South Jordan and Cultural Insensitivity

Alright, I'm sorry it took me so long to post but I've been pretty busy getting everything together. South Jordan was unbelievable. We started of our trip by visiting Kerak, some ruins on the way to the south. We then went to Petra where we learned about the old city and the Nebateaens who ran the trade metropolis of the Middle East. Petra (the old city) connected Europe to Asia to Africa and actually covered a huge chunk of the Middle East. It is truly impossible to visit all of Petra in one day, it would probably take around 3 days to not only see all of the old city but to truly appreciate it. First, you walk through the Siq which is a gorgeous canyon of sandstone and other minerals, after about half an hour or so of walking, you emerge to see the Treasury building. The reason the Treasury building is so remarkable is because it's in such good condition and is the first building you see after the Siq. Some friends and I then walked a couple kilometers and climbed close to 1500 steps to reach the Monastery. The Monastery is another of the better intact buildings at Petra and is actually two times or so the size of the Treasury. Both however are truly breath-taking and the landscape and scenery where Petra was built is one of the more beautiful things I've seen. After Petra, we headed to Wadi Rum. We slept in tents, sang by the campfire, went driving over dunes in jeeps, climbed these massive rock formations, rode camels, and watched the sunset over the Wadi. Wadi Rum means "Rum Valley" (not the alcohol, it's just a name) but the locals call it Wadi Qamr, "Valley of the Moon," because at night, the Wadi is illuminated by the stars and the moon. A few of us also climbed one of the rock formations early in the morning and watched the sunrise while doing yoga over Wadi Rum. First time doing yoga, pretty fun, not gonna lie. After Wadi Rum, we headed to Aqaba where we first snorkeled in the Red Sea. We all had free time after that where we went to a great seafood restaurant called "Ali Baba." After Aqaba, we headed to Dana Nature Reserve where we again slept in tents and hung out by the campfire. We also climbed one on the mountains next to our site and watched the sunset over the reserve, I think that could truly be categorized as an awesome experience. We were going to do another hike the next morning but Dr. Raed (the SIT director) got very sick, hospital, the works, and so we all decided to head home early to let him relax.

South Jordan was an amazing time and truly gorgeous. The one thing that bothered me however were the tourists; the mass amounts of tour groups, tour guides, and culturally-insensitive people trudging around Petra and Aqaba. I know I'm technically a tourist as well, but I see myself more as a student who is learning about the tourist scene in Jordan. The Middle East is a fantastic region of the world and I'd recommend anybody to go, but what people need to learn, what foreigners need to learn, is that this is a different culture. Locals don't wear shorts or tank-tops, this is wrong according to their culture and to their faith so it annoys me when I see this. I actually saw a girl wearing a tank-top, really short jean-shorts, and then she had the nerve to put a hijab on. I guess I just don't understand how certain people think. I always encourage travel and new experiences, but don't do it if you're just going to be ignorant of the culture you're in. Tour groups don't allow you to experience a culture, they allow you to stare at a culture from behind a glass wall. This to me is not travel. I'm sorry about that little rant but I felt like I had to get that out. Anyway, I have some pictures for you guys; there were too much for the blog so I did another Flickr page. Hope you enjoy them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48644224@N08/sets/72157623699184727/

Alright, that's all for now but I'll be posting again soon since school is almost over for us and the ISP period starts next week. Ma salaama.