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Wadi Rum and Aqaba
Once we reached Wadi Rum, we transferred from our bus into five small SUVs for our trip across the desert sands. But this desert is dotted with massive rock formations that have been thrust upward by geological activity.
Once we reached Aqaba the group again split up to find a variety of amusements for the remainder of the afternoon, from glass bottom boat tours over Aqaba's internationally famous coral reefs, to swimming at the hotel pool or at the Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba beach, to walking among the shops in the merchant district just a block from our hotel. Tomorrow we begin making our return north for our two night stay on the Dead Sea. |
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Today
we journeyed to the land made famous in the West by T. E. Lawrence, himself
better known by the nickname, "Lawrence of Arabia." It was from among
the Bedouin tribes of this region that Lawrence recruited fighters for an attack
on the Ottoman Turk fortress at Aqaba--the end of our journey for the day
as well.
Omar
used our travel time on the bus to fill us in on both Lawrence's involvement in
the Arab Revolt and on Bedouin culture more generally. Ask us about all the
intricacies of Bedouin coffee rituals with regard to engagements to marry and
the resolving of manslaughter cases among Bedouin when you see us back home.
At
two points we left our vehicles to view petroglyphs that had been inscribed on
the rocks by Bedouin and caravaners over the past 2,000 years. These markings
served a variety of purposes, including the very important purpose of
identifying water sources in the region. Omar referred to these glyphs on the
bus as "graffiti"; when Reverend Cargal pointed out to him the
connotations of that word in modern English, he changed it to "ancient
graffiti." Unfortunately, Omar's description was not without
appropriateness since some much more recent visitors to this area had left their
marks as well.
To
reach some of the most interesting of the glyphs it was necessary to climb back
into a deep cleft in one of the jebels (mountains). There you could see writing
and images of humans and animals dating back to the 1st century BCE as well as
Islamic inscriptions from the 8th century of the CE.