Yesterday CIEE took us on a day trip to the Eastern Desert Castles, and the Al-Azraq Oasis. If you imagine Jordan as a half t-shirt, we were in the arm part that extends out to Iraq. These two desert castles were along the ancient trade route between Damascus and Baghdad. It was cool to imagine old traders on camels splonking (that's the best word I can think of to describe how camels walk) through the desert, with nothing in sight but rocks, bushes, and sand. The night before my aunt was telling me about how it's rumored that those castles were actually brothels along the old trade route. like I said, there really was NOTHING out there for those ancient traders haha. Sure enough the placard in front of one of the castles that read something like "even though the purpose of this building has never been proven, it is commonly agreed on by historians that they were used as "inns" for ancient traders on the route between Damascus and Baghdad". Sure enough there were pictures of Dancing women on the ceiling of one of the buildings. Also in the larger of the two buildings the windows of the second story rooms were floor to ceiling facing the inner court yard. There was no balcony or anything, you just walked to the edge of the room and the floor dropped away and you were just standing in this rectangular gap in the wall, able to see everyone in the courtyard...and more importantly for everyone in the courtyard to see you. Brothel theory, exhibit A! Also those rooms were just about big enough for you know what...Brothel theory exhibit B! It was just too similar to Amsterdam's red light district with the women on display for those weary travelers in the middle of nowhere, halfway between Damascus and Baghdad. The world's oldest profession must have existed in the place where the world's first civilized state took root.
After lookin at the castles we biked for about 20K's through the desert on an old sand and rock double track road. It was great to have CIEE take care of everything for us, we just showed up, ran around some castles, grabbed a bike, and then ate lunch at the Al-Azraq Oasis. Or what's left of it. It's an oasis in the eastern desert that has now become a Jordan's version of a national park. The water was pretty gross...a friend and I stopped playing Frisbee after an unfortunate throw ended with the Frisbee in the "water". We could retrieve it, we just decided to play it safe. The Oasis used to be full but lack of water use laws has left it well on it's way to drying up. The small museum explaining about the Oasis was saying how there used to be super diverse animal life there: Rhino's, Syrian Ostrich's, Hippo's...but now there's just a few water buffalo's...who leave behind some really big pies. They were worth taking pictures of:
After lookin at the castles we biked for about 20K's through the desert on an old sand and rock double track road. It was great to have CIEE take care of everything for us, we just showed up, ran around some castles, grabbed a bike, and then ate lunch at the Al-Azraq Oasis. Or what's left of it. It's an oasis in the eastern desert that has now become a Jordan's version of a national park. The water was pretty gross...a friend and I stopped playing Frisbee after an unfortunate throw ended with the Frisbee in the "water". We could retrieve it, we just decided to play it safe. The Oasis used to be full but lack of water use laws has left it well on it's way to drying up. The small museum explaining about the Oasis was saying how there used to be super diverse animal life there: Rhino's, Syrian Ostrich's, Hippo's...but now there's just a few water buffalo's...who leave behind some really big pies. They were worth taking pictures of:
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