With the glow of Petra pushing us on, we hit the road the next morning bound for Dana Nature Reserve and castle town Karak. I was becoming a bit less terrified of the stop and start steep hills but that doesn’t mean that I was necessarily getting any better. And then… da da dummmm… the car starts to make the loudest growling, rattling noise ever. We’re on a highway in the middle of nowhere. Oh shit, shit, shit. What have I done?!
Every once in a while, there’s a random police vehicle parked on the side of the road, looks like it should be a speed trap but they sit out in the wide open and mostly just lounge about and chat on their cell phones. Luckily our car temper tantrum started very near one of these highway hangouts. They eagerly came over, all of us looked at what I think was the exhaust pipe that had come loose from the underside of the car and was rattling all over the place. Race car minus the muffler, that’s what we sounded like. They directed us to a town about 20kms up the road where we would find a mechanic. Bring it on. Three white girls looking for Arabic mechanics. Nice one.
With MUCH patience, expert charades, and several phone calls to Avis, it was decided that I would pay the small amount of cash to have the mechanic tie up the loose bits and would be reimbursed when I returned the car instead of them driving the hour and a half to bring me a new one. Whatever. Just get us on the road. The girls searched out a place to sit and have ice-cream for breakfast while I smiled and nodded at grease monkeys who found this oh so entertaining. Adventure, adventure, adventure.
We were happy with the quick and cheap car fix and decided to skip Dana as we were now running short on time, so after some directional issues (yes, I AM a map retard!), we were on our way. When we arrived a short while later in the town of Karak, I quickly gave up the driver seat as the streets we had to navigate were the narrowest and steepest I had seen with of course NO room for roll back from the tooting, honking cars on our bumper behind us. Yikes! Liz to the rescue once again. Thank goodness!
Pretty much only one option for a place to spend the night and we were kinda undecided as to whether we should stay or keep moving on towards our next destination. Again, the BLISS of having our own car! Liz and Laura went off to see the castle, I was thoroughly castles and temples and ruins finished by this point so I wandered the town instead. Oh so lovely Karak town! Not meant to be a major destination on the tourist map except for a stopover on the way to somewhere else and a quick visit to the castle, this of course made the town that much more friendly and lovely and… oh I don’t know, just so NICE! It reminded me of my home in Thailand. I was grinning and getting all wrapped up in that home town feel of wandering around streets and shops where English was almost impossible to come by but everyone wanted to say hello. I met up with the girls after they finished checking out the castle and hope, hope, hoped they would want to stay the night. THEY DID! Woo! Hoo!
Booked into our old but cozy place to stay and we started getting organized for our adventure destination the next day… The Grand Canyon of Jordan, Wadi Mujib. I called and booked us in on a half day hike, had to make reservations with a guide, and we tried to imagine what we were in for. A hike through a river that flowed through a canyon similar to what we walked through in Petra, pools, and rappelling down a 20 metre waterfall. Tomorrow is gonna be such good fun.
We had about an hour drive to get there for 8am, showed up with another couple and were told we had to wait until 9am because there might be more people showing up. No big deal, it wasn’t so hot yet, and it was a beautiful place to hang out. My very first glimpse of the DEAD SEA! Sadly, the Dead Sea around here is frustratingly inaccessible. Drop off rocky cliffs that are a challenge to get up and down. So we walked around it from above and hoped that we’d be able to dip our toes in that Salty Sea one of these days soon.
Oh, ummm…, I’m kinda getting pretty good at lying. I’ve created quite a lovely husband and life I have with him, I’ve had a variety of names and occupations, and my travel plans are quite interesting depending on the day. Also, I had a fake teacher card made in Luxor. I think I told you guys about that, right? No? Oops. International teacher card, gives you discounts on entry fees, etc., $20 and it has already paid itself off. So yeah, I told the guy at Wadi Mujib, while the girls waited in the car, that I was a teacher and they were my students. Didn’t even ask to see my card, $15 off each ticket. Again, the entrance fees were MORE than Petra, another week’s worth of accommodation, but we REALLY wanted to do this thing and do it we did!
Six of us, we Three Muskateers, a lovely couple from Belgium, and our smiley guide Ali, hopped in the back of a pickup to be (THANKFULLY) driven up a hellish dirt road that should have flipped us over and started our little jaunt alongside a lovely little river. The dry sides of the river shrunk and into the water we waded. It’s a bit strange, against everything your mama taught you, to head straight into the water, shoes and clothes on, just go. But we knew this was the plan so once you got over the initial ummm… should I take my shoes off? it’s SO fun. And shoes on is kinda needed.
The river was anywhere from ankle to mid-thigh deep (for my short arse), a bit of a rushing river over slippery rocks and sand through that same marble smooth and coloured rocky gorge that we saw in Petra. It would open up into small fields or wider paths through the canyon, it was absolutely stunning! Easy hike, nothing strenuous, but out of breath simply from where we were and what we were seeing. This was unreal! We made it up to an opening, climbed up some rocks and found a place where the river formed a series of pools. Again, my pictures don’t do it justice AND my camera crapped out at the first pool… DAMNIT! But I got a few photos and the rest will be locked tightly in my happy happy memory.
Ali seemed to genuinely like his job as he led us up, up, up over small but fast moving waterfalls giving us boosts or using ropes, stepping just here, not there, hold hands here, sit down and slide there. It was just RIDICULOUS fun! Seriously. We couldn’t stop laughing. Unfortunately I think the Belgian couple was frustrated because they had to keep stopping and waiting for us but we weren’t in any hurry, we were having SO much fun, and really, the more time we had out there, the better! So yeah, jumping, swimming, sliding, wading, climbing, falling, and roaming in, on, around, under, and through a river and waterfalls in the middle of the most beautiful canyon. Truly, once in a lifetime kind of thing. It was, oh I’ve run out of adjectives and superlatives, it was just so much fun!
The grand finale really was that perfect mix of “Are you serious?!” and “Let’s do this thing!” While Ali hooked up ropes and we shimmied into climbing harnesses, that 20 metre waterfall all of a sudden looked to be about 200 metres. Gulp! Now, I’ve done some rock climbing, I actually LOVE rock climbing, but down the side of a waterfall where you can’t see past the first ledge… ummm… well… no choice but to give it a go. The only heart stopping moment was the very first bit where you straddle / lie on your stomach over a boulder, looking Ali dead in his smiling eyes, placing your life in his very capable hands, and trusting him as he says, now just let go. So I let go.
The fear INSTANTLY dissolved and I squealed my way down the 10 second rappel running my hands through the waterfall beside me then getting thoroughly smashed to my knees by it as you land directly underneath it. Oh I want to go again! Again! Again! Again! I watched my two girls follow suit and the smiles were priceless. Oh how I wish my camera was working but yeah, we’ll never forget it. NEVER. I want to come back. Think they’ll give me a job as a guide? Can’t hurt to ask.
A few smaller waterfalls to conquer on our way out but we were able to slide or climb down them with Ali at the bottom to pull us out as we were pushed to the bottom of the swirling mini-whirlpools. Just SO much fun! And yeah, I promptly fell in love. Seriously. Hiking, rock climbing, save my life guide… seriously, marry me. Don’t worry, don’t worry. I was very well behaved. But if anyone needs a guide for Wadi Mujib, I’ve got one for you. *sigh* Wow, what a day.
After a long rest and dry off, we packed up and made our way to Amman, exhausted but still buzzing from our adventurous day. Super nice hotel found in the middle of a very big city and we settled in for a good few days. We’re in Amman.
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