East meets West

Head scarves, compulsive staring, computers that read right to left (اسم المستخدم (البريد الإلكتروني (translation = username!!!), enough hummus and pita to puke, walking the bible, snow, rain, deserts, dirty dirty washrooms, mimicking beach-balls in the Dead Ses, camels, donkeys, goats and a lot of dudes. This description adequately describes my life for the past week or two.

I just have a few things to say:

1. I can see you staring at me. Please stop.
2. Where are all of the women? You can come out. It's safe. I promise.
3. The dead sea is excessively buoyant ...and salty.
4. I still need to ride a camel.
5. Donkeys are cool.
6. For the love of God! No more hummus, please!

We've rented a car and are driving through Jordan. It's finally warm enough to wear sandals and leave our jackets inside. Steve and I are pretty happy about that.

Today we drove through some extreme dessert terrain and had a picnic of hummus and pita (whatelse?) on top of a sand castle (it was really just a hill).

Tomorrow we will play Indiana Jones and explore Petra and then we're heading South, once again, towards Aqaba. Then it's a short ferry ride (I'm already excited for the opportunity to say "I'm on a boat!" again and I will probably break into song) to Egypt and we're once again in a country where we can afford to eat, sleep and drink like normal travelers.

For the record Israel and Jordan have been incredibly expensive and to compensate we've been feasting exclusively on pita and hummus and sleeping in the cheapest (read, dirtiest) accommodations. Don't believe me? I payed $17 to sleep in a dorm room with no heat, dirty bedding, seven guys and a cat.

(p.s. I peed in the dead sea)