In the afternoon, about 140 kilometres of Amman, we first took some photographs of Wadi Mujib (the "Grand Canyon" of Jordan). It is a viewing point just from the King's Highway very near Al Karak.

There are a lot of desert castles in Jordan. We visited the famous Al Karak Castle. It is actually an old Crusaders castle, build in the 1100s. After 50 years the castle was conquered by the Islamitics. According to our gide by an old trick. They build a secret tunnel under the castle, and after a year the reached the tunnel reached the kirchen. They sneeked in, overcame the crusaders by surprise and captured them. Even in the Ottoman period the castle played an important role, Ottoman cannons are still visable in the castle. But also, the view from the castle is really worth a visit. Just like the castle itself.

Ah, Wednesday.... day of craptasticness.... 

We woke up early and took a bus to Karak, which would normally take 1 1/2 hours but took us more like 3.....  I don't really know, I had a warped sense of time there since my only timepiece is my cell which was naturally off (since I had not turned on the International calling option since I did not want to pay $4 a minute.)   So, it could have been less, but I have no idea.  It felt like forever.

Anyway, Heather put us on a bus and advised us to sit in the back together, which we did, which in turn became the Bus Ride From Hell.  Not only were we sick from sitting in seriously bumpy ride, but it was super hot, our windows wouldn't open, and then there was the jackass.  He sat in the extra fold-out seat in front of me when nothing else was available, and then turned around and stared at me.  Constantly.  It drove me crazy because not only is it incredibly rude, but I could not stare back or even give him a dirty look--that's just okay for a woman to do.  GAH!  Then, he would turn around and slam back into his chair (which was already pressed against my knees--I am 5'10"!)  and it would slam into me.  Then there was the cologne.  It's not like this is just a Jordanian thing, I know PLENTY of American men who can't get the cologne thing right but man.... it was really terrible smelling and very strong...  which didn't help with the nausea we were already feeling from the bus fumes, bumps, and heat.    What annoyed me even more was that once regular seats opened up, he didn't take them, he just stretched out even further, which in turn scrunched me down even more. 

If I had been here in America I would have given him a piece of my mind. But again.... we were trying really hard to follow the cultural rules Heather had told us of, especially since it was imperitive that we do nothing to hurt the level of respect she had finally gained in her village. Acting out with so many locals on the bus would have definitely gotten back to her village by the end of the day and would have made her life there more difficult. 

So.... I stuck it out.   Our ride from Hell ended when we finally got to Karak and the driver dropped us off in front of Karak Castle... not the hotel he had promised to take us to...  then he got frustrated with us for not giving him exact change (we actually paid him 50 girsh more than necessary but did not expect change.... )... finally he left and we were standing there with our backpacks in the middle of the street when a man from the restaurant across the street came running over yelling, "Three American girls, right?  This way!", and he led us a short way away to our hotel.  Whew!

The hotel owner took us in, served us tea (Jordanian hospitality is something.... really... there's just nothing like it over here.)  and settled us in.  The room wasn't amazing, but it was clean and nice and even had a television with satellite.  And........ American style toilets and a shower with water pressure! woot!!!    When we came back down, he insisted on taking us over to the restaurant to eat and settle our stomachs, which was definitely necessary after the ride we'd had. 

I ordered a "burger" from the American menu.... just to see what I would get, really... and yet I was still surprised.  It was some sort of veggie patty (I KNOW it was not a meat product. Definitely tasted like a vegetarian burger) that was stuck in half a pita bread with a couple of green peppers thrown in and the french fries tucked right inside the pita as well.  Ha ha! 

Next, we went over to the Karak Castle and spent a few hours climbing around.  Now,  if there were anything like this in the U.S.,  there would be specific walkways, there would be guard-rails and barriers set up all over the place... there would be people guarding it EVERYwhere... here, I spotted only a few workers the entire time.  We could literally climb on almost everything and had such fun exploring the castle at our own pace.   

When Heather reached the village and called us, we met her at the hotel and started our Dead Sea adventure.....  which will be the next entry....

(This is now the third time I'm writing this enry...the Internet keeps eating my words and finding them not good enough.  The first time this was super hilarious to read, the second it was humerous, this time I think I'll be lucky if it's even readable...thanks for bearing with me)

We started out the day with a debate: How do we get to Petra?  Do we take the bus and save money or do we hire a car again and see the sights along the way?  Thankfully the same French couple that split the car with us yesterday were game o do it again.  Yay!  Some luck!  Only 15 JD a person and three stopsa: Wadi Mujib, Karak Castle, Dana Nature Preserve.

Wadi Mujib is a huge canyon (or gorge?  I don't really know the difference)  Being summer there was no water flowing but the scenery was lovely.  Topping it all off were the goat herder boys totally ignoring our presence.  They were just messing with animals and donkey (everybody has a donkey here- I love donkeys!).  We stopped at a lookout and walked down the side of a hill for a little bit.  It was a mos refreshing break from the twistiness of the car.

About an hour later we came to the town of Al-Karak, whos skyline is dominated by Karak Castle.  It's a remnant of the Crusades, most famously lived in by Renauld de Chatillion (he's featured in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, as are los of Jordanian sites).  He was famous for his torture techniques- one being when he padded his prisoners heads inside wooden boxes and then threw them off the caslte walls.  They wouldn't pass out from a head wound hanks to the padding and they would die from their wounds...their screams and moans would be heard in the dungeons, which were right above where the prisoners landed.  Nice guy, eh?

Karak castle is much bigger and better than it seems at first.  It was originally 7 stories high, but most of those are now underground.  After the Crusades the castle was used by Saladin's army then the invading Turks.  It was eventually destroyed by an eathquake.

While we were crawling around the ruins (and crawl you can, free as you please) we met an interesing Jordanian man.  He loves Karak Castle and had brought his grandchildren there to play that day.  He gave us a little history of the building and he area and the people who ruled.  He had this to say:
"The Turks once ruled all of this <sweeping his hands across the vista>.  They were very strong, big strong men.  Now, though, not so strong- they are sleeping.  Only sleeping..."

Ryan also had his first taste of Arabic coffee at a coffee shop here- he says it tastes like dirt.  Another hour and half drive took us to Dana, where the scenery is unreal.  If I ever come back to Jordan I want to come camping here.  It's like a fantasy landscape or something.

We all arrived in Petra about 3pm.  Our hotel is small and dark but the owner is extremel helpful and nice.  He arranged for us to go to Little Pera, a small (and older) site about 5kms away from "Big" Petra.  The tombs here are cruder, less polished, and mostly cave-like.  At the end of the valley there are some ancient stairs carved into the stone- we followed them up and onto a sortof balconey-type place.  The scenery was magical- and not another soul around. 

After being around my family and other travelers for so many days it was sublime to sit there and soak up the quiet of nature...