We didn't forget about you...the last few days!

Sorry about the temporary delay in blog posts, but between the end of the trip in Jordan and various degrees of jet-lag here in the States, it has taken us a bit to catch up on the last few days of the trip. But for those of you who were patiently waiting for the ending, here you go:
(and if you are looking for pictures, visit here for pictures for the following days)

May 25th: Today we started the morning bright and early by loading our bags onto another bus and driving off to our next site, Baidha (also known as Little Petra). As the name suggests, this site was very similar to Petra, only smaller in size, and was located on the perimeter of the mountains. It was used as a rest stop for caravans and included multiple rooms carved into the rocks which were most likely used for eating and relaxing. From here, we then walked a bit to a site which is currently being excavated by archaeologists. This prehistoric site was a great example of why civilizations decide to settle in the areas that they do. Our guide Raed explained to us what the landscape would have looked like thousands of years ago when it was originally settled. Beside the mined out pits, archaeologists had constructed some sample homes of what may have been there before. We were able to see the progression of building from simple circular homes to two-story rectangular buildings. We then walked back to the bus and drove to a waste water farming project located in the middle of the desert. After taking a few pictures we drove on to Wadi Rum, one of the famous deserts located in Jordan where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. After a couple hours of jeep driving over sand dunes and past grazing camels, we arrived at our camp site. The site consisted of multiple tents for sleeping and one large Bedouin tent for eating and relaxing that night. Some of the local Bedouin people cooked us up dinner and afterwards we spent the night watching the sky looking for shooting stars.

May 26th: The next morning we were woken up and greeted by a caravan of camels just outside our campsite. After quickly finishing breakfast, we each chose a camel to take us through the desert during the morning. We spent 2.5 hours on the camels and traveled to a few different sites throughout Wadi Rum. One of the sites had old pictograms from the early settlers in the desert. For many in the group, that was our first time riding a camel. Some of us had more difficulty than others in encouraging our camels to stay with the rest of the pack. But we managed to all arrive safely back at the site. After packing up our bags, we got back in the jeeps where they took us to Aqaba, a town located directly on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea. From Aqaba, we were able to see Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Some of the group went down to the public beach while others decided to head out onto the water on a glass boat. Aqaba is a large dive spot for scuba divers with many coral reefs along its shores. Although we only had a few hours here, some of us were still able to get some snorkeling in before we had to head back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, a few of us explored both the tourists spots of Aqaba as well as the local markets.

May 27th: This morning we were greeted by a bus which was prepared to take us back to Amman for our flight the following day. The trip is about 5 hours but halfway there we took a short detour to a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) site. Here, we were able to meet with local tribe leaders and MCC workers to discuss the work they have been doing over the past years. In prior years, the tribal leaders told us that the two tribes were always fighting and to the point where they wanted to kill one another. Through some work done by MCC and some other organizations, the two tribes now work together and have just completed the installation of a large water reservoir which provides both drinking water and water for irrigation purposes. It was incredible to see how proud they were of the reservoir and drip irrigation system. They also mentioned that the King played a large role in many of the projects in their small town. Throughout the trip, we had come across hundreds of large banners of the King and his family hanging in the streets; it was neat to see that he truly had an interest in the rural people of his country and that he even made an effort to visit their homes to see and hear first-hand the problems they were dealing with. After finishing up our tour of the water reservoir and pump houses, we got back in the bus and finished the drive into Amman. For dinner, we met back up with the folks from MCC and continued asking questions about their work and what it was like living in Jordan. For dinner, we ate in a restaurant atop of a large hotel which overlooked all of Amman. What a view to end the trip on!

May 28th: After a full 2.5 weeks, our trip finally wound down and it was time to return back to the US. With nearly a full day of travel ahead of us, many of us were preparing to sleep for most of the flight. For some of us, we were lucky enough to sleep. For others, they weren't. Once we arrived in JFK, we were all eager to get to the van to make the return trip back to State College.

After a week back in the country, many of us are now recovered from jet-lag, yet still missing Jordan, it's people, and it's food (although perhaps not the portions!) It was quite the adventure with many, many stories to tell!! If you are interested in hearing or seeing more, throughout the trip we took lots of pictures (10,000+) and filmed hours of video. Indiana Jones and the Search for the Holy Soil is nearly finished and will be posted to youtube. Check back here in the future for the link to the movie. If you would like a personal copy as well, contact Spud (iamspud5@gmail.com). We will also be compiling video from the whole trip. Some of us may also be presenting what we learned and saw on the trip in some presentations in the future, if you're interested in hearing more, contact Kate (katebutler@psu.edu). We really appreciate everyone who checked in with this blog to keep track of what we were up to. Until the next great adventure... (which may be Jordan next year; some of us were scheming up ways to retake the class because it was so much fun!!)

-Spud

Petra!

Well, the soils class is finishing our last night in Petra, Jordan, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. We arrived here on Thursday night from Madaba, and are staying in the Petra Palace hotel. We have a pool here that a few of us have made use of also. We each received a 2-day pass through Petra, and yesterday Raed gave us the tour through the ancient city. The Nabateans were the first builders in the area, and many of the huge structures it is famous for are actually their tombs. They were traders and merchants, and Petra was a main stop along the camel caravan route. Later on, Romans took over the city and made some modifications, such as the addition of a stone floor for their carriages. We saw the most other tourists here, definitely a highly trafficked site. The treasury is the main feature, as you can see below.

We also climbed up to a monastery on the first day. Then when we left the site, we went to Petra Kitchen for a cooking lesson. We worked with several other interesting people, and the chef and helpers gave us recipes we were to follow to make some traditional Jordanian foods. It was really great to learn how to make so many different things! Then we ate what we made afterwards, delicious. We got to take home the recipes, so perhaps you all will get to eat some Jordanian food after we are back as well.

Today (Saturday) was a free day in Petra and boy did we use that well. We got up a little later than usual and ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then it was back to Petra. Spud has a video camera along, and we all decided to film a fifth Indiana Jones movie that kept us busy until about 6 p.m. I won't spoil the plot, but you'll soon be seeing such characters as Sean Connery, an unscrupulous optometrist, Dr. Botanicus, Jesus, and several Amazonian women fighters. It's sure to be a hit for the whole family ... check out Eric's picture site for some promotional stills (http://www.freewebs.com/jordansoils/) After wrapping up production, we returned to the hotel for supper. Some people explored around Petra as well, but most of us are trying to do some laundry before our desert excursion tomorrow. We leave for Wadi Rum desert at 8:30 tomorrow and are camping there overnight, so no updates tomorrow, sorry! I'm realizing how soon it will be until we're back on the East Coast, so we will be seeing you all soon!

- Leah

Dead Sea to Petra

Hello everyone,
We're finally in Petra and at a hotel with internet, time to update on the past 2 days. Yesterday started out in Madaba for breakfast, then we headed west to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the site of Jesus's baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. We walked down right to the river, and most of us leaned in and touched the water. Sean even brought back a water bottle full of it. The water was very greenish. We could see Israel only 10 feet away from us, there was a flag flying and some guards and construction workers. The Jordanian side had guards too, actually they took pictures with me, not sure what that was about! We ran into one of the architects behind the rebuilding of the site, and he was very enthusiastic and said that he is hoping for a million people to visit the site per year. Then we left and on the way out saw "Elijah's hill," where the bible says that the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven. Then it was on to the Dead Sea! We went through the Dead Sea Spa Hotel to use their changing rooms, from there it was on to the sea. Everyone enjoyed floating around and putting some of the mud on us. Apparently it's very therapeutic, there were lots of people there. There are some fun pictures and videos taken, so you all will get to see what it looked like. Then it was back to the hotel, where there were pools to swim in also. Finally we got a lunch buffet there and then headed to Dana. On the way we saw where "Lot's cave" was, where the bible says Lot hid after leaving Sodom and Gomorrah. We also stopped at a lookout spot to see the way the salt crusts around the edge of the sea. Then we drove to the Dana nature reserve, another RSCN site like Ajlun and Azraq. It was amazingly beautiful, way up in the mountains with huge rocks everywhere. We ate in a pavilion area and ended the day with tea in a Beduin tent and stargazing.

Today we ate breakfast at Dana and then hiked up one of the surrounding mountains (some of us took different trails than others!) We left around 11:30 for the Dana village near the campsite. There was a guide at the RSCN headquarters there named Ahmad, he showed us all around the center and museum, and we got to go into the workrooms and see the women who were making jewelry and other souvenirs. It was really great to see the local community working together to support the nature center. Ahmad took us on a walk in the local environment also. Then we left Dana around 4 and headed to Petra, where we've been this evening. We ate in the restaurant at our hotel, and some of us explored around the area a bit. We're preparing for 2 days in Petra starting tomorrow. More updates to come!
-Leah

Madaba

Today we spent our second day in the town of Madaba. Our first stop for the morning was a visit to a local farm. The owner of the farm was the cousin of Neimr Haddadin, one of the men we met at the Ministry of Agriculture. His cousin was more than thrilled to show us around the farm. As we walked he insisted that we try something from each of the crops we passed. By the end of the tour, our pockets were all weighted down with Almonds that he picked for us. Throughout his tour, we were shown their irrigation techniques, how they graft grapes, and the quality of their soil. We were also offered Bedouin Coffee along the walk. After checking out the farm, and the views of Amman, Israel, and the Dead Sea from the top of the hill, we drove back to Neimr Haddadin's home where we were then offered juice as we talked in his living room. An older gentleman related to Mr. Haddadin also joined us and explained to us the severity of the current drought in Jordan. He told us that this is the worst agricultural production he has seen since the 1940's. After talking for a bit in his home, we walked across the street to his cousin's home where we were taken to the backyard. What we didn't know was that underneath his home he had excavated an old cave and prepared it with candles and tea for us.

After our meeting with the Haddadin's, we drove on to Mt. Nebo. This is the mountain in which the prophet Moses was shown the Promise Land after leading the Israelites through the desert for 40 years. From the top of the mountain, we were able to see the Dead Sea and Israel on the bordering side of the sea. On our way back into town we stopped at a handcraft store and were given a tour of how they make the intricate tile mosaics you find across the country. It was the perfect place to pick up some souveniers. By this point, we were all getting slightly hungry so we drove back to Madaba to pick up some food. We found a small local shop on one of the side streets and set up a table behind the restaraunt. As a welcomed surprise to most of us, we were only served appetizers for lunch, and did not need to fear an immense amount of food caused by a second course.

After lunch, we walked down the street to St. George's Church which contains the oldest map of the Holy Land in the world. The map is in the form of a mosaic tile on the floor of the church and shows location, distance, and relative size of important towns in the Holy Land, which extends from Lebanon to Egypt. Click here to see more pics of the mosaic.

We are now back in the hotel resting (and writing this blog entry) and will soon be heading out for dinner. After dinner, we have been invited back over to Mr. Haddadin's home to see the city of Jerusalem lit up at night. Tomorrow, we will be driving to Bethany where Jesus was said to be baptized by John the Baptist and then from there we will be heading to the Dead Sea. I think we're all quite pumped to float in the salty water! Tomorrow we will not have internet but I believe the following day we will, so expect another update soon. Otherwise things are going great and the group is having an incredible time. Make sure to check out the picture website as well for the visual tour of Jordan!!

-Spud

You've all been waiting

Alrighty folks, sorry for the delay in updates. We just spent the last three nights at a place called Ajloun Nature Center. We stayed in canvas tents elevated off the ground on wooden platforms. Here’s the brief update of what we’ve been up to. And for those of you who read Spud’s Blog, you may see some similar (very similar) entries, as the one on that blog. That may because Spud is the one writing this. Munkin (that means maybe in Arabic)

May 15^th: Today we left our hotel in Amman and boarded three 4x4’s. Our first stop was an old Roman/Nabatean site, Umm Aljmael, with multiple ruins of a military barrack, homes and cisterns. We toured many of the ruins and every now and then would stop to analyze the soil. From here we got back in the cars and after making a brief stop at a mine pit, traveled to Jawa. Jawa is an ancient Roman city with the first recorded man-made dam in the world. Currently it is located in the middle of the desert, but during Roman times it would have been situated in a forested region with rivers flowing on either side of the city. However, the only catch is that to get to Jawa you have to drive quite a distance through the desert. And unless your drivers know where they are going (which in our case they didn’t), it can take quite some time. We found ourselves driving in the middle of the Basalt desert for a couple hours until we were all stopped by a text message that all of the drivers received which said: “Welcome to Syria, enjoy your stay!” Apparently in the desert they don’t worry too much about defining country borders, and we had managed to get fairly close to Syria, it all looked the same though. We stopped and got out of our cars, and as a celebration, we created a pile of rocks on the side of the road. Surprisingly enough, although the desert consists of only millions of rocks and few if any people, somehow every so often we would come across stacked piles of rocks. Sometimes, nomadic and pastoralist people would create these piles as monuments to important sites, but there’s no way that there were that many important sites in the middle of nowhere. Regardless, we felt it fitting to create our own pile of rocks. After finding our way back to Jordan, we managed to eventually come across Jawa. We went and explored the ruins and checked out the remains of the oldest dam in the world. After our tour, we had lunch outside the cistern and then got back in the cars. We made one last journey through the desert where we arrived at our next hotel in Azraq.

May 16^th: After spending the night at Azraq Lodge, a restored war hospital, we went to visit the Azraq wetlands. Although surprising to most, Jordan does have wetlands. However sadly the wetlands have been destroyed compared to what they once were, primarily because of water being pumped from the wetland to supply the larger cities with drinking water. However conservation efforts have been underway in an attempt to save this ecosystem. Azraq used to be the pitstop for roughly 400,000 different bird species on their migration route from Africa to Europe, however this is no longer the case. It is still an excellent bird watching location and many tourists come here to observe the wildlife. Once at Azraq, we took a walk through the wetlands where we arrived at a bird watching hut. Continuing on, we checked out the history museum and then finally wandered back outside. As we were standing looking back on the wetlands, we saw something moving in the distance. With the aid of some binoculars, we quickly realized we had found some water buffalo grazing near the water. Conveniently they were right in front of the bird watching hut, which we remembered how to get back to. Grabbing some cameras, a few of us sprinted, a quiet sprint, back to the hut. Looking out the window, we found ourselves a few feet from the herd (or possibly flock, gathering, or cluster).

After capturing the shot, we got back in the cars and traveled to the next location, Desert Castle #1 (because I forget the name of it). Driving through Jordan’s desert you come across many Desert Castles, which are buildings built as rest stops for trade routes throughout the desert. DS#1 had one of the world’s oldest hydraulic pumps in the world. Inside, the walls and domed ceilings were covered with old fresco paintings. Desert Castle #2, also known as El-Kharaanah, was massive and resembled a miniature European castle made out of sand. The castle had too floors and many rooms to explore. In the walls were narrow slits resembling slots in a castle in which arrows would be shot from a bow. However, these slots were angled down towards the ground outside. Because of this, wind would blow in from the desert, and any sand that was carried with it would be trapped on the walls of the slot. It was very effective. After the two desert castles, we got back in the cars and headed for the next lodge, Ajloun Reserve.

May 17^th: This morning we spent 5 hours hiking through a better part of the valley on an 8 mile trek. The trail was called the “Prophet’s Trail” and was meant to show where Elijah had wandered through these mountains. After trekking through a couple forests, a wheat field, and a couple sheep pastures, we made it to the peak of the final mountain. On the top of the mountain were the ruins from an old church. Stone walls bordered and tiled mosaics covered the floor of the old church. From here, you could see the entire mountain range we had just hiked through. Beyond the mountains lay the Jordan Valley and past that, the West Bank. After getting back from the hike, we had lunch at the camp site and were then given the rest of the day as a rest period.

May 18^th: Today we spent another day visiting some of the ancient Roman ruins. This time we stopped at a small church at a site called Abila. This site was smaller than the others but there was no one there, which gave us the opportunity to explore most of the site. Through our exploration, we managed to discover a chameleon hiding in the prickly bushes. Needless to say we had some fun taking pictures and videotaping. From here, we then traveled to Umm Qais, another ruins site which overlooked the Sea of Gallilee. This was the same site which the bible says that Jesus cast the demons out of a crazy man into a pig (we also had fun taping a re-enactment of this scene). We then had an incredible lunch at the top of the hill overlooking the ruins, valley, and sea. The best part of the lunch though was the bathroom (at least some would argue). To get to the bathroom you walked under a hanging flower garden and then the inside of the bathroom had huge ceilings and the sink was semi-outside. It was pretty awesome. And the food was pretty awesome too. After getting back in the bus, we drove on to our final stop for the day, a Dates Farm. This farm specializes in growing the Medjoun Date and we were given a tour of their fields and production plant. Afterwards, the manager of the farm took us to his office where we talked about the business and he let us all try some of their dates. After this visit, we had a long drive back in the bus to our lodge.

May 19^th: Today we left the Ajloun Reserve and visited Ajloun Castle. The castle was the largest structure we have visited yet and was beautiful both inside and outside. From here, we then left and traveled to Jarash, the largest roman ruins we have visited yet. Before exploring the ruins, we watched a re-enactment of roman fighting, gladiators, and chariot racing. The show took place in an actual roman theatre which made it one of the cooler things we have done yet (in my opinion). After the show, we went and had a buffet lunch nearby and then continued on to explore the ruins. Jerash is a large ancient city connected through a series of crossing roads. Roman columns cover the site and are separated by market squares, temples, churches, theatres, and baths. One of the ingenious aspects to the city roads was in how they laid the stone. All the stones were laid on a diagonal to reduce the noise from the passing chariots and to prevent chariot wheels from getting caught in the ridges. The roads also had manhole covers scattered throughout the site. After exploring the rest of the site, we got back on the bus and drove to Madaba to stay in our new hotel. After getting dinner at a wonderful restaurant, we came back to the hotel to rest, do wash, and rest some more. Tomorrow we are heading to Mt. Nebo and will be visiting a local farm to look at Jordanian agricultural practices. We should have access to internet over the next few days, so you can expect some new posts in the future. That’s all on the Jordanian front, hope things are going well back in the States. See everyone soon!

-Spud

Day Three in Amman

Day Three in Amman!! Today was full of activity. We first went visit the Minister of Agriculture, as well as the director for vegetable production and extension, the director of water resources, and a director of Ag Economics. We had great discussion and learned a lot about Jordanian agricultural practices.
We had a very traditional Jordanian lunch, with many different appetizers and a traditional main course of rice covered in lamb, and a cooked yogurt sauce. Very Delicious!! Most of us had Turkish coffee for the first time!! Very strong but great, just don't drink the bottom of the glass!!
We also toured the city of Amman today visiting the ancient capital on the hill with the Roman temple dedicated to Hercules. We walked around the Jordanian Archaeological History Museum as well as the Roman amphitheater, built in the shape of a horseshoe, great acoustics!! We also walked through the downtown (old city) market. It was amazing!!! Every color of fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, herbs, etc. The open air market was shadowed with blankets and covers overhead.
Keep reading viewers. Tomorrow its off to the north... we will be in off roading jeeps for about an hour or so.... might have not internet for a day or two... catch ya on the flipside!!!

More Photos!

For those of you looking for a more complete Jordan trip experience, feel free to check out Eric's photo website at www.freewebs.com/jordansoils. He will be updating all of the pictures he takes, both known pictures and ones he secretly took of people while they weren't looking, onto the site.
-Spud