Day 8- May 7- Wadi Rum Desert/Red Sea

After setting our alarm clocks for 5:30am for a week we finally got to sleep in and start our day at a reasonable hour haha!

Our morning was to be spent exploring the Wadi Rum desert. It's set on a high plateau at the western edge of the Arabian desert.

Over 20,000 petroglyphs and 20,000 inscriptions have been documented inside Wadi Rum, tracing human existence back some 12,000 years in this spot. Even today, some nomadic Bedouin make their home here, along one of the migratory courses modern humans took out of Africa, providing a living portrait of our human origins.

The 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, 2015 film The Martian and two Star Wars movies were filmed here. Specifically, The Rise of Skywalker and Rogue One.

The drive there was filled with camels and dirt, dirt, dirt.

We were directed over to a fleet of old Toyota trucks, adapted for tourists to sit in the back. 

We climbed on with two other couples from our tour, Mike & Brenda Olsen and Todd & Lorie Tucker and off we went!

First stop was at the base of a huge, sand dune that we were allowed to go climb. Pretty cool views from the top! We learned the red sand comes from iron oxide.

Back into the trucks, flying over the desert to the 2nd stop.

Camel time!! 

Those that wanted to ride the camels to the 3rd stop, hopped aboard.

This was a such a fun experience. You get in the saddle and then hang on for dear life as it gets to it's feet. It took some time for everyone to get situated and then we were off! Rather slowly haha. I'll tell you what, a camel is not the comfiest of rides. After awhile we were all shifting and squirming, trying to give our bums and legs a break. And on we trekked. It felt like forever! This was no, token camel ride. It was a legit excursion across the desert! Finally, we arrived at stop #3. The gift shops. HA! They try to get you everywhere you go. There were also some cool petroglyphs to see on the rocks.

 

 

I love this picture for some reason. 

The camels face just looking at me. 

Those awesome rock formations behind. 

It felt very surreal to be deep in the Jordanian desert riding camels!

After the gift shops we took off at full speed in the back of those trucks! 

It felt like we were in an Indian Jones movie.

The view approaching our hotel. Most of Jordan seemed like a wasteland. But the area around the Red Sea was modern with restaurants and shopping.

The rest of the afternoon was ours!! I was curious about walking into town for lunch but Travis preferred to stay at the resort and order food on the beach. We were told it would be expensive if we did that, but we ordered a "lunch combo" off the menu that included an amazing Greek salad, cheese pizza, two hamburger sliders, two glasses of fresh guava juice and a basket of chicken tenders and fries. Guess how much it cost? $27 American dollars!!! We were floored. The resort pools looked amazing but the beach was calling our name so we settled in some lounge chairs and took it all in! White sand, turquoise waters, perfect temperatures!

I didn't have a book with me and after lounging for awhile I got curious about what else we could do. Supposedly the snorkeling is amazing. The resort offered a variety of activities but we didn't want to sign up for one of their 3-4 hour snorkeling cruises. It took some finagling, but we finally landed on renting a ski boat with two other couples that would allow us to at least get out on the water and stop at a couple snorkeling areas. 

The driver was a laid back, 20 something year old guy who took every opportunity to light a cigarette. He played good music and let anyone who wanted to, take turns driving the boat. There's the Jordan flag!

This turned out to be so fun! We were out on the Red Sea. The RED SEA, people! We had now played in the Mediterranean, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. I'd say we covered all our bases! The snorkeling wasn't really anything spectacular and the water was a smidge colder than I'd prefer, but I still loved the experience! Plus it was really fun getting to know the other couples. We definitely felt like young bucks now because no other couples under 55 in our tour stayed to see Jordan. 

The sun set as we were coming in. 

Have I mentioned how much I loved this?!

Had to include some pics of the dinner buffet here. What was most lovely, was the deck outside that we could eat at, overlooking the Red Sea. Also, big fan of the freshly squeezed juices!