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We had been warned that when camping in a Wadi Rum Bedouin camp, one should be cautious about pulling one's bed out to sleep under the stars. The small stone walls that encircle the tent-covered sleeping areas keep the scorpions out, while there is no such impediment when you are sleeping right on the desert sand under the stars.
But, our Bedouin guide assured us that they had not seen a scorpion in more than three years and we had nothing to worry about. So, we pulled out our matresses, slept under the stars, woke up the next morning and went to breakfast. When Maggie went back to her bed to pack up her sleeping bag, she found this in her bed:
Photo by Maggie Scudder
We joked that it must be a sign of good luck to have found it in the morning instead of being poisoned by it during the night. Perhaps it had provided protection from other intruders throughout the night.
But our bad luck had started setting in almost the minute we left our apartment--long before the scorpion wandered into Maggie's bedroll.
It started with some driver problems. Without going into too much detail, we had arranged for two cars and two drivers because Paul's sister and her family were visiting from the United States. Our drivers seemed to agree on only one thing: that their primary goal was to slow down our trip to Wadi Rum enough to make us miss our camel ride reservation (presumably so they could make another reservation for us for which they would get commission). [The ins-and-outs of tourist drivers in Jordan is worthy of an entirely separate blog post.] The driver problems continued throughout the entirety of our trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba. But, this was not the worst of the bad luck.
We finally made it to Wadi Rum, but almost as soon as I stepped foot onto the desert sand and climbed up onto my camel (which was awesome, by the way), I started getting a headache. I'm not sure if it was the beautiful purple flowers that were blooming all over the place or the sand or the camel or the wool blanket that covered the camel or the one I later slept on, but I was pretty miserable with allergies and a headache the whole time we were there. (I had quit bringing migraine medicine along with me because my migraines have become so few and far between . . . but note to self: always pack the Imitrex!) But, this was not the worst of the bad luck.
After sleeping under the stars at Bedouin Whispers Camp, we spent most of Easter day touring Wadi Rum. Read about our spectacular experience in Charlie's blog post and watch his video featuring the Camel Cam.
We cut short our time in Wadi Rum--partly because my headache continued to get worse and partly because just over 24 hours is PLENTY of time to spend in the desert (at least in my opinion). The desert really was awesome--and I'm glad we went and glad we got to tour on camels and in a Jeep--but it's also dry (duh!) and hot and stark and exhausting. The Italians who were in the Jeep next to us actually said out loud what I had been thinking all day: "this just isn't our kind of relaxing; we would like to get to Aqaba as soon as possible."
We got to Aqaba (the Red Sea) as soon as possible (which was longer than we had hoped due to ongoing driver problems). The water there is beautiful--the most amazing shades of blue I've ever seen. And clear! You could see all the way to the bottom. Maggie commented that it looked like a swimming pool with a blue-painted bottom; she was right! As the water got deeper, the turquoise water got darker, but it was still clear and blue. We went out on a snorkeling/dive boat and the snorkeling was unbelievable--the coral was so colorful, as were the fish. I saw a lion fish, which was my primary fish-spotting goal. But our snorkeling trip was cursed by heavy winds. I mean hard, hard wind the whole day. It was just so windy that we called it quits too early and spent the rest of the day on the boat . . . with no snacks . . . and my headache was still hanging on. But, that's not the worst of the bad luck.
Then, when we got back from the boat, I had to rush to meet my driver (because the boat was late), so I couldn't even wash off the salt water. I had to get back to Amman to go to work on Tuesday and the rest of our group would go on to Petra the next day. I met my driver and we headed out for Amman. My driver was the slowest driver in the history of driving, so the trip that should have taken only 3 1/2 hours took 5! All the while, my headache was getting worse and worse. Miserable. But, that's not the worst of the bad luck.
I brought home a lot of extra stuff besides my own stuff--the snorkeling gear and everyone's dirty clothes, etc. from the previous three days. So, the trunk was full of bags and stuff. When I got back to my apartment in Amman, my building-guard/helper helped me get the bags out of the trunk and bring them in.
And, here's when the worst of the bad luck occurred: Maggie's backpack was missed and was left all night on the sidewalk. By the time I realized it was missing, I went out and searched for it and it was gone. Stolen. And, with it her journal which contained all her thoughts, souvenirs, letters, and everything else from our entire year away. A lot of her clothes and things were in the bag too, but all that can be replaced. The journal can't be replaced. I am just sick about it and, of course, she is too. What a horrible thing to have happen when she has spent the entirety of our time abroad collecting all of her memories, not to mention the photos and letters she brought from home, in the journal. I'm pretty irritated at the driver for driving off knowing the bag was there (when we called to see if it was still in his car, he said he had left it on the sidewalk for the guard to pick up; it would have been helpful if he had told the guard or me that it was there), but I take responsibility for being careless and in a hurry to get inside after such a long drive. That was, by far, the best journal ever. She has been SO creative with it all year, including everything from original drawings to small souvenirs to photos and ticket stubs. Tragic!
Photo by Maggie Scudder
