Steve's Soft Side

Wadi Rum in Jordan is inaccurately known as the land of Lawrence of Arabia, a famous English officer turned author who traveled thru and wrote about southern Jordan. It is, however, where the movie was filmed. The land is rose and golden sand interrupted by hills of sandstone that stick out of the sandy sea like marshmallows in rocky road ice cream. Here we finally rolled down a sand dune, only to realize there were no showers at the Bedouin tent we were sleeping at for the next two nights. The first day was spent bumping about in a 4x4 through the various terrain, taking in the sites, napping after lunch, and climbing on top of rock bridges. It was a full moon so the valleys were lit with gray shadows which made it a little easier to sleep in the great wide open given the animals echoing all around us. The second day was spent on camel back. These dromedaries were a taller than the ones in Morocco but their humps were a tad smaller. Through a series of unfortunate incidences Steve ended up being unbalanced on the saddle and therefore wore himself out by the end of the first hour on a five hour trek. By the sounds he made and the agonizing expressions on his face I don’t know how he managed to stay on the hump. The guide tried padding his saddle more but Steve’s built-in cushioning was getting a good beating. Nothing could be done to improve his situation, it was only getting exponentially worse. In the end Steve caught a ride back to camp in a 4x4 and the guide decided "maybe he is very soft." I nodded in agreement and urged my camel back to running pace.

--Mary