Today is day 1 of Jordan– aka Country 73. We got to our hotel last night at like 5 pm, had a quick dinner, showered, and crashed for 12 hours. One would think after that restorative sleep, thetwinsontour would be ready– maybe even early– for their first day adventures. Imagine our shock when the tour guide we hired for the day called us at 8:30 asking where we were– we had agreed to a 9:00 am pickup! So, we hurried down to the lobby only to discover it was actually 9:30! T-mobile led us astray! Such a rookie mistake! We are going to spend the next 12 days in a state of constant confusion. ugh.. Evidently Jordan doesn’t participate in Daylight Savings Time, but Tmobile thinks that they do.

Our excursion today was to The Black Desert. It is so called because the sand is covered in Black rocks from a volcano (that I don’t know where is.) We got to see castles, scenery, and nature.

Quasr Al-Harrana: First up was a castle! Okay, so it isn’t a castle, but it looks like one. It was actually an ancient hotel–built in the early 700s, but damaged in the great quake of 747. Yep, that’s correct– 747. It’s been broken for 1200 years. Evidently, it was built for travelers going from Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Syria because there wasn’t really a lot going on in Jordan in the 700s. Travelers would just stay for 1 night, and it was free! You know how thetwinsontour feel about free stuff. This was built during the time Islam was spreading across the Middle East, Northern Africa, and into Spain. The Jordanian Government did some restoration to it in the 1970s when they realized they could make money from tourists.

Quseir Amra: Next “castle” was built as a Royal Retreat for the King, like a weekend house. This was built in the 700s as well. Pretty sure by the same king who built the hotel. It is one of 4 Unesco World Heritage sites in Jordan. So, the interesting thing here is the frescoes. These things are still brightly colored and amazingly intact for something created 1200 years ago. But, that isn’t even the most fascinating part. This king was a rule breaker–a real rebel. Everything painted inside it goes against the rules of Islam. Islam doesn’t believe in paintings. Nor do they allow depictions of humans or animals. But, these paintings feature naked people, hunters, the symbols of the Zodiac, animals, and oddly enough a guitar playing bear. It was amazing! The dry desert air has really helped to preserve it through the millenia. Oh, and there are some mosaic floors in there too which are only found in early Christian churches. Another thing that helped it survive through the years is that it was built in the middle of nowhere. I think its still pretty much in the middle of nowhere. If it were closer to civilization, it would have been looted and torn down.

Shaumari Wildlife Reserve: This is the wildlife portion of our day. There is a building where we were able to see a very friendly Reem Gazelle. This guy is lonely. He actually likes it when you tap on the glass and acts like he wants you to pet him. There were also some Arabian Oryx and some Hobaura Bustard bird things. They are all highly endangered. We opted to add on the optional hour long safari. thetwinsontour live by the motto “never skip a safari.”

So we saw some Arabian Oryx. Pretty sure they went extinct in 1925 in Jordan. They’ve currently got 125 living on the 22 km² reserve with capacity for 150. Since there’s such a small number of them, they’ve got some inbreeding issues, so they imported some from Saudi Arabia too. The above-mentioned Oryx at the visitor center are females that were impregnated with some imported sperm. Oryx are kinda shy and run from the safari jeep. Luckily my phone has a pretty good zoom! Interesting facts: the herd is led by the oldest female, only the alpha male gets to breed with the females (this also contributes to the inbreeding issues), males have darker, thicker horns than females, the head female leads the herd around using “maps” which are like Oryx trails, when they use the “maps” they all follow the oldest female in an orderly single file line. If another male wants to challenge the alpha male and loses, he gets kicked out of the herd for a few weeks. Like, he has to go on a Vision Quest and meditate and practice his skills before he can come back. When you see a solitary oryx, you know he is a Loser with a capital L.

We also got to see some Persian Onager which is part of the donkey family. They are also highly endangered, and 68 call this reserve home. I don’t remember many facts about them. But they were pretty far away from the road and they are also camera shy like the Oryx. In contrast to the oryx, if a male tries to challenge the alpha male, there are no second chances. It is live or die. And there is no escaping. If the losing Onager tries to flee to a life of solitary confinement, the rest of the herd will chase after him and stomp him to death. Evidently, they don’t like losers. Brutal. They are obviously a blood thirsty breed with no sense of humor.

But perhaps the highlight of the tour was when the guide (actually he’s the veterinarian, not a guide) showed us a couple of plants. I have no idea the name of it, but he picked some from the side of the road, rinsed it off with some water, and told us to eat it. It was actually quite tasty, like a salty leaf snack. He said Arabs eat it like potato chips, but the rest of the world uses it in salads. And the best part is we are still alive 6 hours later!

Wow today was a pretty eventful day because we also stopped for a quick photo stop of what our guide called a butchery. It’s actually a restaurant that serves fresh sheep kebabs. How fresh you ask? Well, they’ve all got a couple sheep tied up out front next to a hanging, bloody sheep skin, and a carcas of meat by the grill. Needless to say, we did not eat this because how can you do that when those poor little sheep are standing right next to you. Like do they know how limited their days are? And secondly, I’m not sure about the sanitary measures there and what that would do to my insides.

Quasr Al-Azraq was the last stop of the day. This one is actually a military fort built by the Romans in the first century and was also used by Lawrence of Arabia for one week in 1917. I’m going to tell you a secret. thetwinsontour love Roman Ruins! We do not love the supposedly classic film Lawrence of Arabia though. We tried to prepare for Jordan by watching Lawrence of Arabia, but it is one of the longest, most boring movies ever. Like, all it is is a bunch of men riding camels in the desert. You can fall asleep in the middle of it, wake up, and they are still just riding camels in the desert. And you will fall asleep during it. It’s inevitable. And we only made it through an hour and a half of the 4 hour movie. Big waste of $3.99 rental fee Amazon! They should pay me $3.99 for trying to watch that nonsense. Anyway, Lawrence spent a week here at this fort, but I don’t know if it was in the movie or not. The fort was 2 and 3 stories tall until an earthquake in 1927 reduced it to a single level. I’m probably wrong about this, but it’s one of 3 places in Jordan or maybe the world that still has its original stone doors. Anyways, the pair of stone doors at the entrance weigh one ton each and are fairly easy to push open. The 3 ton door in the back of the soldiers’ barracks doesn’t budge.

And I think that pretty much sums up our first day in Jordan. Tomorrow starts our official tour of Jordan.

Love,

thetwinsontour