Hi All,
After arriving in Wadi Musa, I headed to the hotels near the entrance gate to Petra instead of staying in the town. It is not a far distance, but it was worth the extra 10JD to be close to the park. I walked around town the first afternoon but was hassled by many guys wanting to know if I am married or have a boyfriend and where I am staying and what room. They are following me around and it is annoying. But my hotel is nice and I find a few nice (but expensive) restaurants nearby.
Still hadn't heard from my couchsurfing host, Gassab, by the next morning so decide to head to Aqaba. More getting hassled in Wadi Musa by the men in town and trying to get swindled by a taxi driver who I finally lose my temper with. But the taxi driver must feel bad after I unleash on him and finally reaches Gassab by phone. I head to Gassab's family's house in the Bedouin village. Hang out there, meeting the family and helping the mom cook mansef for a tour group coming through. Then we pack the trucks and head for the sleeping cave inside Petra (they sneak me in since my two day pass is already used).
The next day, we wake up and have breakfast. One of the Austrians brought an accordion and he plays music while other sing and dance. We clean up and hike into Petra. 
The next day, Rosalie and I help out the guys washing dishes and loading supplies. We head off through the desert and meet the group in a valley in the mountains of Wadi Araba for a night of camping under the almost full moon and lots of stars. The Austrians share some of their special liquor from their home that is made from some kind of rare pine tree found only in high places in a certain area. While I am having fun with the group, I am bit homesick and certain elements of the Middle Eastern culture are wearing on me. I am craving quiet time to myself (having mainly heard German or Arabic which is a language that sound like loud arguing to me, even when it is a regular conversation to me) and the ocean.
This morning, I wake up to goats heading off to the mountains. I say goodbye to the group after breakfast as they head off to Wadi Rum. The guys drop me off at the turnoff for Wadi Rum so I can hitchhike the rest of the way to Aqaba. Luckily, a nice big rig commercial container truck driver who is heading to Aqaba to get fish to bring to Amman stops and gives me a ride most of the way. I get out where we heads to the port and hitch the rest of the way with a guy heading toward the city center. Someone points me towards the Red Sea Dive Center in the city center that was recommended to me by a couple in Amman. Turns out the hot is in South Beach about 10 km from the city center and they are fully booked (as is just about everywhere in Aqaba as it is apparently Easter weekend). But they offer to pull a mattress onto the roof and let me sleep there with buffet breakfast and full use of their pool, wifi and everything for 10 JD until or if a room becomes available before I head across the border into Eliat, Israel in a couple of days.
And now, time for a quick shower (my first real shower in I don't even remember how many days) and a dip in the pool!!
Miss you all very much and ready to come home in 12 days for some hugs.
Love, Betsy
We head about 8km into the mountains behind Jerash to his town. We pass lots of olive trees as we was up the mountain. We arrive at his house in a complex above the butcher and produce store with his mom, dad, and younger brother. His two older brothers live with their wives in the two other apartments in the complex. As soon as we walk in the door, his parents greet me warmly. They are so sweet, showing me to my room and continually bringing me hot tea, Arabic coffee and Pepsi. His dad has a stern face, but it softens when he looks at his wife or sons. One of his older brothers who is a math teacher drops by before heading upstairs, with "It's a Boy" gifts from the newborn he and his wife had three days before. I watch his mom make mansef for me, as Mussab had told me earlier I can't say I have been to Jordan unless I have tried it. His little brother gets home, and he is a real character. He immediately pulls up a chair next to me for a picture to post on Facebook and the mom calls me his sister, telling him to leave me alone and go study while giving us all the "get out of my kitchen" look I have been known to give many who venture in my kitchen. The other older brother who is a physics teacher finishing grad school stops in, and we all sit on the floor and eat the delicious meal. The mom insisting I eat more and more and cutting up more chicken for me, even when I am full, which makes us all laugh. We all sit and talk a bit more about his father's experience living in Tennessee for a few years working at a Burger King and different world views and events. The mom jokes if I am interested in Mussab and we all laugh that moms everywhere are the same. She is the only one that doesn't speak any English, but her facial expressions and gestures somehow make it so I can often understand her. She is really wonderful and seeing the love and closeness in this family is really refreshing. We "kids" go take in the views on the roof and they point to the complex across the street where people are always coming and going, explaining that it is one of the many Syrian refugee houses that 5-6 families live in, with whole families in just one room. There is talk that there will be up to 2 million Syrian refugees in the future (Jordan's population is only 6 million). Afterwards, we take an afternoon nap.
After dark, we take the family car for a drive to the top of the mountains for a nice view if the twinkling lights of Jerash and beyond below. The oldest brother invites us all for coffee so we go upstairs to his house, and I get to meet his wife and hold his adorable sleeping 3 day old son. The other brother's friend invites us all to a party to watch the Barcelona Madrid football match, but the mom apparently nixes that idea, saying I should stay there. I think she likes the company of another female in her house full of boys (the two daughters live outside the home). Got to do what mom says, so instead we watch the game at the other brother's house. The mom is still trying to feed me, bringing an apple and orange and then a whole dinner tray of bread, spicy olives, something that tastes like marinated heart of palm, meat with pistachios, tuna, and cheese. She is on to me when I try to just hold onto a bit of leftover bread to keep her from stuffing more in my hand... ha! After the game, we head back upstairs to the parents' house and I say my goodbye to Mussab, as he will head back to work in the early morning. The dad sleeps in the living room and the mom and I watch Arabic romance soap operas until we fall asleep in their room.
The next morning, I am sad to say goodbye. There is no way I can thank them enough for their hospitality. We will all keep in touch with Facebook and the mom tells me that I am to come straight to their house the next time I come to Jordan. I really hope to see them again some day. They help me get a taxi back to Jerash and I am off again. I check out the Roman ruins in Jerash. The visitor center is nice enough to hold my big backpack so I am free to clamor up and down the stones and run around the colosseum. 
It is fun, as they are different from all the Egyptian ruins I visited and there are huge school groups of children on field trips there, all that swarm me for pictures with them. There are red, yellow, white, and blue wildflowers peeking up next to the pillars and the school boys keep picking them and handing them to me as the scream "Hello!","Picture?", or "Welcome to Jordan."
This is a really small, sleepy town (population of about 7,000) so I only have one hotel choice. But it is not too bad, by my pretty low traveling standards. No room key, but it locks when I am inside and if someone wants to steal my dirty laundry while I gone, so be it (and I am the only guest... all the neighbors had to run around looking for someone to check me in when I got here). I can always use my pac-safe if need be. Went to one of the only restaurants in town, but right as I got there, 20 hungry 15 year olds came in for their after school snack. They all chat with me and practice their English as their orders get made (in fact, their English teacher also stops by) and several want to add me on Facebook. I finally get my kebob sandwich that is wrapped like a Gorditos burrito with french fries and go take a shower in the trickle of a shower (at least it has hot water... sort of). A guy that turned out to be the brother of the hotel owner is an off-duty Tourism Police and was hanging out downstairs and took me to the rooftop to see the sunset and points out Syria and Damascus in the distance. The mountains up here are the most green I have seen so far on the trip. The night is spent with Arabic coffee and watching the kids play in the street near the makeshift fresh made and fried to order falafel stand outside the hotel. Many of the kids and people here are really beautiful. Some have olive skin with striking hazel green eyes. They are all really friendly.
In the morning, I head to Umm Qais ruins. There are Roman ruins and an abandoned Ottoman village. It is really nice to hike around amongst the wildflowers and olive trees. In the museum, I hire a guide to take me by car to see a little around the town. He takes me through some of the farms (olives, wheat, and onions) and out to a spectacular vantage point where lots of families picnic. I can see the Mt Nebo and Nazarath, the Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, and the Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers. He points out Point Zero a few kilometers below us where Syria, Israel, and Jordan meet. It is also interesting to see the Rift Valley up here, as it is very different than seeing it in Africa. With his binoculars, we can also see traces of snow on mountaintops of Lebanon. On the way back, we pass a cave that Jesus was rumored to have slept in when he lived in the area. Back to the ruins museum, we have tea with fresh lemon leaves and Arabic coffee
. He invites me to his farmhouse for dinner this evening. I was going to head to Amman to overnight before catching the bus to Petra, but I really am enjoying the peace and quiet and fresh air up here, so I decide to stay. While he finishes work, I go explore the ruins more, chat with several of the many families having a picnic (the typical Friday thing to do, apparently), and follow around some sheep and goats while the sheep herder sleeps under the shade of an olive tree. 
Head back to the hotel and let a group of sweet girls practice their endless questions. Ahmed comes to pick me up and shows me a spot with a sweeping view of the valleys an a reservoir. We watch the sunset over the green onion fields and have a delicious picnic dinner of salad, stuffed grape leaves, chicken, turnover pastries stuffed with meat and a beer (he is actually Christian so has a drink now and again) on the rooftop of his modest farmhouse. I had every intention of going to bed early but end up staying up to chat with the owner and his brothers over coffee (they drink it late and I feel like it is kind of rude to turn it down). I feel so bad for him because a group of 20 Palestinians students made a reservation and they made a huge dinner for them only to have them come in, look at the hotel and cancel. He is far more calm and sweet about it than I would ever be. The owner's wife offers me dinner since there is all this food now, but I am too full.
The next day, I head to the Dead Sea. There are no buses so instead of taking the bus that goes closest and hitch hiking the rest of the way, the hotel helps get me a private taxi for $30. But I am advised against using the free public beach as a woman alone, so have to pay $30 to get into the adjoining secured Amman Beach "resort" area. The car ride makes my ears pop as we go up and down the hills. The Dead Sea is a pretty blue with a haziness to the sky. It is funny as everyone is bobbing around bumping into each other. A few people are just hanging out reading. I apply some Dead Sea mud and float about, trying to keep the water out of my eyes as it really stings. My skin and hair are really soft after I get out and shower off all the salt.
Hmm, I think my last email was from Sharm el Shiekh. Met up with Elisabeth and her friends Fouda (Mohammad 1) and Samy (Mohammed I Lost Track By Now) at the Cairo airport around 4am and got on our flight to Luxor. Flying over Cairo, I look for signs of the pyramids but see no signs in the dark. It is strange thinking of flying over something so ancient that is still standing. We arrive in Luxor in the early morning and the desert around the airport looks like desert scenes from Star Wars. Got checked into the cruise boat we would be using as home base for the next 5 days. In the late afternoon, we headed for Karnak temple. It was AMAZING. 
I have studied this place, but pictures don't do it justice of how enormous it really is. Rows of sphinx, massive pillars of the decorated hypostyle hall, gigantic statues and even a small lake. There was a sun set with beautiful rays of light through the clouds.
It was lit up at night and was mostly empty, with only the sounds of the prayer from the mosque and city noises of honking horns and clop of horses and donkeys outside the walls. I sat on the middle of the floor all alone amongst the massive pillars, staring at the night sky and it was magical. Afterwards, I tried super fresh falafel in town and I wish I had more time to spend in what appeared to be a fun, friendly city.
They were each different and equally interesting, with different detailed hieroglyphic narratives and artwork shown along walls. We then were whisked off to the Valley of the Queens, with its impressive stairway into the mountainside monument. We reboarded the boat and set off down the Nile. I enjoy chatting with the variety of interesting people on the boat while watching scenes of life along the Nile and passing through the locks. We dock and overnight in Edfu.
The next morning, we take a horse carriage to the Temple of Horus in Edfu. It has an enormous pylon with statues of Horus depicted as a falcon. The columns depict many different plants such as lotus, palm, and papyrus. I know this will come as no shock to anyone, but I am bad at staying with the group and I almost immediately wander off as there are all kinds of dark hallways and storerooms to explore.
We head back to the boat to cruise to Kom Ombo to visit the temple of Haroeris and Sobek right next to the Nile. This temple worshiped crocodiles. It also had a calendar etched into the walls and a health clinic with a mural depicting ancient surgical equipment, some not unlike what is still used today. 
We also check out the attached Crocodile Museum full of mummified crocodiles and crocodile-related offerings. We sail again to dock and finally arrive in Aswan. I am going a bit boat crazy and want to stretch my legs, so we all set out to explore the Souk and are treated to coffee and a shisha from a really wonderful gentleman who is Egyptian but has been living in Tampa and has been part of our tour group.
At this point, I am a little templed out. But we grab a small ferry boat and visit Philae in the morning. It is on an island and is dedicated to Isis. Alongside the ancient monuments and depictions is also a French memorial to lost soldiers in one corner. I mainly just enjoy the view of the water along the temple edge, chase a cat around that has newborn kittens hidden under the temple floorboards, and chat with people. 
We then check out the Aswan High Dam, creating Lake Nasser, the largest man made lake in the World but also displacing a lot of Nubians. I take a break from the afternoon group activities and join two nice German men I have been chatting with the last few days on the cruise. 
Their guide and the guide's wife take us to the Old Cataract Hotel, a beautifully decorated hotel which used to be the Royal Palace. It is also famous for being the filming spot for Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. We have enjoyable conversations and tea while watching the sun set as feluccas pass by, enjoying a slice of what ritzy people do on vacation.
The next morning starts at 3:15am. We are heading to Abu Simbel, south near the Sudan. We have to go by convoy with security and all groups going together. Our guide mentions we have a Swede, but fails to mention there is an American in the car as he says that may have delayed us and added an extra security guard to our car. Everyone thinks I am Spanish anyway :). It takes us three hours to get there, but it is well worth it. 
Dedicated to Ramesses II and Nefertari, it is one of my favorites, the statues outside are enormous. The interior artwork is well preserved (no photos allowed inside) and it is not too busy, even with us all having to go at once and be on a very set schedule. We even have it to ourselves for a brief, peaceful moment, taking it all in. It was truly spectacular. We visit the unfinished Obelisk once we return to Aswan and say goodbye to our guide and new friends we spent the week with on the boat.
We find a nice, relatively cheap but super clean hotel on the Corniche along the Nile called the Philae Hotel. Once we check in, we are off to explore the nearby bustling marketplace. We have a delicious and well-priced lamb dinner at El Masry before a night walk along the Nile to the lit up Cathedral. On the way back, we spot a rooftop deck and head up for some relaxation, tea, and enjoying the city lights at night off the boat.
Sleep in the next morning and plan how I want to spend my birthday. We hear word that there was a large fight in Aswan the previous evening resulting in over 20 killed. What supposedly started as a high school argument and graffiti turned into a violent fight between the Nubians and Arabs of the area. Hopes that it will not continue. 
We all head to Elephantine Island by ferry and explore the archeological area behind the closed Aswan Museum. We stop for tea at a house in the Nubian village and then wander around the village. It reminds me a little of Zanzibar with its narrow residential alley streets, ornate colors, and decorative doors. We head back to the city and mainland and grab a yummy late lunch at an off the road, little cafe restaurant for just a few bucks.
The guys head to the market and Elisabeth and I head to a Movenpick, swanky hotel that has a lounge atop a high tower with a 360 degree view of the city. We enjoy a beverage (I have a refreshing sunset rum drink) and then we all meet up and head to a Nubian restaurant called Al-Dokka on a little nearby island. It has a beautiful garden patio with the sounds of nearby frogs and live music by a man singing with his string instrument. I am completely full after a most delicious meat tangen dinner with bread and all the sides of tahini, abergine, babaganoush, and a yogurt dip. 
Thinking we have to hurry back to the hotel so Elisabeth, Fouda, and Samy can catch their flight back to Cairo, out comes a huge, super decorated chocolate and fruit birthday. Everyone sang happy birthday to me in both English and the Egyptian version. What a wonderful and thoughtful surprise and a perfect evening to ring in my forties and as my last evening in Egypt! We head back and say our goodbyes. I have another half a day wandering Aswan alone tomorrow and then sadly have to say goodbye to Egypt, as I head to Jordan tomorrow afternoon. My phone will be off since I no longer get free texting in Jordan (only Egypt and Israel, for some reason) but should have better internet access (except when I likely try to go stay in a cave... my pact to grow up and start acting like a responsible 40 year old obviously shouldn't start until I get back to the US). I will send an email once I get settled and come up with some sort of plan.