"Educational Experience" part III: On a magic camel ride

Yes, you read that title correctly, a camel ride. Monday, the 29th, we went to a place called Wadi Rum. It is a huge wildlife preserve. There is a lot of mountains, rocks, sand, and the occasional sagebrush. The movie, Lawrence of Arabia was filmed here. The visitor's center is next to a mountain called the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", Lawrence of Arabia named them, it's also the name of his book. (Just a little FYI)

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Jimbo, me, and Keith in the back of our truck

Anyway, we rode in the backs of trucks to various places before going to a Bedouin camp for lunch. And, on part of the "tour", we got to ride camels. The camel I rode, was named A'lia, and she was really good. One guy got a camel that was angry and kept growling at him. Oh, camels have really sharp teeth, their canines look as sharp as any wild animal's. Riding the camel was fun. It was a bit like riding a horse.

We were the last truck in our "caravan" 

I climbed up that steep sand dune, and then climbed up on the rocks

The Bedouin feast was delicious. There was so much food there. I'm pretty sure I went back for thirds. The Bedu guys were really nice. One of them helped my friend Paul put on a kufiya (the traditional head gear/scarf that guys wear). Also, I've learned that in Southern Jordan, they really like the Club Chelsea football team. The Bedu guys thought that it was so cool that my name was "Chelsea". And I saw several people wearing 'Chelsea' jerseys, whereas here in Amman, and northern Jordan in general, the favorite teams are Madrid and Barcelona. 

Me on A'lia

Paul, in his kufiya

Joachim took Paul's fedora hat when he put on the kufiya and then someone else gave him a baseball hat to wear

After the feast, we all were so well fed that we pretty much fell into "food comas" for the hour drive down to Aqaba, which is where we spent our last day.