We had just come from Syria with the warmth of its people and knew from the very beginning that Jordan was going to be different. From the moment we crossed the border the developed world infrastructure was there. There was a lot more wealth in this country, which has a forward looking leader, educated in Great Britain and married to a British woman. This clearly caused Jordan to be one of the wealthiest and more progressive countries in the region in spite of the fact that it is squeezed between the hot-spots of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Israel and the Palestinian Territories and surrounded by political and religious extremism.
Jordan has an extraordinary high proportion of refugees who have brought their money and possessions and helped build a major part of the country.
The whole country is a dry desert. A mountainous desert to the west where they have managed to irrigate and grow some crops that are important to the economy and the flat desert to the east with a few wetlands that are quickly drying up due to overuse by locals for agricultural purposes.
We did find Jordan to be a bit complicated for independent travelers with a economy budget due to the lack of public transportation and we really got to see more of it after deciding to share a rental car with a German couple that had similar interests to ours.
The Biblical sites (over 100 are mentioned in the Bible) pull you in and even the none-religious will feel an enchantment with the age old landscapes and experience an intense journey. It is quite amazing to wander through the land where so much happened so many years ago, so much that defined the world today and caused some of the religious extremism that the world is now a victim of. Visiting the place where Jesus was baptized had definitely an impact on us.
It was interesting to be able to see with our own eyes some of the controversial places we read about in the news very often, such as the Golan Heights and the West Bank but we certainly didn't enjoy the sound of firearms and canons disrupting the silence of the desert.
Swimming in the Dead Sea (the lowest place on earth) was an outrageous experience that still holds a position among the top "most bizarre things" we've experienced. I couldn't help but think of a couple of summers ago when we took my parents to the lowest place on the continental US, Death Valley, and we nearly killed them after the A/C in our car broke! Although at the Dead Sea it was not the middle of the summer nor was it 50ºC and here we had water!
Being able to attend a wedding for me was quite a magical moment that couldn't be more of a genuine sight of the culture and I very much enjoyed it.
As an Argentinean people kept referencing soccer players from my country and also the fact that the King and Queen of Jordan (of whom you can see their picture everywhere, from shops to cars) had recently paid a visit to South America and had met with the Argentinean President, who they thought was "quite beautiful" (I decided to keep my mouth shut and not comment on this subject).
And then ... visiting Petra, one of the "New seven wonders of the world". The UNESCO World Heritage site that battles it out with Machu Pichu in Peru and Angkor Wat in Cambodia for the World's most dramatic "Lost City". It was simply an amazing, high wow factor, jaw dropping experience that it was by itself worth a visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Gaby
Jordan has an extraordinary high proportion of refugees who have brought their money and possessions and helped build a major part of the country.
The whole country is a dry desert. A mountainous desert to the west where they have managed to irrigate and grow some crops that are important to the economy and the flat desert to the east with a few wetlands that are quickly drying up due to overuse by locals for agricultural purposes.
We did find Jordan to be a bit complicated for independent travelers with a economy budget due to the lack of public transportation and we really got to see more of it after deciding to share a rental car with a German couple that had similar interests to ours.
The Biblical sites (over 100 are mentioned in the Bible) pull you in and even the none-religious will feel an enchantment with the age old landscapes and experience an intense journey. It is quite amazing to wander through the land where so much happened so many years ago, so much that defined the world today and caused some of the religious extremism that the world is now a victim of. Visiting the place where Jesus was baptized had definitely an impact on us.
It was interesting to be able to see with our own eyes some of the controversial places we read about in the news very often, such as the Golan Heights and the West Bank but we certainly didn't enjoy the sound of firearms and canons disrupting the silence of the desert.
Swimming in the Dead Sea (the lowest place on earth) was an outrageous experience that still holds a position among the top "most bizarre things" we've experienced. I couldn't help but think of a couple of summers ago when we took my parents to the lowest place on the continental US, Death Valley, and we nearly killed them after the A/C in our car broke! Although at the Dead Sea it was not the middle of the summer nor was it 50ºC and here we had water!
Being able to attend a wedding for me was quite a magical moment that couldn't be more of a genuine sight of the culture and I very much enjoyed it.
As an Argentinean people kept referencing soccer players from my country and also the fact that the King and Queen of Jordan (of whom you can see their picture everywhere, from shops to cars) had recently paid a visit to South America and had met with the Argentinean President, who they thought was "quite beautiful" (I decided to keep my mouth shut and not comment on this subject).
And then ... visiting Petra, one of the "New seven wonders of the world". The UNESCO World Heritage site that battles it out with Machu Pichu in Peru and Angkor Wat in Cambodia for the World's most dramatic "Lost City". It was simply an amazing, high wow factor, jaw dropping experience that it was by itself worth a visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Gaby
1 comment:
The Holy Lands - wow
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