Video conference with Berkley and Cosmo.

In the afternoon we drove from Petra to Aqaba and experienced none of our usual directional difficulties. We even found our hotel, The Golden Tulip, in fairly good time, because Aqaba is a small, compact city.  

I am sorry to say that the Golden Tulip was just not up to par. The lobby was sad and dark, and the room cramped, dated, and -- most seriously -- lacking in Internet service. A quick call to Movenpick (our new favorite hotel brand), landed us a sweet last-minute deal, so we hightailed it over. We got a spacious, bright room with a terrace. The hotel is beautiful and right on the beach. Much better! Unfortunately we got stuck paying for one night at the Tulip :^(  

The highlight of the afternoon was talking to Steve’s mom on Skype. She set Berkley and Cosmo (our pups!) in front of the camera for a little “video conference.” They had no idea what was going on, but we sure enjoyed seeing them!

Then after a rejuvenating shower to wash off Petra dust, we got the fancy clothes on and headed to the hotel's Red Sea Grill for dinner. It had been 43 degrees C when we arrived (that’s 109 degrees F!!!), and it hadn’t seemed to cool down much, so sitting outside seemed a poor idea. But the restaurant had a beautiful sea view, and plenty of misting nozzles to cool us down, so it worked out well after all. I had a fantastic hearts of palm salad (fresh hearts of palm are like a completely different food from the canned variety!) and a baked potato with veggies. They were very confused that I ordered their "accompaniments" for my main meal, but it was the only vegetarian option.  Steve had fish served in a chili-tomato sauce. Everything was excellent. Everything just keeps going well and getting better here in Jordan!

Tomorrow: our big day of diving the Red Sea!