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Christmas in Jordan

December 26-31, 2024

By Hector Gonzalez

January 9^th, 2025

Auntie Sara and Uncle Greg came to visit, which was a good excuse to finally get ourselves out of Amman. We ventured to Wadi Rum, Petra, and the Dead Sea, and this what we saw.

This was our hotel in Wadi Rum.

It came with views, temporary pets, posh space domes, and a restaurant carved into the rock.

They filmed The Martian and Lawrence of Arabia here, as well as one of the Star Wars. Somehow that all makes sense. It's ancient, alien, and from a galaxy far far away.

I followed my family up these insane sand dunes on the first nights and it took me the whole week to catch my breath. The views were (mostly) worth it, though.

We drove off across the valley in the back of a pickup truck, which is now my favorite way to travel through desert moonscapes. (I took these pics in a moving car; rather proud of myself.)

Our driver implied that this dune was used in the movie The Martian. I can believe it.

While they hiked, Greg and I hung out with Bedouins.

Ancient carvings on a rock wall.

Posing like an indie band. And some camels that also seemed willing to pose.

More valleys, more scrambling across sand.

Asa and Laura negotiating how high up the arch he can climb. And then all of us hanging out in a Bedouin tent-slash-gift shop.

In the afternoon we headed out to this dune so the boys could try sand surfing. These pictures were super fun to take. (It was probably fun surfing, too, but you'll have to ask the boys because I didn't want to climb any more dunes.)

Next we drove to the city of Petra, which was carved into rock a few thousand years ago.

A lot of the stuff has eroded by you still get a sense for what it must have been like at its peak.

Indiana Jones came here.

Asa got a brief but exciting camel ride.

And then we walked back out to the car. In the morning we went to the Dead Sea.

So here we stayed at a resort and so I don't have any interesting pictures unless you want to see us drinking cocktails and eating pizza, but Asa and I did wander down to the Dead Sea in the morning. It had rained so the ground was soggy. You can smell the water before you get to it. In one of these pics you can see Asa gagging a little. I licked it. That was a bad idea. However, my feet are now softer than they've ever been. (Apparently if you stay in it for too long, the water starts to cut your skin. Or something like that.)

On the way back to Amman we swung by Bethany-on-the-Jordan, the site where Jesus was baptized. Amusingly, it has a website. The actual baptism spot, at the bottom of some stairs, is itself is usually dry now (the water in the bottom is from the previous night's rain), but the river still flows nearby and you can baptize yourself. They even sell robes at the gift shop if you didn't come prepared.

The river is directly on the heavily-militarized border. It imbues the space with more sadness than spirituality. Plus the water is super muddy. Still, you are welcome to dip a water bottle in and take some as a souvenir.

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