Smashed up the taxi speeding into Jordan

After traveling all day from Beirut, getting a service taxi in Damascus and dealing with all the border hassles, I was finally packed  into a tiny car cruising at 130 kph through the desert darkness nearing Amman. As I was drifting into a hypnotic, fatigue induced daze the car suddenly smashed into something pretty substantial in the road, maybe concrete or a large rock, which at that speed caused quite a violent jolt. We pulled over and the bumper was ripped off, as were various other pieces. So I walked a little ways into the desert and stood in the darkness admiring the odd situation of being where I was, on my own, on the side of a road, gazing at the bright stars in the Jordanian night sky.

They managed to tie the bumper on the trunk of the Toyota and slowly ambled into Amman where we pulled into the Abdali Bus station lot by around 10:00 pm. I remembered  that I'd stayed at a cheap place across from The University of Jordan my first time there in 1999 so I just asked which bus would get me near the school. Sure enough, nothing much had changed, even the same guy was at the desk of the Holy Land Hotel. Didn't notice any roaches this time, fortunately. I was dead tired and had to get up early if I was to make it through the border crossing and onward to Jerusalem the next day. As it turned out I would need a lot more time than I thought....