That one time I went rappelling down waterfalls...

As promised, I shall now tell the epic tale of my journey through Wadi Feid. By journey, I mean an ecohike that lasted more than 13 plus hours and consisted of waterfalls, climbing down rock faces, walking through a canyon at night for 2 hours, and being saved from certain....danger by a former member of the Jordanian special forces.

Lets talk about the beginning: we woke up at our hostel in Petra at 4:45 am on a Saturday. The blasting call to prayer entered our room, waking up most of us. By most of us, I mean everyone except me. I did not sleep that night. The dogs and cats were playing out some version of West Side Story and I couldn't fall to sleep with all their noise. One dog literally did not stop barking.

We piled into the car, with some of us sitting in the trunk of the truck. I sat in the front seat, sleepily watching as our car went further into the wilderness. There were several moments where we teetered near the edge of cliffs. But our skilled driver never took his hands off the wheel and kept his eyes on the road.

When we arrived, we packed our backpacks with provisions and put on our gear for rappelling, which consists of a belt, a helmet and some caribeners. We began walking, our caribeners clinking and our eyes watching the ground to prevent slipping on the path. Before we knew it, we arrived at a giant rock face. To our horror, we realized we had to climb down it without any equipment. I went first, crawling crablike and searching and grasping for any place for my feet and hands. I willingly trusted my life to Ibrahim, a guide from the Jordanian special forces who explores canyons in his free time. I gave him my hand and he willed me down.

After this little adventure, we walked to the first waterfall. As I strapped in, our guide Hakim told me about The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy and the quoted famous phrase, "Don't panic." With those reassuring words, I leaned back and managed my way down. Getting to the bottom felt empowering and I was ready to move on.



This was the next set of waterfalls. (I didn't take this picture...I didn't bring a camera). I banged my knee pretty bad on this one, but no sizeable harm done. In comparison to the other waterfalls, these are babies. But my knee is still bruised. It also made it difficult to walk.

The next waterfall passed without much trouble. I will mention here that to get to the waterfalls, there was a lot of climbing over rock faces, hoisting our bodies over crevices, and wading through water. Needless to say, it was no walk in the park.


It was waterfall number 5 that will go down in history as the scariest moment of my life. This time, we didn't really go down into the waterfall, but rather rappelled down the side of the cliff. This cliff did not have the nice curve you can slowly slip/walk down, but rather plummetted like a sheet. A completely straight drop that you had to stand on the edge of back wards and step into nothing. Needless to say, terrifying. My stomach flips just thinking about it.

So, I was a bit nervous, what can I say. I made my way down, but my weak and bruised knee was not cooperating. Also, I was not distributing my weight properly. So friends, I slipped and lost control.....going down a cliff. Not a great place to lose control.

My entire body twisted, I yelped and my head slammed against the side of the rock. I looked down at my hands and saw blood pouring down. I touched my nose and realized it was not my nose that was bleeding, but my head. This all happened in the matter of seconds.

It took all the strength in my wobbling legs and arms to reach out to Ibrahim and have him literally pull my body up. I sat in shock, touching the back of my neck, which was covered in blood that came pouring from the cut in the head. Well, I thought, I am going home. It is over. So long, Wadi Feid. It wasn't until he strapped me up to go down the cliff once again that I realized that wasn't a solution. There were two options: complete the trail....or complete the trail. Or you know, call in an air lift.

Since I could not do that cliff, due to psychological terror, we decided to climb down the rock face on the side and walk/slide down the valley. We got to the next waterfall, where Hakim told me my membrane had coagulated (?) and that I should be fine. I just couldn't get my hair wet.

We are rappelling down....waterfalls. And I can't get my hair wet. Also, we figured out that my helmet had been broken and that is why it got cut so bad. Did I mention I never signed a waiver?

ANYWAY, we decided I didn't have a concussion. I did the next few waterfalls, slowly getting back my courage. And my friends, I would need all the confidence to face the next waterfall.

This was one of the last waterfalls. If you look carefully, you can see a tinnnyyy person. This waterfall is about 60 some meters, a little more. It is the size of a 20 story building. And every single one of us rapelled down it. The hard part of this waterfall was the endurance you needed to withstand the sun and burning rope. Plus, by that time, all of our muscles ached, especially our arms.

But we made it down. And in true Jordanian fashion, there was tea waiting for us. Do not ask me how they got tea there, only God knows. I just drank it happily and we walked on to the next waterfall. Which you can see right here...

This one was not so bad since we could break it up into two parts. It also is about 70 meters lon g. Once we got to the bottom, we got to eat our sandwiches. After 12 hours of not eating, they were delicious.

My dear readers, if you think the story ends here, you are terribly, terribly mistaken. We were told that it would take us about 1 hour to get through the canyon if we moved fast. But by moving fast, I mean marathon lightspeed fast. After about 30 minutes, night had fallen and strapped with lights on our forehead, we had to climb over more rock faces, avoid huge things of mud, dive under trees and avoid sharp plants. Very very sharp plants. One smacked me in the middle of the face, allowing blood to now pour from the front of my head. Hakim told me I was just a mess. Like I needed to be told.

1 hour turned into 2.5 hours. We sighed our praises to God when it was over and sat at the top of the wadi, admiring the stars (absolutely no light pollution). We could see the lights from Palestine, which were several hours away from us. And naturally, there was tea.

My head is fine, the cut did not get infected and it hardly hurts. It is merely a bump now and an excellent testimony and proof that I did this journey. We got home around 2am and woke up the next morning terribly sore but invigorated to be alive.

Arabic class was the easiest thing in the world that day.

Best,
Liz

Memory and Beirut

Hey!
I am going to blog about my super eco-hike in the wilderness of southern Jordan...where I rappelled down 12 waterfalls and cut my head open. But I don't have the energy to do that just yet (just wait, it is epic beyond all comprehension).

To tie you over....here are some pictures from my trip to Beirut. (Yawn, so boring I know)

It is midterms, so I will just be typing little comments by the pictures. I think they tell the story of Beirut much better.

Spring break is coming up and I have a few days in Amman where I will update my blog a few times...then I am off to Cairo to become further indebted to this blog.

A beautiful view of the city--the guy who picked us up from the airport took us to this obscure spot to see this amazing sight. Every Lebanese person I met was so welcoming, really taking us in to see their complicated city.
Here is the Al-Omari mosque. Originally the site of The Church of St. John the Baptist, it was converted into a mosque during the Muslim take over. At night, it lights up the city with its intriguing, but haunting blue dome. A statue near the mosque--you can see the bullets holes...obviously not originally part of the statues. They are markings of the trouble times in Beirut, including the most recent conflicts in 2006 as well as the Civil War. There are many signs of the rocky history of this city. Abandoned buildings and statues like these, as well as many memorials, remind you of this. It is like Berlin in this respect. Here is one of the more famous abandoned buildings. I was hear late at night (I won't say how late...). It was perhaps the best time to see this haunted place. If you can believe it, this is the Holiday Inn. During the civil war, it served as the perfect site for target practice. It remains a towering memorial, a site that no statue or history book can ever trump in terms of expressing the devastation of war. In my opinion, it should never be torn down. It expresses to me the sadness and emptiness war brings.

Anyway, sorry for that little poetic bit at the end. I plan on going back to Beirut. I will post a link to the Facebook album shortly. Where you can learn more about what I did!

Love,
Liz

Good Jordanian Eats

Alright, making two post entries in one week should allow my guilt to go away. As I have heard from various fronts, everyone wants to know about what I have been eating.

I live in a apartment, so I don't have a host parent making me an exotic dish every day. However, our landlady makes us delicious lunches and dinners on occasion.

For breakfast, I eat zeit and za'atar, which is a mixture of olive oil, thyme, and sesame seeds. I will spread this on bread. Then I may have a few figs, dates, or dried apricots. I also have some instant coffee. They just don't do American coffee, but they love Nescafé. There most be 10 Nescafé stands on the UJ campus.

For lunch, I might just have zeit and za'atar again. That is how much I love it. And at about only $1, you can't go wrong. Or, I may have shishtowak, which is grilled chicken, sometimes wrapped up in a pita. If I am eating lunch with my Jordanian friends, we will have falafel, hummus and bread served with some pickled vegetables. Lunch at the university cafeteria usually consists of chicken, rice, and several soups. Nothing of particular importance. Sometimes I eat straight up rice and baba ghanoush, which is delicious and tastes a little like macaroni and cheese for some reason.

There is the ever popular shawarma which I have only had once. It is delicious, but not a friend to digestion. Basically, it is the junk food of the Middle East. Not recommended if you have a stomach which can't handle grease, like mine. I know some guys who eat like 5 shawarma a day. I am pretty sure Sam would be one of those guys.

Dinner! In addition to the tasty foods I just cook for myself or my flat mates, we occasionally eat out or are served meals. I mentioned before mansaf and maqlouba. Here are pictures of both. I have to say I prefer maqlouba and most anything with lamb:

MANSAF
MAQLOUBA
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Kibbeh is another favorite of mine. It is beef and various spices rolled up and fried. Sorry I have no pictures, I am usually too busy eating it.

Tabouleh is another wonderful Lebanese dish. It is a side salad, made up of parsley, lemon, bulgur, cucumbers, tomatoes, ect. It is very refreshing and delicious.


Our landlady/mom makes a delicious maqlouba, cabbage leaves stuffed with meat, and about any dish that you desire from around the Middle East. She will often serve us food from Libya as well. She said that the Libyan food does not at all reflect their leader. She also makes us a lot of lentils and rices, one came with the tasty green sauce you see in the picture below:

Desert is a tricky one, since I can not eat knanafeh since it has cheese in it. But everyone says it is good. Baklava is not actually Middle Eastern, but it is tasty here, as well as other filo dough deserts. A lot of their desserts are dairy heavy, so I do not eat them.

My favorites so far? Maqlouba.
Now I am hungry......

Spectacular Views

Hi all,

I feel like I have not updated this blog enough, but that is mostly because I have been doing many things. And I get overwhelmed with how much I can feasibly tell you. And then I put it off.

Last weekend, I was quite the tourist. I went to Umm Qais, an old city that can be traced archaeologically to the Hellenistic, Omayyad, and beyond. Built from basalt rock, the ruins are completely black. The most stunning of which is the amphitheater. When we arrived, we ate at a beautiful restaurant that looked over the Golan Heights, the Sea of Tiberius, and Syria. The food was ok, but the view was stunning. The museum also was excellent. The museum guide gave the tour to Ally and I completely in Arabic, which I appreciated and understood for the most part. He was such a nice person and showed us some interesting things.




If you go to Jordan, please go to this place. It is worth the 3JD you pay and the madness it takes to get there. And it is madness. To get back to Amman, we had to have the tourist police call for a bus. Most of the "companies" they called just flat out refused. In the buses, the played the Qu'ran. It was extremely soothing. I don't know if there are many religious texts that sounds so beautiful while reading.

SPEAKING of religion (such a smooth transition there), I also went on the Biblical tour of Jordan. Now, next to Petra, Biblical sites are the other main tourist attraction and income for the country. But I can not tell a lie. I did not really enjoy the tour all that much.

First, we went to Bethlehem beyond the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized. This is very cool to see in theory. You could see the original stones and marble steps where the baptism took place, which is neat. But they reconstructed a lot of stuff around it. I found that mostly unnecessary and a detraction from the sight. The Jordan river is also essentially a little muddy creak.

Anyways, after that we went to Mt. Nebo, where Moses took the Israelites. It is a nice view, I will not deny. It just felt very overblown. But again, this is a huge source of tourism. I can not really judge. There were also some awesome mosaics there as well.

The second leg of the trip I found more interesting. We went to Madaba where a mosaic dating back 1500 years is located. It depicts a map of the Holy Land designed to guide pilgrims. Sadly, a lot of it was destroyed in the iconoclast. It is beautiful though and extremely remarkable.

The last sight, of which I will provide a photo, was Herod's Palace. This, as the story goes, is the place where the head of John the Baptist was ordered. And from this view, you can see why it was located here. I mean, poor John, but at least he had a nice view in the end. You can see the Dead Sea and the palace can be seen from Bethlehem.


Alright folks. I am boring myself here. I think I may post about food soon!!!

Salam,
Liz

Amman rain, you can't hold me down.

Before I begin, look at this photo!!:



I know, pretty a-m-a-z-i-n-g. My friend Liz Hann took it from a distance...and it was not planned. Making it all the more wonderful...but I know what you are asking (besides, how am I so lucky to know this girl?), where am I?

My friends, I am at the Citadel in Amman, Jordan. This is the highest point of the city and located here are the remnants of the old cities that came before Amman. Amman dates all the way back to 3500 BC. Most notable city is Philadelphia, founded by Romans and occupied later on by Muslim dynasties. Around this sight you find the skeletons of an old mosque, including a old Turkish bath. In addition you find a Byzantine basilica, and athe temple of Hercules. Unfortunately, it was not a very well labeled area so I could barely tell what was what.

Within this lovely sight you find an Archaeology museum. And being a gigantic nerd, I adored it. We all did really. Within this sight, you find the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest statues in the world, a baby skeleton, and tools dating back to the Paleolithic period. We saw all of this for only 1JD.

This is not the oldest statue in the world. But it is still cool.



Despite the rain, we moved on to the old Roman amphitheater. It is pretty impressive. Then again, it is only the second amphitheater I have seen. From this sight, we moved on to see two museums which were more humble, but still nice. They displayed some scenes of Bedouin life and crafts. We saw some traditional dresses, ect. Also, we saw a mansaf dish.

What is mansaf? Here is a good description.

It is delicious, but made me a bit sick. This is also only one type of mansaf. It is usually all mixed together. But at the restaurant we ate, Jerusalem Restaurant, the meat was placed on top of the rice and you could put as much yogurt as you wished.

ok! I feel guilty for not posting recently, so I will write some more in the near future. Please note that you can access my second Facebook album, which shows more pictures of my weekend.

Right now, I am having trouble loading pictures. So you will have to enjoy the facebook album.

Salam,

Liz

Insert Witty Title about Petra Here

I have been dragging my feet in terms of writing this new blog entry. I apologize. A lot has been going on, so it is hard to find time. Especially with such a nice rock to lean on....


Where am I in this photo? As some of you already known, it is Petra, "The Rose City"....a famous Nabataean ruin in Jordan. It is referred to in the Bible as Sela, and more importantly, has been in an Indian Jones movie as well as in the Transformers movie. I will not go into the history of Petra, because the lord created the Internet for that purpose. The main things you need to know are:

1. This city is over 1000 years old and is a World Heritage Sight. Thus making it the main source of tourism for Jordan.
2. It was lost to the western world until 1812 (Every Bedouin person in the area knew where it was, naturally)
3. They carved everything out of rock.
4. They had a sophisticated aqueduct system, in addition to being innovative in every way. Such as cultivating huge apple tree fields. In the middle of a desert. Apple trees, in a desert!
5. They spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his pals.
6. The Romans conquered this ancient civilization, like how they conquered most everything.
7. An earthquake destroyed a lot of the buildings that used to be there.
8. As a center of trade, this society was influenced in terms of religion by surrounding cultures
9. They made the best frankincense you have ever seen/smelt
10. Many Bedouin people will claim that they have lineage connecting them to these ancient peoples

Alright! I hear some of you snoozing there, so I will leave the rest of the research up to you. It was a bit of a sad trip, because people in this area are very poor and survive on tourism. But the tourism also inflicts a lot of damage on the sight. Plus, a lot of the animals there are not treated very well. Otherwise, I very much enjoyed myself, sans the sand in my shoes.

BUT ONWARD to the photos you are all dying to see. I am only picking a few. Please visit my Facebook album, located on the left side of the screen, because that is where the real action is at. You also will see pictures of a crusader fort that we saw as well.

This is a monastery. I climbed about an hour to get here.

This is from "Little Petra"-the industrial/trade center This is what is known as "a treasury". However, archaeologist now doubt that it was used for such. Rather, it is now considered a tomb. And indeed, I saw the tombs underneath. A spectacular view

Pretty cool right? I will sign off for now. I have a few adventures planned for this weekend, but we shall see what actually happens in terms of blogging. Maybe they won't be interesting.

Anything you want to hear about?

Salam,
Liz

Hijab 101

Hello everyone,

My post today will not be too bouncy or descriptive, because here in Amman, my house has experienced a lose. Our dear rabbit, Humza, died this morning from complications of being a rabbit from a market (aka, unknown disease.) He went as most of us would want to go, quite quickly. It was a sad day. So, I don't want to reflect on much of it.

SO! To change the topic, lets talk about Hijaab. I have gotten a lot of questions about this. You have probably asked me it (which is cool! I love questions!) They usually are:
1. Do you wear a hijab?/Do you have to?
2. Do women wear them mostly?
3. Do you have to wear a burka?

To help you all see what I see, here are some terms. Click on the terms to access the photo. I did not take them, because it isn't very polite for a relatively immodest girl from America to take a picture of a Muslim women. Among other reasons. This is just a basic, VISUAL overview. I will not go into the reasons for the Hijaab, just their styles.

Hijaab:
Here is a photo of what a Hijaab is...they are sold everywhere. Women wear them with real style here, let me tell you. When you hear the word, think of this.

Burka:
This is an Afghani burka. I have only seen about one of these. There are usually not slits for hands.

Niqaab:
This garment covers the entire head and has a slit for the eyes.

"Half" Niqaab: (sorry, this picture relates to the controversy in France, but is the best visual)
This handkerchief reveals more of the face, falling just below the nose.

Abaya:
An all encompassing garment, which is very traditional.

Bushiya:
This garment covers the entire face, there is no eyeslit present. They are entirely covered and usually wear gloves.

Chador:
Also covers all of the body, usually swings around in a circle like fashion. Think Nun sort of.

By no means are these all of the styles of head scarf. Every culture, region, and religious sect has their own ways. I already know that not seeing these women when I'm in the United States, will be very strange for me.

As of right now, it is hard to not look when you see a Burka or Bushiya. Mostly, because you don't know how to see.

Last of all, please note on the side of the blog how to get to my Facebook album!

Best,
Liz