Woke up at 9 to make sure everything was in order for our trip. Rolled out of bed and took a cold salt water shower. The tap water in most of the hotels on the water is salt water which makes for an interesting shower. However, it was still refreshing and cleared sleep from my mind.
After showering I double checked my pack. I had consolidated when Evan left and sent home my duffel with him. Since then I have had only what I can fit in my school backpack. While rechecking the room I decided to spread my stuff into my newly purchased woven bag just so the backpack wasn’t uncomfortably full.
Mike woke up around nine thirty and the two of us finished our preparations and headed downstairs to our awaiting minibus. The bus was carrying us and seven other travelers to destinations on the Sinai border. We were to be dropped first in Nuweba while the rest were continuing on to Taba, Israel. The others planned to enter Jordan via Israel because it is faster, however we are trying to avoid the ‘dreaded’ Israel stamp.
After an hour drive we were in view of the port city of Nuweba. Evan after staying in Dahab I was blown away by the beauty of the quaint port city. It had amazing contrast between plain city buildings and the majestic mosques overlooking the Red Sea. We stopped for a few minutes before pushing on into the city.
We got dropped near the Nuweba bus stop and made our way to the ferry ticket office. We arrived and waited patiently in the blob that somewhat represented a line. After ten minutes we started talking with another waiting traveler from Brazil. He informed us that he ferry could only be paid for in US dollars… neither of us had 70 dollars in US currency so we walked to the nearby Egyptian National Bank. We exchanged currency and headed back to the ticket office.
On the way back we called Sam and found out their bus was arriving in Nuweba. We headed over to the bus stop and met with the 8 of them and then headed over to get our tickets. We all rejoined the ‘line’ and clawed our way to the front. We shoved our ten passports and ticket fee through the slot. We then sat down and waited for them to process our transaction. In the meantime we went and purchased some koshari for lunch.
After a half hour of waiting we got our tickets and passports and headed down to the docks to await the ferry. We walked through customs and got our exit stamps and then entered a departure area. The departure area was a gigantic warehouse set up like a terminal. We sat and waited…. Waited and sat and finally (2 hours late) the ferry was ready for departure. We boarded busses (which left Ally (and a few others)and her large suitcase behind) and took a 2 minute ride to the docks. The others met with us at the ferry and we all got onboard.
It was not what I expected at all. It was large with comfortable seats. The ten of us were able to grab a lounge area encircling two tables. We all plopped down and slept/read/journaled/hung-out. Sam and I looked into entry visa’s into Jordan and eventually found ourselves in a long line of people getting their passports stamped. After half an hour we reached the front of the line and found out they collect foreigner passports later to give to the port authority… half an hour wasted. Anyways we gave the guy our passports then sat back down with the group.
The ferry took about three hours to arrive in port. We made land and disembarked. From there we were shuttled to the arrival center. We were asked the standard swine flu medical questions and then brought to the visa office. We all talked to the official and were given our visas. From there we walked out onto the streets of Aquba, Jordan.
We were immediately assaulted by the array of cab drivers. After wheeling and dealing we were able to secure a minibus to Wadi Rum, the first stop in our Jordanian expedition. We all crammed into the microbus and made our way through the port city of Aquba. We were all shocked at the subtle differences between Egyptian cities and Jordanian cities. In Jordan people obey traffic rules, there are stop lights, and they stay within lanes. It was also much cleaner on the streets. Anyways we all hit the ATM so that we could pay the driver.
Allong the way we stopped at a gas station to grab food for dinner. We all grabbed some combination of chips/cheese/water/and chocolate. So far junk food seems to be the fuel of choice.
We there we drove out into the desert on our way to Wadi Rum. Wadi, in Arabic, means valley... so we are going to the Rum Valley. We arrived with no problems and got out at the hostel we had previously contacted. The owner is a local Bedouin who was to show us around the desert the next morning. He offered to take us out and let us camp in the desert overnight. We thought that sounded more exciting than sleeping in the hostel so we gladly accepted.
We transferred our stuff and jumped into some four wheel vehicles. A short jeep ride later we arrived at the camping area. We set our stuff out and received some cots and blankets. The owner’s brother made a fire and told us some Arab jokes and stories. He also identified some constellations and sang some Bedouin songs. It was fun but we were all exhausted from our day of travelling. Eventually we all moved our cots under the starts and fell asleep.
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