6:00 AM – time to get up, grab coffee and breakfast – and get to the airport. I’m quite excited – While I couldn’t wait to see the Pyramids and Egypt – Petra was huge on our bucket list – and finally we are getting to go.

Thank goodness for the Odyessy folks. They do a tag team to get us into the airport, thru the layer upon layer of security checks including another full body pat down and to our gate in plenty of time. That seems to be an Odyessy objective. Make sure they are never late to anything!

Andrea and I decide to walk the airport – and find the most interesting thing – Two white modular ‘containers’ that hold a bed, a mirror, a shelf and a bit of space for a carry-on. Emergency sleeping arrangements in the airport. Perfect!

Even more interesting – because we are so close to Ramadan – there are folks of folks heading to Mecca. They are dressed all in white, and many of them are wearing cloth signs that say things like “Heavenly Tour”. We smile and wave, they smile and wave back.

When we get to Jordan, Osma – our Odessey Guide for the Jordan portion of the trip explains that going to Mecca on Pilgramage is one of the 5 pillars of Islam.

Our flight goes painlessly – and we are met as soon as we clear the security area of the airport. So much better than our arrival in Cairo. I’m already loving Jordan.

As I mentioned – our new guide is Osma – and he seems really nice. And quickly tells us – I’m Jordanian – I always have a Plan!

His plan for today is for us to get on our bus (which is ours for our entire stay – so we can leave stuff inside), and start heading out of Amman. Our first stop is Madaba – a favorite stop for pilgrams to the Holy Land starting around 100 AD. There is a mosiac map of the sites of the Holy Land – including the Dead Sea, Jalem, Bethlehem, the Jordan River, Jericho, Jocob’s Well, Mount Sinai, the Nile Delta, Karak, St. Lot’s Monastery and Hebron. About 1/2 of it was destroyed in an earthquake in 790 AD, which is often the reason for destruction in Jordan. That was some Earthquake for sure.

The map is – as advertised – marvelous. It’s in Greek because that was the common language of tourists at that time. And it’s of course vividly decorated except for the places that were considered ‘offensive’ by the Catholic Church when it was decided to destroy all the icons and all recognizable figures for fear that they would distract men from their worship. We’ll hear more about both the earthquake and the distruction of icons later.

It’s finally time for lunch – and it is in a marvelous restaurant. Family owned and operated – the mother who was a good home chef but not a restaurantur by any means – got a grant from USAid. They trained her how to run a kitchen, bought her the equipment to make her recipes in larger quantities, helped her enlarge her restaurant to seat over 100 – and publish a cook book. The food lived up to Osama’s description – yummy! Victor was particularly fond of the Zatar coved crisp Pita strips and he of course bought her cookbook after checking out several of the recipes. I’m looking forward to some really interesting meals when we get home but first Victor says we’ll have to find some Zatar. Putting that on the shopping list.

After lunch we continue our drive to Petra. We arrive just in time to check-in and go for dinner in the hotel. We are staying in the Movenpick – and it’s right across the street from the entrance to Petra. I’m getting excited.

Time for bed – it’s another early morning tomorrow, but at least there’s no bus or plane ride to take.

Signing off to sleep! The Soup Lady