Post 1 of 2 Jordan and Pre-trip Activities

This and the next blog post will focus primarily on Kimber’s trip to Jordan and Israel.  A couple of updates before I (Kimber) get into the trip though. 

I have completed a couple of sprint distance triathlons in the last month. The first was on September 29.  The distances were 500 meter swim, 13.7 mile bike and 3 mile run.  It has been many years since I have completed a triathlon and I have not been swimming, which was obvious.  I signed up on a whim after seeing the poster at a store.  But it was close to home (less than 5 miles) and a challenge.  The swim ate my breakfast but I did manage to get out of the water under my own power.  I am mad at myself for my performance and will be working the swim for the future.  The bike and run were much better with my overall bike time being 5^th in my age group and my run time being about the same.  It rained heavily during the bike ride and some of the run was on access roads so those became quite slippery.  I have included a picture that Kirk took.  Kirk’s comment was the guy didn’t pick someone very appropriate to draft.  You actually aren’t allowed to draft and he wasn’t but it is a funny picture.

I did the second triathlon on October 13.  This one was equally close to home.  The swim and run were the same distance but the bike was a bit longer, 15 miles.  I signed up to redeem myself from the first swim, however Mother Nature had other intentions.  The swim was canceled because of lightning.  We still biked and ran in the wonderful pouring rain.  One advantage was that when I got home I could just start lathering in the shower, I was already wet.  Also, both of these were on a Sunday morning and I was at church by 10 minutes after 10 am on both days.  But I won my age group on the second triathlon.  So If I can work out the swim, I may be able to really improve my performance.  The season is nearly over so I probably will have to wait until next year but that will give me time to focus on the swim. 

Finally, although Halloween was after my return, pictures of Sidney’s costume are warranted.  I made it and she was a Peregrine Falcon.  One thing I noticed from trick or treating is that homemade costumes are a thing of the past but equally, she received all sorts of comments on how cool her costume was. 

Temple of Hercules - Amman Citadel

She has been in love with peregrine falcons since 1^st grade.  The other picture I have included is the before trick or treating picture.  I went for a run and she joined me on her bike.  This was after 5 inches of rain in the area and Sidney went straight into puddle losing control of her bike and went down in the mud.  A soft, ungraceful and messy landing.  I was so proud of her getting her and her bike nice and muddy.

Roman Theater Amman

So now, on to to Jordan.  The flight from Houston to Paris was uneventful but also sleepless.  We had a 5 hour layover in Paris before flying into Amman (pronounced long “a” followed by “man” by Jordanians). Fortunately, I was upgraded to business class for this shorter flight so I slept a bit.  But one part of the meal was boiled leeks.  Who eats boiled leeks? We arrived in Amman at 2030 local time on October 15.  It took a couple of hours to get our bags, clear passport control, drive to the hotel and check in. This hotel, along with others in Amman, has metal detectors and they x-ray bags. Many hotels in Jordan take these precautions after bombings which occurred at this hotel and two other nearby hotels in 2005 killing 60 people. After getting settled we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of hummus, veggies, olives, cheese, eggplant dip, and lemon chicken (I have only listed about 1/8^th of what was on the buffet).  Everything was high quality and flavorful. 

A couple of points about Amman - it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, originally settled in the 13^th century BC by the Ammonites.  The Ammonites were constantly at war with the Israelites. One example in the Bible is when King David got involved with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. 2 Samuel 11 describes the Israelites besieging Rabbah as it was called at the time, which is now Jordan. It was conquered several times and at one time was also named Philadelphia and was a Decapolis city.  Earthquakes and natural disasters have destroyed it.  Following those disasters, it was a small village until 1878 when a railway and major station were built. It remained a small city until 1948 after which many changes occurred to make the population grow to over 2.5 million today.In 1948 there was a major influx of Palestinian refugees from Israel.  The population further grew with refugees from the West Bank, Iraq and other war impacted countries. More refugees came after the Six-Day War in 1967 and following the 1991 Gulf War and after the 2003 invasion.  The city is very hilly, originally being built on 7 hills but now covering 19 hills.  Think San Francisco but covered in buildings built primarily of stone.  It is a city built upon a city and built upon many other cities.

Oval Plaza Jerash

Cardo Jerash

Hadrian's Arch

October 16 – The day started with an amazing and proper breakfast in our very nice hotel.  Throw in great coffee and jet lag and it was hard to leave in the morning.  We toured Amman in the bus in the morning and also visited the Amman Citadel which is basically an open air archeological   After lunch we traveled to Jerash in Gilead.  Jerash is one of the best-preserved Roman cities and was occupied for 6500 years.  We entered Jerash through Hadrian’s Arch that was built to commemorate the visit of Emperor Hadrian to Gerasa in 129 AD.  Jerash also has a hippodrome for chariot races that could hold 15,000 spectators. The city has walls that were began in the 4^th century and expanded through to the Byzantine era and have a total length of 3456 meters. There is a large oval plaza in the middle of the city and a colonnaded street with chariot ruts still visible.  An underground sewage system ran the length of the streets.  This main street is called the Cardo.  Where the Cardo intersects the first cross street is a Terapylon marked by four pedestals. There are Umayyad houses that were inhabited from 660 to 800 AD and a Byzantine church.  The great pillars seen in Jerash and elsewhere were not usually one piece, but many sections of milled rock held together with lead pins in the center. 

Roman Manhole Cover Jerash

The city also contained a Nymphaeum, which is an ornamental fountain. There were many other temples and churches as well as a theater. Jerash may have had 20,000 inhabitants at its peak. Jerash was also a Decapolis city.
museum in Amman.

After a super lunch at the Green Valley Restaurant we returned to Amman but stopped to view the Jabbok River in the Wadi ez-Zeqa.  The Jabbok River is where Jacob fought the angel through the night and received the name Israel following the battle as described in Genesis 32.

A general observation about Jordan, which was noticeable immediately in the daylight, is the extraordinary amounts of trash everywhere.  The side of the road is sometimes not visible due to the trash.  It seems there may be a lack of infrastructure to deal with the trash.  The most obvious are plastic bags.  Our guide, Naim, said that Jordan had identified this as a problem and were trying to introduce re-usable bags.  But it was just astonishing.  I also saw a great example of re-use though.  We drove by a nursery that was using 1-5 gallon cans, like you might buy oil or lacquer thinner in, as pots.  The nursery had huge piles of them.

We arrived in Jordan during the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice, Eid Al-Adha. This holiday honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son in obedience to God. The feast is observed by sacrificing a sheep, cow, goat, etc. and giving away 1/3 to friends and 1/3 to the needy.  The holiday lasts several days.  As such schools in Jordan were closed for several days and many shops were either closed or had shortened hours.  Of course all tourist attractions were open as normal. One other thing I noticed about the hotels in the area, even in Israel, there is always a direction to Mecca marker.  Sometimes on the ceiling but usually in a drawer.

Mosaic Bethany Beyond the Jordan

Site of Jesus' Baptism

October 17 – The day started with another super breakfast and great coffee before we left to head southwest of Amman.  Our first stop was to one of the few New Testament sites in Jordan.  We stopped at Bethany Beyond the Jordan where Jesus was baptized by Joh
n the Baptist. What is striking about the location is that the Jordan River is much smaller than in Jesus’s time and no longer actually flows at the location of the baptism. After seeing the site of the baptism, we walked over to look at the now vary narrow, maybe 15 feet across, Jordan River. Just a stones throw away is Israel.  Many of us dipped out feet into the Jordan for the first time here.  We made this stop first because it was very hot and full of flies. There are a great many churches both ancient and new near Bethany Beyond the Jordan. Elijah’s hill, where Elijah ascended into heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11) is also commemorated here.

Poster of Madaba Mosaic

We went from here to Madaba.  Madaba is the site of a unique mosaic, an index map of the Holy Land during the 6^th century. The mosaic is preserved in the floor of a Greek Orthodox Church. Madaba has maintained the art of mosaic for centuries and has an institute dedicated to the art and restoration.

Jerusalem on Madaba Map

After Madaba, we stopped for lunch at a resort along the Dead Sea.  There are many hotels being built in the Jordanian area along the Dead Sea following the peace treaty.  We had a short time to relax and some of us wandered down to put our hand in the water.  The water was very thick and felt almost oily as it is 34% salinity.  The mineral composition of the Dead Sea is very different from the ocean in addition to being almost 10 times as salty. I accidentally got some on my toothpick and it tasted awful, salty, bitter and acidic.  You can’t get the water in your eyes or mouth. People were floating in the water and it looked almost like they were on invisible air mattresses because they were floating so high. The Dead Sea is referred to in the bible as the Salt Sea or Siddim, which means sedimentary. Also along the Dead Sea is where the cities Sodom and Gomorra (Genesis 18) were destroyed.

Serpent Cross Mt. Nebo

After lunch we made our way to Mount Nebo, from which Moses viewed the “Promised Land” (Deuteronomy 32:49).  On our way to Mount Nebo, we climbed from 800 feet below sea level to 2600 feet above sea level. The Promised Land did not look so promising to us as the area is now all desert.  But during Moses’s time, the area was all green forest.  From Mount Nebo you can see Jericho, the Dead Sea. According to tradition, Moses is buried on Mount Nebo but the location of his burial has never been confirmed.  There is also a serpentine cross sculpture that is symbolic of the bronze serpent created by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9) and the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

Mt. Nebo Sites

We saw many Bedouin huts and tents along our drive.  Tents were made of everything imaginable, cloth, wood, metal, tarps, and skins.  There would always be a variety of animals around along with laundry outside.  There would we water trailers and sometimes a tractor.  The Bedouins may live at a site for many years if there is good water.  Also, the Bedouins are expert terracers and water users.  Land is terraced and prepared for cultivation everywhere.  As it is now fall, crops will be planted in a few months and will grow over the winter while there is rain.  Rocks, which are removed from the cultivated land, are stacked into fences or made into rock scarecrows.

Dinner at the hotel was one of the best.  As this was the last day of the feast, there was the usual spread of delicious buffet as well as an Alfredo bar.  We totally carbed up.

Only Undisturbed Icon in Umm Al Rasas Mosaic

October 18 – Today was a long drive leaving Amman behind and heading to Petra. The drive was over half the length of Jordan but we had many stops along the way. The first was one of the most amazing stops.  There is no grand biblical history here but amazing history of man and church.  One of the best-preserved and most amazing mosaics anywhere is located at Umm Al Rasas.  The mosaic has the 15 major cities of region when it was made in 785 and the best mosaic is in the Church of St. Stephen.  The floor is nearly perfectly preserved and you could spend all day looking at the detail.  The majority of the site has not been excavated and yet there are more churches already excavated than can be counted. 

Jerusalem in Umm Al Rasas

After leaving Umm Al Rasas, I noticed interesting building near some of the house in the area.  I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture but I have sketched one. The houses resembled a soft serve ice cream on a regular cone.  I discovered these are pigeon houses.  We also crossed through the grand canyon of Jordan, Wadi Mujib. This area is traditionally known as Arnon and is still rich with life.  The river here separated the Moabites from the Amorites in Hebrew times (Numbers 21:13-26). 

Defense Wall Karak

Tourist Police at Petra

We also stopped at Castle Karak. The Karak area has been inhibited since the Iron Age and was an important city for the Moabites.  The castle is a Crusader stronghold on a hill that is approximate 1000 meters above sea level.  The area is ideal for a castle with a defensible position on three sides and access to water. The fourth side was defended using a large rock structure with multiple layers.  The castle was built by the crusaders by 1161 and was taken into Muslim hands in 1188. The castle gated entrances, barracks, storage areas, cisterns, kitchens and churches. One of the most striking things in the castle is the repurposing of items over time.  Destroyed walls were reconstructed with whatever was around, be it doorposts, pillars or lintels.  Today is when I also started to pick up pottery shards, a habit that could quickly grow out of control, as there are shards everywhere.

Al Siq

We arrived into Petra early enough to relax and settle in before dinner at a hotel, the Petra Moon that was just a few hundred yards from the entrance to Petra.

First View of Petra Treasury

Petra Treasury

Tomb at Petra

Mother Nature at Work Petra

October 19 – Today was Petra.  Petra is on one of the many lists of the Seven Wonders of the World. Petra is famous for its rock architecture and water conduit system.  It was established in 312 BCE as the capital city of the Nabataeans and was unknown to the Western world until 1812.  People lived in the caves until the mid-1980’s when everyone remaining was moved to a settlement just outside of Petra. The Nabataeans mastered water in order to settle here, an area where there was either no water or flash floods.  The evidence of water management is evident with aqueducts and cisterns everywhere.  The entrance is through a narrow but mostly paved canyon, the Siq that ends at the “Treasury”, the most amazing ruin in Petra.  The city was all but abandoned in 363 following an earthquake that destroyed many buildings.  The largest monument in Petra is “The Monastery” that requires you to climb 800 steps to reach.  The monument and view are worth the work.  The site is also feature in many movies including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Words cannot describe Petra, especially coming to the end of the As-Siq and seeing the Treasury in the morning light.  It is a spell binding sight. I have included pictures of tombs, aqueducts, and the many ruins.  Some of us walked 17 miles that day and I would still be there if I could.

Monastery Petra

After an amazing day in Petra we had a fine dinner and then sat on the roof top of the hotel next door and watched the beautiful full moon over fantastic conversation.  What a spectacular day.

October 20 – Today we will leave Jordan for Israel.  On the way to Aqaba, we saw running camels.  Not something we see every day. We also got our one glimpse of the Red Sea and you could see Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  I will end this post with a description of the cross over and begin the adventures in Israel in the next post.  The cross over from Jordan to Israel was interesting and the Israelis are serious about security.  You passport is viewed several times on the Jordan side after which you enter no man’s land.  This is a couple hundred meters where there is no one but people walking from one country to the other.  Before we left the Jordan side we also saw several cars that were about to cross over and they must do this frequently because they all had both Jordanian and Israeli license plates.  They took off the Jordanian plates and put on the Israeli plates.  It was quite interesting.

Bus on the Jordanian Side

After no man’s land, you enter a building on the Israeli side and put your bags through x-ray and walk through metal detectors.  Several bags are usually pulled aside from each group as well as a couple of individuals for closer scrutiny.  I was not one of them.  I was one of the first to go through the final review of passport and quiz.  They look carefully at your passport and ask a variety of questions.  Some of the group was asked where we would be going, where we would be staying, why we were here.  Others were asked about their family, like their mothers name, etc.  Once on the other side, we met our new bus driver, Maher and picked up Andy Dearman, our chief organizer and amazing scholar and teacher.