Amman is an absolutely wonderful city, with an interesting mix of hip restaurants and ancient ruins. However, it also has a mix of pollution, cigarette smoke, and, yes, *peaceful* protests. Luckily, last weekend we were able to head down south to Dana Nature Reserve for some fresh air and hiking.
We all met at the bus station, where we boarded a minibus headed south. And after dropping off 20 other passengers at different locations along the way, an impromptu tire repair halfway through, and a total of about 4 hours later, we finally arrived. The town, like most things we’ve seen here in Jordan, was like stepping back in time. In fact, I can’t really even call it a town. It’s a small village in which all of the buildings are made out of stone, situated right on the cliff of a mountain. The first thing we did when we got there was to set our stuff down and go for a hike down the mountain and into the valley. In addition to the incredible views, we saw a pair of Bedouins with their herd of sheep and goats and some other foreign tourists who were staying in the area. My guess is that this is a pretty hot destination for eco-travelers and hiking enthusiasts, though right now is the off-season, so it was really calm throughout our visit. After watching the sun set over the valley, we sat down to a huge Middle Eastern buffet, followed by tea and conversation and drumming with the hostel workers and other guests. None of us really wanted to leave the next morning, but we managed to fit in another short hike before we left. I don’t think we necessarily followed the path we were supposed to on the way there, climbing up old terraced gardens and past some awesome irrigation systems, but we eventually made it to our destination: an area of caves and some small ruins with a really breathtaking view of the village and the valley. To top it all off, we stopped at a neat gift shop in the tourism center before heading back to Amman, where they sell products by Wild Jordan. As part of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, Wild Jordan sells products like tea, soap, and jewelry. All of the products are made in Jordan, with Jordanian resources, by Jordanian women. SO COOL. There’s also a location in Amman that I’ll definitely be heading back to before leaving Jordan.
We continued our adventures yesterday, when a bunch of students from my program to escape the city again by going on a tour of the desert castles. The desert castle tour is a loop that takes tourists to five sites of castle ruins, so we hired some drivers and set out for the day. Most of the castles were really impressive, except for one which was really just a small room and had a bunch of construction equipment around it. The first one was two stories, and you could walk the entire way around the upper level by going through different rooms and doors, and one of the other ones had original tiled artwork on parts of the floor. However, my favorite was definitely Qusayr ‘Amra, the insides of which were covered with Michelangelo-esque artwork of people, flowers, and camels on the walls and ceilings.
The most interesting aspect of our foray into the countryside was thinking the effects of globalization on display in Amman. Everywhere you look, there’s a Starbucks, or McDonald’s, or Gloria Jean’s, or KFC. The United States as we know it today was founded just 230 years ago — a baby compared to most other societies — yet today its influence can be seen around the world in the form of fast food and multi-national businesses. The castles we visited yesterday, though, were built some 3000 years ago. In fact, according to a friend’s guide book, some of the graffiti in Qasr al-Harraneh can be traced back to 800s B.C. (We did see the number 858 carved into one of the walls, but we’re unsure whether that’s legitimately ancient graffiti or some people having fun convincing the tourists that their mark is that old.) Sometimes it’s overwhelming to think about all of the people and cultures who have lived in the areas we visit and to imagine what their lives were like. Aside from the Native American ruins, what will people go to look at in the United States that could even remotely compare to the history and the culture behind these landmarks?
As for the protest yesterday, the protesters allegedly declared it a “Day of Anger,” following the clash last weekend, in which a few people were injured. We left the city around 9:30 in the morning (well before the noon call to prayer), and when we returned to Amman were dropped off at our respective home stays, so we were never out into danger. Also, the most prominent image of the protests yesterday in Amman is that of people carrying a huge Jordanian flag, and not of violence or clashing, so Jordan is feeling the effects of the other countries’ revolutions, but things are still peaceful here.
