Otter's Outings

12 February 2017 To continue, I woke up to the sound of rain hitting the canvas of my yurt.  It was cold, I was snuggled in, and didn't care to move.  On the other hand, this was the day I was going to see Petra.  I thought Petra was a singular thing.  One carved edifice in a sandstone rock face.  Petra is a place.  It is filled with rich history, warm people and a shroud of mystery that is not uncovered even after hours within it's bounds.   Wadi Musa is the desert and area around Petra.  As we drove out of our Bedouin accommodations, I started to notice that every now and again, there was a carved out hollow in the rocks.  I felt like I was seeing things, but it is very clear that Wadi Musa isn't limited to residents of the town, but that there is a quiet teeming life in the desert with hundreds of people still living in these carved out caves.   This rainy window photo doesn't do it justice, but that landscape is littere...

11 February 2017 I'm quite delayed in this post, but I'm going to attempt to briefly articulate why.  I had the opportunity to visit Israel for work.  I won't go into detail, but I didn't find the culture or country terribly agreeable.  This isn't the first time I've felt this way about a place, it's just that I had great expectations of loving it.  There will be more on the Israel portion of the visit, but this is all to say, by the time it was time to go to Jordan, I was beyond ready.  Starting at 6:15 at the hostel in Tel Aviv, I hopped on a small bus with 8 other people.  The weather was full of storms and wind and we rode in silence to the Jordanian border.  It was wonderful to see the contrast from the heavily urbanized central portion of Israel to the lush green of the north. We made it to the Jordan River and crossed over.  It wasn't remarkable, but it was interesting.  Leaving our Israeli driver behind, Midhe took the reigns and we...