Family Farm

This is Rita's family's farm near the city of Madaba.

Beit Zaman near Petra, Jordan

These are photos from Rita's trip last month to Jordan. She visited this hotel near Petra. It is a traditional Jordanian village-style setting, and even has a traditional olive oil press (top photo). We will be having our groups and independent travelers stay here. The hotel is owned and operated by the local people from the tribe in Petra.

Photos from Jordan

Here are some of Rita's photos from her trip to Jordan. She stayed at her family's farm in Madaba, and was able to enjoy visits and dinners with friends and family. The first set of photos here are from meals at the farm.

Preparing mansaf- a traditional Jordanian dish made with rice, stewed meat, and a yogurt sauce.

Sprinkling pine nuts over the mansaf.

Ladling the yogurt sauce onto the mansaf.

Eating mansaf the traditional way.

Family enjoying the mansaf.

Stuffing grape leaves.

Preparing skewers for the BBQ

BBQ Kabob

Tabouleh

Home in Seattle at last

Sept 20:  Made my connection in Paris and off to Seattle and I am hoping for some cool weather and rain.  That flight was also full, and when arriving at SeaTac I noticed that about 3/4 of the people were going into the visitors lane and the others were the US citizens.  Wondering why they are all coming to Seattle and if they are working or just visiting?  Customs was very strict here, I usually come into Chicago or New York and even SFO which is very easy.  I asked the guy at customs why they were strict with food products like nuts etc- and he said that it is a smaller airport and they don't get as much international traffic as the other airports so they have more time to really check things. I spent about a half hour talking to them to see what people can and can't bring in - it seems that Jordan has been cleared for a lot of food items. If you try and bring food items like pumpkin seeds or nuts, from Lebanon, they won't be allowed. But if they came from Jordan (package says Jordan on it) then it is ok.

Nice to be home and sleep in my big bed and have Omar (my Yorkie) sleeping above my head.

Time to come home

Sept 19: What is so interesting in just the six months since my last visit is to see a high percentage of the people wearing their religion on their sleeve, so to speak. The Muslims from the way that the women dress and the Christians are wearing their crosses.  Either I have never noticed it before, or it is much more obvious now- not really sure, but not a comfortable feeling, but I do hear that throughout the region.

The wind started to blow this evening and it was so pleasant to sit for the last time out in the orchard and work on my computer doing some emails. I had just gotten a call from a journalist that was planning on coming to Jordan and wanted me to set him up with my contacts to do a story on the region. Got that done along with some email introductions.  Friends came and said their good-byes before I had to leave to the airport (which has a really a great duty free shop for some last minute Arabic sweets and nuts).

The flight on Air France was full all the way to Paris.

Update on Syria from Rita

Sept 16:  Spent the day talking to people about Syria who had just returned or had been asked to leave by their companies and are coming to Jordan.  A lot of the UNRWA and other NGO's have closed their offices.  The American Embassy is still open but has only 28 people still there for now.  They are stating that Ambassador Ford will just finish the year and then it might be closed.  That is really sad when you think that it just re-opened.

The fighting is still taking place with both groups doing atrocities to the other.  I was told by a friend that Asma, the wife of Bashar Al Assad, is still in Damascus and she went to visit the Red Cross, trying to talk to people and see if she could help in cooordinating talks between both sides.  There are also rumors that Mazin is not letting her leave the country with the kids, but we are not able to say if that is true or not.

I was trying to figure out before I came why there are no curfews, I have been told that if they had curfews similar to during the reign of his father that you might have a lot more violence and bloodshed.  This way people still have some freedom to get out and say what they want. One of the main slogans is "Alawites out (this is the ruling party in Syria) and the Christians to Lebanon".

The people in Damascus and Aleppo, the two major cities in Syria, are more upper class and have made lots of money during Bashar's reign and they want to keep him.  Life has been good for them. Better than the time of his father.  That is one of the reasons that there are very few demonstrations there.  The places having the most trouble are the border cities and also in Hama and Homs were massacres years ago during the reign of the Bashar's father, Hafez Al Assad.  That is another one of the slogans: "Revenge for our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters".

News & Topics of Conversation

Sept 15:  Still in Madaba and listening to the news that there is a demonstration in downtown Amman.  The Israeli ambassador has left Jordan for security reasons, and the Palestinians and Jordanians are demonstrating in front of the American embassy and burning the flag. They are not happy with America's total acceptance of  Israel's actions and policies. Especially with what is happening in Gaza. The demonstrators are peaceful and the soldiers and police stay to the side so that nothing happens.  They feel if they go into the crowd it will cause problems.

People still go about their business and try and keep a sense of calm.  There are tensions between the Palestinians and the Jordanians and also the Christians and the Muslims. Everyone is watching what is happening in Syria to see if it will spill over into this area.  So far nothing.  The Christians have a feeling that if the Christians are kicked out of Syria and sent to Lebanon, as some of the slogans that are being shouted say, the same will happen to them here.  But neighbors and friends are talking to each other and say that we are still friends and families, there is no way that anything like this will happen.

These are topics of conversation all over the country in coffee shops, in homes, and in restaurants etc.

Had a BBQ today with friends and family. We had all kinds of meat and salads and Arak in the hot sun. Singing and dancing and playing the tabla.