Sometimes...

It really hurts to be invisible, especially in the eyes of the ones that you thought were your friends.

Funny thing is that, somehow, it seems that my ability to be invisible has increased throughout the years.

Cheers to my naivete and my belief in friendship.

And cheers to all that has yet to be celebrated with a blue sea as my background.

Jordan & Syria as if there was no tomorrow - Part II

Scenes of the last episode:
Eventually, our nice jordanian driver arrived and there we were on our way to Petra.. It was not a long drive, about 2-3 hours but...

Today's episode:
... but it was really amazing. The settings would change from desert to big mountains and valleys, different colours, different people and almost no other cars on the road. Especially amazing to see all the bedouin tents with their goats and donkeys around it.

Reached to Petra it was time to decide where to stay. After seeing an hotel that was really expensive (8 euros per person) we ended up staying in one that included breakfast for seven. You wont imagine how good it is the feeling to have something for so "cheap" especially if you consider Europe's price or even Dubai's price for accommodation. Anyways, it was now time to head to Petra.. we were all so excited to see it that there was no time to loose.. Except for another stop for shoarma, of course. :)

View from our Hotel Room in Petra

Walking in Petra

Petra is just amazing.. there is no words to describe it. I clearly believe it is something everyone should see.

We might have not been the first ones to get there on that day but we were clearly the last ones to leave... It all started with a little trekking that took us around 3-4 hours and suddenly there we were in the most distant spot from the entrance. The question then was that all over the place, including our tickets there were warnings saying " it is not advisable for visitors to remain inside Petra after sunset".
But see, it was not that easy.. Can you really reject the possibility of watching an amazing sunset, in Petra, with your friends and your most recent friend, Yasser and no one else but the donkey and the bedouin tents on the other side of the valley?

So, bravely (well, there was really nothing to be afraid of, according to Yasser) we stayed and watched the sunset, bit by bit, with no time for photographs, just apreciating the moment and the wise words of our new friend.

Yasser, our new friend, is one of these amazing kids you meet once or twice in your life. He is a little bedouin kid, 11 yrs old, who learned english by talking to tourists in Petra and that has a smile and eyes that are unforgettable. He doesnt go to school as he spends his days in Petra, with his little donkey, carrying tourists that are tired of walking or just want to take a "cool pic" to show friends back home. Of course, being a "civilized westerner" (please note that I am being ironic about myself) I had to pop the question: "so, you dont go to school? why? It is very important!!".. His answer left me bitter sweet: "I dont like school that much see?! Because there you are inside 4 walls, locked. Here I can learn about everything, I can be in Petra with my donkey everyday and be free and talk to you and the tourists. You wouldnt come to my school would you? See, if I was in school I wouldnt have met you"... I tried to rationalize my thoughts and reply back with a smart answer that would clearly show him the benefits of an education and so on, but the only thing that was coming to my mind was the image of me "locked" in my office cubicle, with my eyes on the computer, talking on my mobile about something silly. I guess, for a change, I was speechless.

Once the sunset was over it was now time to head back and face the hard walk back to the gate.. 3 hours of trekking still awaited us (I was already dead tired of walking half an hour after we got to Petra so you can imagine how I was feeling by then...). But Yasser had a plan.. he was only one and one donkey but he would go back and see if his friends were still downthere. If so, he would bring them all to us so that they would give us a donkey ride back to the gate. And off he went with his little donkey down the stoned carved stairs and the "canyons". We kept walking down for an hour or so until we found our "cavalry" waiting for us.

You cant imagine how happy we all were!! So, half an hour later, after some bargaining and tough times in getting our big as*** u up on the asses :) (aqui fica o belo do trocadilho), our "journey back home" began..

Rui and his donkey before & after the "big fall"

As the ride began my attempt to "educate" Yasser continued, but somehow he always managed to "win" and leave me with no counter arguments. This time I wanted to blackmail him telling him that if he didnt go to school he couldnt have a profession when he became older. "So, Yasser, tell me.. what do you want to be when you grow older?" I almost fell out of the donkey with laughter after I heard his answer: "When I grow older? I want to be married!!". Definitely not the answer I was expecting... I simply replied "see, you know.. to get a wife you need to have money, to take care of her, so that she likes you". I should have just remained silent..
His answer and his pureness just melted my heart.. "I dont need much money, I can work here in Petra or take care of the goats for my father.. And my wife, i want her to love me for my heart. And I will love her for her heart too. Not for her money.. money is nothing for me, friendship is all (at this point he and his friends were indeed carrying us for free although we had paid them the firts part of the journey and we also wanted to pay them but they didnt accept it...) and that is what matters" In the back of my head I just wished it was really that simple. Maybe it really is and we are the ones who complicate it. Anyway, I couldnt help to compare this young adult at the age of 11 with other 11 yrs old I know who spend their time playing with their Playstation and asking their parents for a new mobile because theirs doesnt have bluetooth.

And there we were on the way to the gate, with our new friends, our philosophies of life exchanges and with the beautiful echo of the bedouin song the kids were singing on the stone walls and canyons of Petra.

For a while, I couldnt ask for a better place to be.

To be continued

Jordan & Syria as if there was no tomorrow!!

Jordan & Syria It seems that portuguese people have a way with "catchy phrases" and this trip couldnt be an exception... So, this time, we traveled as if there was no tomorrow, smoked shisha as if there was no tomorrow, swam in the dead sea (or at least tried) as if there was no tomorrow, drank (tea) as if there was no tomorrow and so on and so on (I guess you can get the picture by now)!!

Day 1
So, the trip started with a flight to Aqaba in the South of Jordan the Sharm Al Sheiq of Jordan) and the funny situation of having a portuguese pilot flying us there. It was definitely funny to hear "welcome to Aqaba, the outside temperature is (...)" in portuguese.

Of course, as any good backpacker (que se preze) we had our precious lonely planet with us and took a taxi from the airport straight to the travelling agency that had the cheapest (or as lonely planet calls is: budget) trips to Wadi Rum, where we wanted to spend the night. We did manage to get to Wadi Rum that afternoon, but not after plenty of tea cups and a huge shoarma and paying 30 Jordanian each. Not bad, since it also included dinner, the night at a desert camp and the next day drive to Petra.

Wadi Rum was amazing.. I guess it can be kind of compared to the Grand Canyon in the States.. But there is also the desert with its nice reddish colour and the amazing sunset. We spent the afternoon dune bashing with this really crazy jordanian who everyone called Taliban (I guess you can figure out why by looking at the pics) and his sweet daughter. They didnt understand a word of english so it was kind of funny to see us trying to practice our basic words of arabic.

Back in the camp, a night of good arabic food, shisha and arak (similar to the turkish raki) awaited us but I guess that at this point we were all pretty tired from the 5 am raise and shine so after an hour or two we all passed out in our lovely tent.

The plan the following day was to wake up, watch the sun rise and the head to Petra for an entire day of exploration and Indiana Jones adventures... I did wake up to see the sun rise, but I was the only one and have to admit that I stayed outside for only 5 seconds, and ran to my bed right after, as if there was no tomorrow. I guess this kind of tells you that either I was really too sleepy or the sun rise was not that special. I would add: both.

Day 2
Anyway, we did eventually got up and once again enjoyed the pleasures of the arabic food. Nothing better than to wake up to a nice smell of tea, eggs, cucumber & tomato salad and lots of hummus.
All of this followed by a desperating wait for our driver to take us to Petra. When the "inshallah" and the "he will be here in 2 minutes" became more than one hour we had not choice but to accept our faith and relax. Afterall, we were in the desert.. and time doesnt matter when you are in the desert (well, i guess this only works as long as you have a bottle of water by your side, but I chose not to say something like that to the camp guy as he might not understand my weak attempt of a joke). At least it gave us time to arrange with the camp guy that the driver that would come to pick us up would also stay with us for 3 more days and drive us around the best places in Jordan on the way to Amman.

Eventually, our nice jordanian driver arrived and there we were on our way to Petra.. It was not a long drive, about 2-3 hours but...

To be continued

Ah e tal I am back!!

Its been a while...and truth is that time does fly.

One moment my good portuguese friends were in time, another moment I was floating in the Dead Sea and then bam... I was back in the office catching up all the pending work and 2nd semester planning.

Details of our AMAZING trip to follow...