Wadi Rum: Livin’ On The Desert
Jordan turned out to be one big surprise for me. Starting from getting stuck on the boarder, to changing my plans and going to Aqaba instead of Amman, to finally, staying with Bedouins somewhere on the Wadi Rum desert.
Wadi Rum, which in Arabic means The Valley of The Moon, is currently the biggest wadi in Jordan. Famous from its granite and sandstone rocks, seems to attract people from all over the world. And it’s no surprise. I really regret I couldn’t spend more time in this unique place. Just imagine. It’s 7 p.m. and the sun slowly goes down. Rocks, which during the day have a color similar to orange, suddenly become a mixture of gold, red and purple. You can see a big scarab trying to fight with the sand. A while later and a little farther another unidentified “animal” hides under your tent. And it’s just a beginning of what happens on Wadi Rum when the dawn comes.
In one moment everything disappears and you can see no light, but stars shining bright in a dark sky.
Usually, when you think about a desert, what you have in mind are tones of sand and nothing more. And here we are, in Wadi Rum, where besides infinite amounts of this golden powder, you can meet massive, stony uplifts.
They are a great place to observe sunsets by the way.
Thanks to Ibrahim – my host from Wadi Mousa – I was able to see all of those and had a pleasure to join Bedouins in their daily life. We, Western people, so much used to permanent Internet access and smartphones, should really appreciate and crave for at least couple of days in such place, as it’s the only way to understand how addicted to all our “toys” and “tools” we are.
We (me and Ibrahim) arrived to the camp around 5 p.m. when the sun was still up, but slowly started to disappear behind rocks. First thing we got was obviously a cup of tea. Sweet like hell, black tea in a cup with no ear. Tea in the Arabic culture has a special meaning and is a main point during social gatherings. So we drunk a tea and smoked some sheesha.
I heard that before, but now I have to confirm, that Arab people are one of the most welcoming and hospitable people I’ve ever met in my life. With no doubts.
But when it comes to Bedouins, have you ever wondered where do they do shopping, where do they store food when it’s so hot and how do they really cook if there’s no electricity? All questions above have answers simpler than you may think :)
#1 WHERE DO THEY SHOP?
As we live in XXI century, they own cars like many other people around the world. There’s at least one car per camp, but usually more. It happens very often that a normal camp is connected also with a tourist attraction where people can rent a place to sleep. Then Bedouins own even something like a mini-bus to bring people from the nearest city to the camp.
#2 HOW DO THEY STORE FOOD?
Modern Bedouins in most cases have an aggregator they can use to plug in a small fridge. But the most popular practice is still using sand to cool down food they have. It works in a very simple way. Sand under the main layer (which gets warm because of the sun) is really cold. The temperature may not be below minus, but it’s cool enough to save it from the heat.
#3 HOW DO THEY COOK?
Well, like above. Most of them may have some small electric cooker to use, but I have actually more interesting thing to tell you. Imagine you can eat the most delicate and soft meat in the whole universe. Each peace gets melted in your mouth in the way that you don’t even have to chew it. Add to this some perfectly prepared vegetables and you will get Zarb- the food from the sand.
Why from the sand? Just because this is where they prepare it.
Sand keeps the temperature really well, so people can use it both, for cooling food and for cooking it. The whole process is simple. We start with digging a biiiig hole in the sand. It has to be deep enough to hold up something like a huge pot. The pot has three layers – a layer for rice, for meat and for vegetables – so each type of product is placed on a different “level”. Inside the hole the fire is being excited and the pot is placed in it. After all everything’s covered with sand, fire under the pot turns into heat and the dish is getting ready. It takes around 3 hours to have it well cooked, so here my advice: you’d better leave it when you’re starving or impatient :)
Leaving the camp was kinda sad for me. I still felt like I didn’t experience it as much as I really wanted but I had to head back to Israel as my visa was about to expire. I woke up at 5 a.m. watching the sun going up with its red rays visible from behind the rocks, packed my backpack and went out where already one of the Bedouins was waiting for me with a morning tea. Having drunken a tea, I got on his mini-bus and he brought me to his brother’s place. You may ask WHY? :) His brother was a bus driver and decided to help me to get back to Aqaba. So as you can see, people can surprise and can be unselfishly helpful. It’s not only a myth.
Another tea was waiting for me in a brother’s place where I also spend some time with local family waiting for the bus to go off.
One Penny Trip | Showing You The Real World 
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