I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?

Wow....so I really didn't realize that it had been THAT long since I blogged. Well over a month! I guess I should have realized it with all the people inquiring about where in the heck my blog has gone. I don't really have an excuse except that I have been incredibly lazy! Seriously, I've entered into a new dimension of laziness. I'm trying to perfect the art of laziness before we go home. I think it's because I know that my days of being a "kept woman" are slowly starting to come to an end. My glorious days of waking up at nine every morning, getting to enjoy a cup of afternoon tea whilst watching Oprah, being able to work out every day and then having the time and energy to cook a delicious (if I do say so myself) meal for the Hubby in the evening.......are yes, indeed, about to end. *sigh* I rather took to this new lifestyle and while I feel quite lucky indeed to have had the privilege to enjoy it for the past couple years, sadly, I'm not ready to give it up. I'm so NOT ready to have to set the alarm for 5:30 am every morning, work an 8 hour plus day and then drag my butt home and find the energy to force myself to work out and then at 8 pm realize that we have nothing to eat for dinner but some cereal and spoiled milk. *sigh* (Yes, I realize that I am going to get very little sympathy! And yes, Uncle C....I know where to look for sympathy too!)

So anyway, somehow amidst all my slothenlyness (yes, I'm well aware that's not a real word...the urban dictionary recognized slothenly but not slothenly-ness), I managed to get my butt off the couch long enough so that we could take a little trip to the South. We'd never been to Eilat on the Red Sea and had been planning to go to Jordan as well, so we figured if we were going to do it that we better get moving! Luckily it was Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) a couple of weeks ago so Phil was able to score a little time off of work. So we headed on down South via the Negev Desert. We made a quick pit stop at Mitzpeh Ramon to see the giant crater there (which in my opinion was only worth seeing because it was somewhat on the way) and made it down to Eilat in the early evening. For those that don't know Eilat is right on the north tip of the Red Sea (which is also bordered by Jordan and Egypt) and is pretty much the main beach resort type getaway destination for Isrealis. Needless to say as it was a holiday, we weren't exactly alone.

Me squinting in the sun at Mitzpeh Ramon.

View from our hotel....Eilat with Jordan in the background.

The first evening we spent walking around the town of Eilat along the boardwalk on the northern edge of the sea. It was swamped with people out for the holiday and we enjoyed the people watching (always good for a laugh....that is, until I start wondering how many people are laughing at me!), and laughing at all the cheap trinkets and souvenirs that were out for sale. Our favorite was the giant blow up hammer adorned with the Israeli flag. We really, really wanted to buy one so that we could walk around with it and knock people on the head who ran into us. (Those of you who have been to Israel will understand our desire to do this, I am sure. I think it's a power struggle, but seriously, locals absolutely refuse to move out of your way. They would rather smack right into you than lose their power to you by stepping a few inches over to the left or right.) But we resisted the urge and instead decided to head to dinner before all the restaurants got swamped. After dinner we were able to catch a little bit of the fireworks show on the walk back to the car. I guess Independence Day and fireworks go hand in hand no matter what country you live in!

The next day we spent in Eilat and we started out at the Coral World Underwater Observatory. We went specifically to see the underwater observatory and see all the pretty fishes, but we were pleasantly surprised to see how nicely done the entire observatory was (except for the cafeteria!), and we actually enjoyed several hours there exploring the other exhibits. They had some wonderful sea turtles who we got to watch as they munched down on their lunch, as well as a shark tank that included sting rays and eagle rays too. They also had a very well done exhibit of exotic and rare fish. Who knew that sea horses were so cute!?!?! Our ticket also included a free lunch, and well, the nicest thing I can say about that was that neither one of us got sick. Israelis sure do love their Schnitzel! And that was the best part of the meal. I can't say much for the canned peas and corn that were served alongside. Seriously, one of the absolute worst meals ever. But we were there and we were hungry so, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Their lunch looked better than ours did! Definitely much fresher!
Pretty fishes!

Freaky puffer fish. I hate them. Oh, how I hate them.

After we were done looking at the beautiful fishes from behind glass, we decided that we wanted to go snorkeling and try to see them up close and personal. The first strike against us was that it was already four in the afternoon. Not exactly prime snorkeling time. The second strike was that we have already snorkeled many times in Hawaii so we have really high standards. But we knew going in that it wasn't going to be nearly as fantastic as Hawaii, and we really just wanted to go to say that we did. So we found a place to rent some snorkel gear and after swabbing it down with some rubbing alcohol that I brought along for just this purpose (somehow I just knew that they wouldn't be so into the whole "sanitizing the equipment" thing), we headed out to sea. The water was alarmingly cold so we got to swimming right away. We had to swim for quite a while because we entered the water just north of where the supposed "good" snorkeling spot was. We both had some trouble with our masks fogging and leaking and as we only really found one good spot where there were a lot of fish and coral, it was rather a short lived affair. I'm glad we went but I can honestly say that even if we were in Israel longer, I wouldn't be itching to go again. Sorry Eilat....you ain't got nothin' on Hawaii as far as snorkeling goes!

We did have a lovely dinner that night though, and it was conveniently located just across the street from our hotel. We absolutely love it when we can just walk to dinner. (That's one of the things that I will seriously miss when we leave Tel Aviv.) We went to this seafood restaurant that had been recommended to us by a friend and one of Phil's co-workers. And we even got a table out on the water although, it was actually kind of a weird outdoor dining area. Just north of the restaurant there were some campers pitching their tents for the night and the view of the sea was kind of obstructed by the dock and the dingy little boats that were tied up there. The food was excellent though if not extremely fattening (but isn't fat what makes food so good?) but the music was by far the strangest part of the night. I guess you could say it was quite an "eclectic" mix and we couldn't stop laughing when Silver Bells came on. Not exactly a song you would expect to hear at a seafood restaurant in April.......in the land of the Jews. Soon it will be Christmas Day.....

So the next day I woke up with a Migraine! Yay! I just knew that was going to make for a lovely day. But we were headed to Jordan that day to see Petra and I didn't want to cancel it just for a stupid migraine so I sucked it up and pressed on. First we had to drive to the border crossing where we had to park and leave our car and take all our luggage with us. No cars are allowed to pass through from one side to the other. Luckily it wasn't crowded as most of the tour groups had probably passed through earlier. It's quite a process to cross the border as you have to go through the mumbo jumbo to exit on one side and then more mumbo jumbo to enter on the other side. At one point you are kind of walking through this narrow fenced in area in the middle of the desert between the Israeli side and the Jordanian side and well, one isn't quite sure if one isn't about to get shot or something. The entire time you have to drag your luggage with you and walk from one point to the next, sometimes in the blazin' hot sun. In case you're wondering, no that is indeed neither good nor pleasant for someone with a migraine. Once we finally got to the other side it was time for the next challenge....catching a cab to Petra.

Now as we were one of the last of our friends and Phil's co-workers to venture into Jordan, we had the advantage of having everyone's experiences and knowing ahead of time what to expect. And thank goodness for that! We knew we had to catch a cab for the 1 and a half to 2 hour ride to Petra, and that they were most likely going to try to rip us off and charge way too much. (That's one thing I really hate about traveling is all the people out to rip off tourists!) So we knew we had to stand our ground with the cab driver. We also knew that if we didn't like their offered price that we could request that they take us to the bus station instead. And that if we did that they would most likely tell you that there were no buses running but that if you pressed them to take you there anyway, they would eventually cave and lower the price of their ride. And indeed that is exactly what happened. (At least they were predictable in how they rip people off.) We were also told that you may be transferred from the first cab you get to another cab shortly after you set out on your way. The reason for this we are still not sure about but it did happen to us. At first we were a little nervous as our driver began by taking us into the town as opposed to out on the highway towards Petra. (I can't even tell you all the horrible images that flashed through my mind of crazy things that might happen to us. I tend to let my imagination run wild sometimes.) He drove us around a residential neighborhood for a while and then finally stopped for a couple minutes to get out and talk to somebody. Then once we thought we were finally on our way he turned into another residential area, but this time he eventually stopped by another cab and we were transferred to a different driver. Only then were we finally on our way and my blood pressure and heart rate were able to return to normal.

As for the actual drive to Petra....well the nicest thing I can say about that was that I didn't throw up! Sitting for two hours in the back of a hot cab whilst twisting and winding your way through the dusty desert is not exactly migraine friendly. Thank goodness our cab driver asked before he smoked in the cab (which surprisingly didn't smell like smoke) and we both kindly requested that he not. So we had to stop a couple times for him to get his nicotine fix but as long as he wasn't doing it in the car then I didn't care. I seriously would have tossed my cookies had he lit up in the car! Wouldn't that have made this blog more interesting!

Taking in the view while the cabbie gets his fix. Notice how I'm smiling even though I just want to curl up into a little ball.

And I cannot tell you how grateful I was to finally arrive at our hotel! And even better was that it was a very nice spacious room with a wonderful view. (Not that I could really enjoy it at that point.) We were starving so we scarfed down a less than mediocre and very expensive sandwich at the hotel bar and then I absolutely had to lay down. (Did I mention that I totally forgot to bring my medication with me!?!?? Ooops! Oh, well, that's a moot point now anyway since I decided I'm no longer going to use it anymore. It's a personal decision I'm making as I want to try to treat them naturally. Ha-ha...we'll see how long that lasts!) But anyway, so we had plans to either go into the park at Petra that afternoon or in the evening (that just so happened to be the night that they light the park up after dark), but as I was feeling quite under the weather we decided it would be best if we took it easy and then just got up really early the next morning. So I napped in the room in the dark in my own personal cave and Phil napped a little out on the deck by the pool. We had an early dinner at their "Italian" restaurant, and I do use that term very loosely. I had to send my pasta back and ended up just eating a bowl of minestrone. (Partly because the pasta was swimming in a nasty pool of oil and partly because I still felt a little nauseous.) After we watched a little Animal Planet on TV (it was that or listen to the media blow the swine flu completely out of proportion and strike fear in the hearts of people everywhere) we hit the hay so we could get up uncharacteristiclly early.

We stuck to our plan and were up and at'em just after six a.m. Yes, please don't die of shock but it's true. Okay, I was up but maybe not exactly at'em. I still had my migraine, although it had gotten a little better. I decided I just had to go and suffer through it since it was pretty much our only chance to see Petra. The cab we had ordered the day before was right on time at 7:30 and we were at the park in just about 10 minutes. We bought our tickets, decided not to get the tour guide, and headed into the park. Now there is a lot of walking involved to see these sights. You pretty much have to walk about 2 km before you even see any of the major sights. Although it is an absolutely beautiful walk through a spectacular canyon.

You just have to be careful not to get run over by one of these...

Soon enough we ended up here......

Recognize it!?!?! Ever see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Incredible, no? We sure thought it was pretty spectacular.

This particular sight was called the Treasury, and after it you continue to walk, and walk and walk some more, all the while seeing more wonderful and interesting buildings that have been carved into the walls of the canyon. Quite an impressive feat! Almost at the very end of the park there is a hike which you can take up to see the Monastery. I still wasn't feeling great but it was basically the last sight we were going to see so I pressed on. Before you set out on the hike you get accosted by a zillion people trying to sell you a donkey ride up. "One hour walking.....20 minute with donkey!" they keep telling you. Well, from what we had heard it certainly shouldn't take us an hour so we pretty much figured they were lying to us. And once I saw the guides walking (not exactly quickly either) right next to the donkeys they were taking people to the top on, I really knew that they were lying to us. I suppose if you were really slow and out of shape and not used to hiking it might take you an hour but we knew it wouldn't take us that long.....even with my migraine. And it didn't, we made it to the top in just about 35 minutes. And what awaited us at the top you may ask?
Another spectacular sight! And guess what? That's right about the time my migraine went away! Yay! Just in time to turn around and go back home. Which I guess is still good because it took us over an hour and a half to walk back out of the park.

We caught our cab back to the hotel where we had requested a late check out and made a pit stop to shower, eat and pack-up. The eating part turned out to be a fiasco as we ordered room service (thought it would be the quickest option) but they ended up being late (guaranteed in 45 minutes or it's free!) AND they got half the order wrong. So we scarfed down one sandwich and requested that we get the other one to go. Which they did manage to get down to the desk just in time for us to check out and catch our cab back to the border. It was however, the most disgusting "club" sandwich we had ever had, but at least it was free and luckily they included the wrong order in our to go box as well which actually turned out to be better than what we ordered. Oh yeah, and they forgot the ketchup for the fries. The Marriott in Petra was a very nice place to stay, the staff was incredibly friendly (if not a little inexperienced.....but their friendliness made up for that), but the food? Not so good. I would have rather they served us good local food than their bastardized version of American or Italian food. But sadly I am sure many tourists would not be so welcoming to trying the local flavor. I would have taken a plate of hummus and pita over that sandwich any day of the week!

Anyway, we got back to the border and then proceeded to go through all the previous mumbo jumbo but in the opposite direction of before. We were just about out and walking towards the exit when the security lady at the exit beckoned us to hurry up. She grabbed our "exit papers" from our passports and was all frantic as she started ushering the tour group behind us to hurry up as well. We were quite confused and asked her if everything was okay, to which she frantically responded "No, it's not". NOT something you want to hear from Israeli security personnel. Then before we knew it she closed and locked the exit door leaving us on the outside all by ourselves and shutting the tour group in with her. Then several other security personnel came out with binoculars and went and took their positions out in front of the entrance. We were told to have a seat on the bench and wait. I wasn't really too worried until the guy with the Uzi came out. Then I have to admit that my heart rate started to go up a little! They were also turning away all cars that were driving up to the entrance. Eventually we were able to talk to one of the security officers and she finally said we could go as long as our "exit papers" had been collected and we were sure we hadn't left any of our belongings inside, very specifically a bag in the restroom. All I can say is that we hightailed it outta there as fast as we could!!!! We never did find out what happened. Four hours later with only one stop and a lot of speeding we were back home in Tel Aviv, safe and sound.

So anyhoo.....overall besides Mr. Migraine it was a great little getaway. Besides continuing to be lazy (Phil's working on his laziness too!), we're starting to get ready for the big move back home and arrange all the lovely details that that entails. Fun stuff. We finally have tickets home though! Yay! June 2nd we shall say goodbye to our expat life in Israel and head back to the Land of Enchantment. Certainly moving over here was a big adjustment but I think moving back home is going to be as well. Basically we arrive home with absolutely nothing. No cars, no house, no cell phones, no stuff except for a few suitcases. Lucky at least one of us will have a job though, otherwise we'd really be up a creek without a paddle. I'm working on becoming a member of the gainfully employed again though, so hopefully we'll both have jobs. With all the crap we have to buy we're going to need every last cent we can get! Plus I have seriously been shopping deprived here!

I'm hoping to blog again at least once before we leave. I'd like to reflect a little bit over our time here as it starts to come to an end. It's been an incredible adventure for sure, one we will always remember. Until then....