Nov 3 Cairo to Jordan

We left our hotel early to drive to airport. The traffic was super horrible!  Took way longer than they expected. En route, we were surrounded by mile after mile of half built or half torn down apartment buildings. When we asked, our guide tried to tell us that the reason was that people thought that it was  a good investment to start to build a building and even if they couldn’t afford to finish is, they could finish it later. Well that made zero sense.  Ca ca. We had many of our own theories ...

Cairo seemed to be a great big slum. Garbage —tons— everywhere. Pollution was unbelievable. I don’t regret going there to see pyramids but wouldn’t return.

Flight to Jordan was less than an hour. Just time for a quick snack. Wish I’d eaten more because lunch was hours away.
After landing, a very odd thing happened.  RS (Road Scholar) had sent a young man from the US to be a  professional photographer to capture the travelers on the first trip ( before us) and us —-on these maiden trips on private planes. “Andy” was with us for several days & we were getting to know him. But upon landing, the authorities denied him entry to Jordan with his photo & video equipment!!  We all waited on our bus while they tried to sort it out. A resolution was not forthcoming so our guides said he would stay at the airport while some folks figured it out. Later we learned that he was being allowed in —-sans all equipment except for a camera! Crazy!  We will catch up with him inPetra.

We were the taken to Wadi Rum— a valley I the desert that has been the location for filming many movies:  Lawrence ofArabia, the Martian, a StarWars movie,etc.  the area is referred to as valley of the moon because it looks like the moon!  We had lunch at a camp then in groups of5-6 we got in the back of little pick up trucks that had seats and we toured the valley for about 2 hours. Landscapes were gorgeous. Stopped at a Bedouin camp where they had kitsch for sale. Amusing.

At the moment I’m on  the2 hour bus ride to Wadi Musa and Petra & since there is wi fi I thought I’d see if I could get on— and you can see that I did!  I’m happy to get this done as often there just isn’t time.

Tomorrow we see Petra. I’m thrilled to have air I can breathe here!