Our quaint little ‘village’ hotel was sadly departed with after a delicious Jordanian breakfast. Today we drove through Jordan on the road that Sadam Hussein built for shipping supplies from the Red Sea to Iraq. We had a photo contest to see who could get the best picture from the bus window. A bit of a challenge since most of what we saw was the rift valley ancient countries of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. It’s the same route Moses took because the Edomites wouldn’t let them take the Kings Highway. We stopped at Mt. Nebo to get the only view Moses had of the promised land. It was a hazy one so we didn’t see much but were told the dead sea, Jericho, and Jordan River were all in the picture. On the way down the road were switchbacks with a touch of rollercoaster up and down.
The best way to describe this next adventure is to imagine yourself driving a green Sedan up Mt. Nebo. You take a corner a bit to fast and just before you go off the cliff you over correct and find yourself upside down in the ditch next to the road. You crawl out of the side window and your passenger crawls out the other door. You look up the road at a stopped tour bus full of Mormon tourists taking pictures of you. A few hop out and help flip your car back on its wheels. Because you’re Muslim, you know it’s just not your time to go yet and the bus continues on its merry way.
We made it safely to the Jordan border. Crossing the Jordan River into Israel, it only took about an hour and a half to get through customs. We were overjoyed to be back on our favorite driver Eddie’s bus. We met our tour guide for the remainder of the trip, Roley! She’s a cute little lady. We went straight to Bet She’an, an ancient city archeological dig. There we were treated to Sarah G. soloing in the Roman Theater. We scouted out the baths, hills and our favorite, public latrines. It’s a cool place with fallen columns and mosaic floors.
Our hotel for the next three days is in a Kibbutz on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. A kibbutz is a community who share property, possessions, and money...basically it is a communist society based off the teachings of Marx. We are staying in the hotel portion of this Kibbutz’ business. It is so good to be in Israel. Our long Exodus to arrive here is finally over.
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