Spain and Israel 2018

Despite the 2 am bedtime after our long travel from the Jordanian desert, I was still up at 7.  Julia and I walked to get some breakfast treats before she left for work and I brought them back to Rachel. It is starting to feel like our time here is coming to an end and we really haven't seen much of Jerusalem, purposely leaving it for our time with Jim, but we still needed to get started.  In looking at what to do, I discovered a great walking tour app of Jerusalem with 21 different guided walks (each 3-5 hours!) in the Old City alone.  We chose a ramparts walk and headed toward its start at the Jaffa Gate.  First order of business though was to find relief for the 91 (NINETY-ONE!) bug bites that Rachel got during our overnight stay in the Bedouin camp.  I guess keeping the door ajar wasn't such a good idea!  We asked for some cream, but the when he looked at her, the pharmacist gave us oral benadryl as well (at least that is what we think it is). We star...

Rachel and I popped out of bed early (yes, Rachel popped up!) to say goodbye to Lachlan and Bec, who were spending another day in Petra and were scheduled to be picked up at 7:00 to have a few hours in Petra before the crowds.  Rachel and I enjoyed a simple breakfast and great conversation with Baha, our Bedouin host.  He is one of 17 kids and he told us about his experiences growing up and how expensive it is to get married.  I mistakenly thought it might be hard to find the person he wants to marry, but he said that's the easiest part; he just has to call his mom and tell her to find him a wife.  By the time our van arrived to pick us up at 8:30, Lachlan and Bec were still there, their pickup forgotten by the guides.  So, our van drove them over to the entrance to Petra and we set off on our way to see the desert of Wadi Rum.  We were reunited with Ben in our van and joined by a new couple John and Yael from Washington DC (via Philadelphia).  ...

We'd had breakfast and were ready for our 8:00 am pick up at our Aqaba hotel.  Ali, our guide, told us the history of Aqaba on our drive out of town, the history of Jordan through the mountains, and the history of Petra as we neared the ancient city, the capital of the Nabataeans more than 2000 years ago and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.   Ali has an interesting verbal tic of inserting names into the middle of his sentences without pause making it feel like he is talking directly to you, even on a van full of people.  At first it was like being called out in class when you aren't paying attention but as he rotated through everyone's names it became clear it was his way to remember names and keep us focused.  As a result, by the time of our first stop we all knew everyone else's name on the tour:  Lisa & Krista, mother and daughter from Hollywood, Florida; Ben, traveling alone from LA having just finished his Birth Year Now or Never Tri...

Today was most spent mostly in transit to start our trip to Petra.  We had to get ourselves to Eilat in southern Israel and needed to get on a 10 am bus for the 4-5 hour trip to arrive in time.  Julia and Rachel got up early to go on a run and even at that early hour it seemed the sweat factor was super high.  After getting packed up we didn't have time to go to breakfast before walking to the bus station so we said goodbye to Julia (who went back to work). We made it time for the bus and after some confusion about on which bus we actually had tickets, we set out on our way.  The route took us down the length of the Dead Sea and through mostly desolate desert landscape. I drifted off at some point and woke when the bus stopped to the image of a McDonald's in the middle of nowhere.  Dream?  Nightmare?  Although I have pretty strict rules against such things (buying American when traveling), it seemed necessary to get an order of fries for the road tri...