Here is a message from Megan - hope everyone is well, Rip.
If you've spent any amount of time in the presence of Joyce, you will have noticed that sometimes she just glows. There is a sheer joy that begins deep down inside of her and just radiates outwards and it is absolutely contagious.
It seems to me that Joyce has been glowing more than usual on this trip, but most especially these last two days when we did the renewal of marriage vows and the renewal of baptism.
To see her in these moments was truly to see her in her glory and it was an honour to have born witness to such a meaningful experience for Joyce as well as all of those who were blessed enough to be able to take part in this trip and in these ceremonies.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Shalom
We enjoy our Farewell Dinner and the group are all thankful in different ways for a wonderful experience. We have had an amazing journey together and everyone has gotten along beautifully and there are so many touching memories to share.
I am so grateful for the sharing of a trip of a lifetime with such great people; thank you to each and every one. Special thanks to Marilyn who jumped in and scoured the internet early on and the found so many fabulous, not-to-be-missed places to add to our itinerary and who helped me sort out answers to questions and details of the process.
Each person added something unique and important - truly each a child of God.
As I say shalom to the blog entries I realize that the word `shalom`is used in Israel to say both goodbye and hello which is very fitting as we say goodbye to the official time of the trip, but at the same time say hello to seeing life and the world of Israel and Jordan in a new way because of our experience.
Shalom, my friends, shalom, my friends, shalom, shalom with deep gratitude.
I am so grateful for the sharing of a trip of a lifetime with such great people; thank you to each and every one. Special thanks to Marilyn who jumped in and scoured the internet early on and the found so many fabulous, not-to-be-missed places to add to our itinerary and who helped me sort out answers to questions and details of the process.
Each person added something unique and important - truly each a child of God.
As I say shalom to the blog entries I realize that the word `shalom`is used in Israel to say both goodbye and hello which is very fitting as we say goodbye to the official time of the trip, but at the same time say hello to seeing life and the world of Israel and Jordan in a new way because of our experience.
Shalom, my friends, shalom, my friends, shalom, shalom with deep gratitude.
Jericho
We are up before dawn at our Bedouin camp and the bus leaves promptly at 6 am. We watch the sunrise from the coach and a few of us have a bus-nap to make up for the short night! We have a long ride ahead to the Allenby Bridge to return to Israel today. We travel on the King's Highway which is 5,000 years old - it passes through a string of ancient sites. One of them is Madaba, "the City of Mosaics". We stop and have a tour of the Greek Orthodox church of St. George. On the floor is a wonderfully vivid, 6th centry Byzantine mosaic map showing Jerusalem and other holy sites. Some of the map is missing, but there is enough there to be colourful and impressive.
Ten minutes to the west of Mount Nebo where Moses looked out over the Promised Land. God said to him that he would see it, but not live to cross over, this is the presumed site of the Prophet's death and burial place. The view is breathtaking and we can look across into Jordan one way and the other way over the Jordan River and Dead Sea into Israel and the Mount of Olives, and Jerusalem which are not far away.
We hussle back into the bus and make haste to the Allenby Bridge because it is the Jewish Shabbat (sabbath)and the bridge will close at 12 noon. We arrive and it takes the usual 1 hour and 45 minutes to get through all the security checks and line ups. Our organized tour guide Dicko is waiting for us along with our friendly bus drive Sharif, who is very sweet with his winks- universal language!
Even though we are on our way to the hotel to freshen up before our flight, Dicko has a full day planned for us. We go to the city of Jericho dating back to about 7,000 BC. In the area cave dwellers have also been found (Carmel) dating back to some 600,000 years before Christ. That is beyond comprehension! We also see a sycamore tree that is some 2,000 years old, said to be the one that Zacchaeus the tax collector was sitting in as Jesus came by. It is a large, gnarled tree, like a big bonsai!
In Jericho we walk to Elisha's spring - and taste the fresh water. Water is such a crucial part of the survival of the people's of Jordan and Israel. Right now a 1 billion dollar pipiline is being run through Jordan and it is estimated that fresh water will be supplied for about 45-50 years - after that????
On we go to our hotel in Tel Aviv to rest and shower before our Farewell Dinner.
What a day - what a trip!
Ten minutes to the west of Mount Nebo where Moses looked out over the Promised Land. God said to him that he would see it, but not live to cross over, this is the presumed site of the Prophet's death and burial place. The view is breathtaking and we can look across into Jordan one way and the other way over the Jordan River and Dead Sea into Israel and the Mount of Olives, and Jerusalem which are not far away.
We hussle back into the bus and make haste to the Allenby Bridge because it is the Jewish Shabbat (sabbath)and the bridge will close at 12 noon. We arrive and it takes the usual 1 hour and 45 minutes to get through all the security checks and line ups. Our organized tour guide Dicko is waiting for us along with our friendly bus drive Sharif, who is very sweet with his winks- universal language!
Even though we are on our way to the hotel to freshen up before our flight, Dicko has a full day planned for us. We go to the city of Jericho dating back to about 7,000 BC. In the area cave dwellers have also been found (Carmel) dating back to some 600,000 years before Christ. That is beyond comprehension! We also see a sycamore tree that is some 2,000 years old, said to be the one that Zacchaeus the tax collector was sitting in as Jesus came by. It is a large, gnarled tree, like a big bonsai!
In Jericho we walk to Elisha's spring - and taste the fresh water. Water is such a crucial part of the survival of the people's of Jordan and Israel. Right now a 1 billion dollar pipiline is being run through Jordan and it is estimated that fresh water will be supplied for about 45-50 years - after that????
On we go to our hotel in Tel Aviv to rest and shower before our Farewell Dinner.
What a day - what a trip!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
7 Wonders Bedouin Camp
We stayed at the 7 wonders Bedouin camp last night - what an experience! We were in canvas covered huts with simple beds and one light and a candle. Dinner was cooked in the ground heated by fire. It was delicious! After dinner we gathered around a fire in a circular area with ground cushions. Here there were songs, wine and 2 cakes that miraculously appeared when I mentioned that it was Doug's birthday and mary Anne's 50th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately we couldn't call Don because there was no internet - did I say it was primitive?
The lights on the mountains around us, the full moon and the stars made it quite the experience. We were off to bed early for a wake up call at 5 am, breakfast at 5:30 and on the bus for 6 am. Whew!
Did I mention that Rip got up and had a shower and came back to tell it was time to get up and I had better get going before the rush the communal bathrooms - I raced out of bed, put clothes on, put on my watch and lit a candle to read the time - 2:05 am!!!
Back to sleep we went and got up at the right time; a little tired, but ready for another full day!
The lights on the mountains around us, the full moon and the stars made it quite the experience. We were off to bed early for a wake up call at 5 am, breakfast at 5:30 and on the bus for 6 am. Whew!
Did I mention that Rip got up and had a shower and came back to tell it was time to get up and I had better get going before the rush the communal bathrooms - I raced out of bed, put clothes on, put on my watch and lit a candle to read the time - 2:05 am!!!
Back to sleep we went and got up at the right time; a little tired, but ready for another full day!
Petra
After a lovely night in our specacular hotel we are off to Petra, the red rock city. It is beyond description with the winding path (called The Siq). The canyon of rock swirls high above us and winds down a path to a place called The Treasury. We have a group photo there with the Post newspaper. Hope we will get published!
Petra is known as one of the 7 Wonders of the world, and it has certainly impressed all of us. We have 4 hours there of treking, horse back riding and camel riding; some of our group took horse drawn carriages as well. In addition there was a LOT of walking and story telling of the peoples who first settled in the area.
I loved riding the camel but I was not warned that when the camel sits down the front goes down to the ground first and you must hang on for dear life or go .,.. over tea kettle to the ground! The horse back riding went better and I remembered my old days of riding in marshall potato fields in ancaster many long years ago.
A place and day of memories, never to be forgotten!
Petra is known as one of the 7 Wonders of the world, and it has certainly impressed all of us. We have 4 hours there of treking, horse back riding and camel riding; some of our group took horse drawn carriages as well. In addition there was a LOT of walking and story telling of the peoples who first settled in the area.
I loved riding the camel but I was not warned that when the camel sits down the front goes down to the ground first and you must hang on for dear life or go .,.. over tea kettle to the ground! The horse back riding went better and I remembered my old days of riding in marshall potato fields in ancaster many long years ago.
A place and day of memories, never to be forgotten!
Jordan
It takes almost 2 hours to cross the border into Jordan. It is obvious that security is more of an issue here - men with machine guns track the bus as we go through the 4th round of security.
The first thing we notice is the loads of garbage at the sides of the roads - there are garbage tins on wheels in front of the houses but these seem to be full; perhaps they do not have weekly garbage collection!
Stoplights are few and far between - and stop signs, when there is one, seem to be a suggestion; not the law. It is also unusual to see lane lines on the road so people seem to weave in and out and in the middle at their whim.
Just today our bus went through two stoplights and a truck that passed us just missed hitting a pedestrian - on the highway!
80% of Jordan is desert and the rest just patches of green mostly along the Jordan River. We see lots of camels (two humps)and dromedaries (one hump). Camels and dromedaries can go 2 weeks without water and then the consume it so fast that if a human drank that fast it would kill them!
We had no internet service last night so this is my post for Thursday!
We visit a craft shop in a cave and the garage is also a cave!
The first thing we notice is the loads of garbage at the sides of the roads - there are garbage tins on wheels in front of the houses but these seem to be full; perhaps they do not have weekly garbage collection!
Stoplights are few and far between - and stop signs, when there is one, seem to be a suggestion; not the law. It is also unusual to see lane lines on the road so people seem to weave in and out and in the middle at their whim.
Just today our bus went through two stoplights and a truck that passed us just missed hitting a pedestrian - on the highway!
80% of Jordan is desert and the rest just patches of green mostly along the Jordan River. We see lots of camels (two humps)and dromedaries (one hump). Camels and dromedaries can go 2 weeks without water and then the consume it so fast that if a human drank that fast it would kill them!
We had no internet service last night so this is my post for Thursday!
We visit a craft shop in a cave and the garage is also a cave!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Many surprises
A DAY OF SURPRISES
Up early as usual and on the bus to Jordan. On arrival we go through 2 sets of security on the Israel side of the border and then we are shuttled to two sets of security on the Jordan side of the border. Kevin gets pulled aside once more by the Israeli's and asked the same questions as before. It does not seem to be unusual - our guide, Diko, and our bus driver, Sharif, says this is normal. It happens all the time.
We are on a bus shuttle to cross over and then on another bus with a Tourist Police officer. The security is beyond what we have ever seen.
The countryside is really different - high mountains, dry soil, few trees. There is little rain in this area.
We stop for lunch in an area that looks like it has nothing. A small shop entrance opens up to a huge restaurant area, shaded. The lunch is wonderful and lots of people are enjoying hooka pipes after the meal.
Off to Jerash, a Graeco-Roman ciy, close second to Petra on the list of favourite destinations in Jordan. It is huge and the "short" tour takes almost 2 hours. Our new tour guide, Ahmad, is soft spoken, very different from Diko, but also very knowledgeable.
On the tour an outgoing entrepreneur selling postcards asks Laura how old she is and if she is married. He is 18 and offers 2,000 camels for her hand in marriage! Surpise, surprise!
On the bus again and have a tour of Amman before getting to our hotel. It is amazing! It has a huge chandelier and glass elevators to glorious rooms. Once again our accommodations are first rate. Our luggage and carry ons are scanned through xray which is a first for many of us at a hotel. Another surprise!
The meal is wonderful, and we are off to bed early for a dawn start tomorrow to visit Petra, the red rock city. Amman is a big city, dense population, but we are in a diplomat area which is a great surprise.
Up early as usual and on the bus to Jordan. On arrival we go through 2 sets of security on the Israel side of the border and then we are shuttled to two sets of security on the Jordan side of the border. Kevin gets pulled aside once more by the Israeli's and asked the same questions as before. It does not seem to be unusual - our guide, Diko, and our bus driver, Sharif, says this is normal. It happens all the time.
We are on a bus shuttle to cross over and then on another bus with a Tourist Police officer. The security is beyond what we have ever seen.
The countryside is really different - high mountains, dry soil, few trees. There is little rain in this area.
We stop for lunch in an area that looks like it has nothing. A small shop entrance opens up to a huge restaurant area, shaded. The lunch is wonderful and lots of people are enjoying hooka pipes after the meal.
Off to Jerash, a Graeco-Roman ciy, close second to Petra on the list of favourite destinations in Jordan. It is huge and the "short" tour takes almost 2 hours. Our new tour guide, Ahmad, is soft spoken, very different from Diko, but also very knowledgeable.
On the tour an outgoing entrepreneur selling postcards asks Laura how old she is and if she is married. He is 18 and offers 2,000 camels for her hand in marriage! Surpise, surprise!
On the bus again and have a tour of Amman before getting to our hotel. It is amazing! It has a huge chandelier and glass elevators to glorious rooms. Once again our accommodations are first rate. Our luggage and carry ons are scanned through xray which is a first for many of us at a hotel. Another surprise!
The meal is wonderful, and we are off to bed early for a dawn start tomorrow to visit Petra, the red rock city. Amman is a big city, dense population, but we are in a diplomat area which is a great surprise.
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