We had been going back and forth about visiting the Desert Castles or not. All together it can add up to a whole day of travel just to see a few sites and we didn't want to have someone looking at a watch while we looked at things, therefore we didn't want to join a tour group, but at the same time, there was no public transportation available.
Things happen for a reason and we clearly were at the right place at the right time. As I was being taught how to make art in bottles of sand (layers of different colored sands) the German couple we had met at Bethany beyond the Jordan stopped by to say Hi. "What are you doing next? Where are you going? and the next thing we knew was that the four of us were heading northwest to Pella. Yes, right, our big backpacks were a couple of hundred km south and with only one extra change of clothes and enough toiletries we decided to take on this opportunity.
Deeb Hussien and his wife run the Pella Rest House in the middle of the Valley in the border with Israel where we spent the night and got to eat delicious home made dinner and breakfast the following morning. Thorsten and Tania have been on the road for 14 months and we enjoyed listening to their stories over mango juice with Rum in the terrace of our hotel, overlooking the Olive trees orchards.
We started the next day very early hoping to be back at our hotel in Madaba that night, but we ended up spending the night in the desert, Azraq. But hey! It's not about the destination! It's about the journey, right? and the four of us had a great time together. We got lost so many times between military checkpoints and the lack of signs that we ended up asking a guy that was coming out of his house for directions He must have seen the stress on our faces, or it could be purely Jordanian Hospitality but he asked us to park the car and have some tea with him. We sat in the sidewalk in a circle that kept expanding as his wife, sisters, grandchildren and other members of the family joined us. His wife and I totally hit it off right away and she insisted on doing my nails with Henna, like hers, as well as writing my name in the palm of my hand. Tania wanted no part of it, but my philosophy is that both hair and nails grow and although Henna penetrates the nail, in a couple of months they would be back to normal. Steve was able to secretly snap a photo of this typical "all black covered woman". A bunch of home made cookies and tea were brought to us and we all chatted for a while.
At a certain point she invited Tania and myself to join her so she could show us her garden and animals. The cow had had a baby and it was great news to her. It was interesting that as soon as the men were out of sight (Thorsten and Steve), she lifted her black veil and allowed us to see her features as chicken ran around our feet and she proudly introduced us to other neighbor women.
With a bag full of cookies and my bright orange painted nails, the four of us continued our travels.
Gaby
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