called someone to bring a lute. An older man showed up and they continued singing. They older guy was playing and singing when the driver (who had plenty to drink) and his buddy went to the tin cook shack. The next thing we heard was shouting and then they got into a fight and we could tell they were throwing each other up against the walls of the shack. Several of us got scared and the older man started yelling at them. That broke up the party in a hurry. We all headed to our pallets on the tent floor by 9:45. The driver and his friend were sleeping outside under the stars. About 10 minutes after we were all in bed we heard a vehicle drive up and then someone arguing with the driver. they had heated words with lot of shouting. Soon the vehicle roared off. After the driver and his friend shut up there wasn't a sound to be heard - just like in Africa and the stars were bright like the African stars. Then we heard Lynda snoring across the courtyard! I was glad I didn't get in the tent with her!