(petra)fied of lice

Scarred since the tender age of eleven, I have sought to evade lice. The painful memories of louse-massacring chemicals and louse-smothering mayonaise and general hair yanking are motivation enough. Known for its lice infestation, Israel is not a place to play it safe in terms of hair hygiene. As Kivunim progresses, I am growing wary of these international hostels and hotels - you never know what could be hiding under your fourth pillow in the Amra Palace Hotel in Petra, Jordan.

Tonight we are back in Sde Boker. I can scarcely believe we took a simple two-day trip to Petra. About an hour and a half bus ride to the border crossing, we endured another hour and a half to walk across the border, passport control, and security. My first impression of Jordan consisted of a massive poster of  King Abdullah II's face, with a single line underneath: Welcome to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We boarded our Jordanian bus to meet our tour guide, Mohammed, who briefed us on Jordanian history and government.

Stopping a "rest stop and bazaar!," we discovered certain Jordanian etiquette: no, do not place used toilet paper in the toilet and flush it; rather, place it in the basket besides the toilet - from, the management.

We toured the Nabatean ruins for the remainder of the afternoon. Mohammed mentioned that the Jordanians had only excavated 8% of the total ruins; therefore, we only saw a small part of the huge city. Well-trained salesmen in the form of small children harassed us to buy jewelry and postcards, while men rode past in donkeys and horses to appeal to the tired-out Petra tourist. Assuring us that a horse ride back remained free with our tickets, Mohammed convinced us we only needed to tip $3. When Cami and I recruited one of the carriages to bring us back, the driver demanded his $20 as we galloped down between the stone walls. We quickly jumped off the carriage, throwing the guy two bucks, who hollered that if I threw in my hat it would be a fair deal. We immediately learned our lessons with tourist traps.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the Amra Palace, we sat down for the best dinner we've had thus far (this could or could not be attributed to the fact we've been eating hostel food in Sde Boker for a week). Though unkosher, the hotel arranged for the dinner to be vegetarian. Radish salads with olive oil and oranges, beet salads, cucumbers and peppers, dried apricots, fruit, and various other salads comprised the first buffet table. There was fish, salmon and a white fish, as well as stuffed crisps of vegetables and fish, and pasta. Dessert proved similarly grandeur with an assortment of jell-o and other unknown Middle Eastern sweets, including a rice pudding-like dish. I could continue about the breakfast: fruits and yogurt, dates and apricots, breads and fig-filled pastries - but this might start turning into a food blog.

We returned to Israel this morning to learn that security, unsurprisingly, proved much stricter traveling back to Israel. We also observed the pictures of Israeli-Jordanian relations and peace treaties among the walls of passport control, in comparison to the constant head of King Abdullah II plastered on the other side. Spending the next few hours at the beach in Eilat, we then toured the Arava Agricultural Developing Center. Tonight, we had a two-hour lecture with Dr. Clinton Bailey about Bedouin history and culture in anticipation of our time with the Bedouins tomorrow.


Rebecca

(Kivunim - www.kivunim.org)