Trip to the Holy Land - Jordan 10/4/12 to 10/7/12

Jordan - 10/05/2012

The buses took us to the Jaffa Gate and, while most of the group walked to the Temple Institute, Joni and I veered off to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We walked down a nearly deserted Christian Quarter street to the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim Quarter.  Before the shops open, the streets are dark and quiet - a stark contrast to the crowded, noisy streets we saw yesterday. 

Joni was nervous about walking the streets, and even more so as we missed the turn and had to ask directions to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  This is a large church built by the Greek Orthodox Church over the area where they believe the purification, crucifixion and burial of Christ occurred. As we entered the church there were people kneeling down to kiss and pray over the lid of a sarcophagus in the floor (it is The Stone of Anointing which tradition claims to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. However, this tradition is only attested since the crusader era, and the present stone was only added in the 1810 reconstruction).  Around the corner in the nave there was a chapel called The Edicule, which contains the Holy Sepulchre itself. The Edicule has two rooms. The first one holds The Angel's Stone, a fragment of the stone believed to have sealed the tomb after Jesus' burial. The second one is the tomb itself. 

Our final activity in Israel was a drive-by the BYU Jerusalem Center, which was closed for renovation, for a quick picture.  Then the bus took us down through the Judean wilderness/desert passed Jericho to the border crossing for Jordan.  Getting out of Israel was a more lengthy process than getting into Jordan.  The passport clearing process for Jordan was done while we sat on the bus - our guide collected our passports, took them into the border crossing office, and returned them to us when the process was complete.  Along the highways in Jordan the Bedouin encampments were frequent, maybe more frequent even than Egypt.  The Bedouins in Jordan seemed to have a higher standard of living as evidenced by their portable satellite dishes and flat screen TVs in their tents.

Overlooking the "crossing site" on River Jordan

Upon entering Jordan we drove directly to the spot on the Jordan River where tradition places the baptism of Christ.  Is is in the middle of nowhere in a place where the Jordan River winds its way through the desert.  The west side of the river is controlled by Israel and the east side by Jordan.  There are several churches around the site and on both sides of the river there are steps down to the river for pilgrims to enter the water.  While we were there a couple of pilgrim groups were baptizing themselves in the water while singing hymns.  Brother Madsen shared the story of Christ's baptism at this place where the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River into their promised land on dry ground.
We ate at Jordanian restaurant where the set menu was served family style.  Four couples sat at each table and we dipped torn flatbread into various dishes of meat, hummus, yogurt, salads, etc.  The food was OK but the experience was very fun and enjoyable.  I ate too much!

Petra - 10/06/2012

The Treasury

Our last morning of tour activities was dedicated to Petra.  It is a 3.5 hour drive from Amman to Petra so we got an early start (7:30 am departure).  We drove south through Amman and I was very impressed with the city.  It seemed quite modern, clean and in many cases upscale - the cars were new and often European and some of the homes were very large and impressive.  Many multinational companies have a presence here like KFC, Carl's Jr, Safeway, GM, etc.  However, once on the edges of the city Bedouin encampments, unfinished buildings, old dusty run-down cars all increased to Egyptian levels.  As we dropped down from the city elevations the terrain quickly changed to stark
desert.

Amphitheatre

The Petra site was nothing short of amazing.  More about this later.

Amman - 10/07/2012
The tour company here in Amman arranged for our transportation to the airport (most of the tour group departed this morning) and we were greeted in the lobby by a sharp dressed young gentleman named Achmed. I assumed he was our driver but he corrected me claiming instead that he was the "helper". He guided us to the car, watched the driver load the luggage, and then climbed in the front passenger seat to accompany us to the airport. The driver was more talkative than Achmed and he
shared a few things about the area (the Jordanian schools administer 6 years of English) and few jokes (when we drove by a huge mansion he declared that it was his house and the next mansion was his driver's house). When we arrived at the airport, Achmed watched the driver unload the luggage and then escorted us into the airport. He escorted us through security, watched us check in with the
airline and then told us how to get through immigration. I still don't know if he was just going the second mile or if he was assigned to be our bodyguard. Anyway, thanks to Achmed we made it to the airport. On to Vienna!