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Finishing the trail wasn’t fun. Not at all.
Early in the morning,
I woke up in the hotel room in Amman feeling nauseous. For a moment, I was
hoping that I can fight this sensation, but no, I started feeling a wave of
vomit coming from my stomach. I jumped out of bed with a speed of a rocket (not
too bad for an ill person) and ran to the bathroom. So much for last night’s
pizza.
I searched my luggage for a bag of
electrolytes and prepared a drink to make up for the minerals and water lost
into the toilet. After that I returned to bed for some more sleep. It must have
been around 4 or 5 am, because I could hear singing from a nearby mosque.
I woke up again a few
hours later, feeling weak but not nauseous. I didn’t feel like getting up – I
could spend the entire day lying in bed and resting. I knew, however, that Ryan
and the Canadians – Ernie, Jen and Margaret – were planning to go to the Old
Town in Amman and do some sightseeing. I was tempted to ignore my poor
condition and join them – after all, when will be next time I visit Amman?
That’s what I did in the end. Got up, got dressed, drank some sweet tea for
breakfast (I couldn’t really eat anything) and ventured into the capital of
Jordan.
To get to the Old Town,
we had the guy at the hotel’s reception desk call an Uber for us. All five of
us crammed into one car – we were squeezed like sardines in a can!
The Uber took us to
the Citadel. We agreed with our little group that everyone would walk around
the premises at their own pace and we would meet at the entrance in an hour. I
decided to not sightsee alone and join Ryan instead – I felt too weak to think
and make decisions and told him that today he needed to do that for me.
The Citadel offered a
beautiful view on the city of Amman. Lots and lots of brown buildings, streets bustled
with traffic and a lot of dust in the air. In spite of all the dust, far in the
distance we could see a giant flag of Jordan waving in the wind. On an
information board placed at one of the viewpoints we read that in the year it
was constructed (2003), it was the tallest free-standing flagpole in the world
at 126.8 meters (416 feet) tall and could carry flags with a size of up to 80
square meters (861 square feet). Even if it wasn’t the tallest anymore, it
surely was very impressive!
From the other side of
the Citadel we could see a well-preserved Roman theatre – the next stop on our
sightseeing route for today. To reach the theatre we had to cross a very busy
street – Ernie’s guidebook advised to cross it ‘gingerly’ – a new English word
for me, the meaning of which I could immediately test in practice! ;-)
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| The Roman theater in Amman seats 6000 people and was built in the 2nd century when Amman was called Philadelphia. |
The Roman theatre in
Amman was larger than the one we visited in Jerash. We sat on the benches for a
while, admiring thousands years of history. We also visited a small museum
which displayed traditional Jordanian and Bedouin dresses and jewelry.
Margaret wanted to
visit Books@Cafe - a bookstore-café recommended to her by Faiza, a Jordan Trail
hiker from Amman, so once we were done with the Roman theatre, Ernie and Ryan
pulled out their smartphones and checked Google Maps directions to get there.
It turned out we once again had to cross the busy street, which none of us was
too enthusiastic about.
On our way to the café,
we passed many interesting-looking stores with herbs, spices, clothing, shoes
and miscellaneous items. I requested a quick stop at a herbal store where I got
myself a bag of sage and a bag of hibiscus. I also bought an iPhone charger
from one of the street vendors – I needed a replacement for my charger that
broke down a few days before.
The books at
Books@Cafe weren’t particularly good or interesting, but the café part was very
nice. We sat down on a cozy terrace with a mosaic wall, a fountain, many
flowers and views towards the streets of Amman. Ryan and the Canadians ordered
hamburgers and nachos. I was jealous – my taste buds would love to take a bite
of those things but stomach wasn’t ready to do that yet. Instead, I ordered a
vitamin cocktail.
As we were sitting and
resting, I felt visibly better. Less nausea, more energy. As soon as we left
the café, unpleasant symptoms resumed. I couldn’t walk too fast and felt
generally weak and ill.
The last two places we
wanted to visit before returning to our hotel were the natural medicine shops
and the local market. In his guidebook, Ernie read that some of those natural
medicine shops still sell items such as powdered lizards. He joked we should
buy some and test on me to see whether it would help with the nausea. Fortunately,
for me we didn’t find any powdered lizard, only herbs, spices, nuts, seeds
natural soaps, oils and sponges. All very interesting!
The market was busy
and noisy – like the rest of Amman. It was full of colorful fruits and
vegetables. Lots of Jordanian sweets, too – the Canadians bought some as gifts
for their family, friends and co-workers. Due to my nausea, I was a little
disturbed by all the smells – and even the sight of sweets that normally I’d
find quite attractive. The most interesting thing I spotted at the market were
giant cinnamon sticks – I have never seen them so big!
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| Giant cinnamon sticks! |
I was feeling worse
and worse, and everyone else was getting tired as well so we decided to go back
to the hotel. Ernie tried to flag down a taxi, but they either wouldn’t stop or
the drivers would refuse to take us to our destination saying it was too far
away in a rarely-frequented part of the city. What the heck?! Usually taxis
would honk at us every few minutes offering rides when we didn’t need them and
that one time we actually needed a ride it was difficult to get one! I don’t
get it….
After a number of
unsuccessful trials with taxis, Ernie decided to walk into a nearby Western
Union office and ask the employee to call an Uber for us. The Uber that picked
us up was smaller than the one which tool us to the Old Town and we squeezed
inside even more tightly. It was a Toyota Prius and I couldn’t help noticing
that this type of car seemed to be a very popular car in Jordan. I swear I saw
many Priuses - and even more Toyotas - everywhere in Jordan. Even our Jordan
Trail support truck was a Toyota!
Our Uber driver spoke
English, so we chatted with him during the ride. He was a 24 year old
university graduate who couldn’t find a job and became an Uber driver. He lived
in Madaba with his parents and worked 7 days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day to
make his living. Three-quarters of the money passengers paid for each ride went
into his pocket, the remainder were fees and taxes. The car he bought with a
bank loan. After paying taxes, loan installments and costs of living, a mere
100 JOD (ca. $140) is left. All of this didn’t sound like an easy or enjoyable
life. It made me sad to be reminded that the world is often an unfair place full
of inequalities - so many people struggle to make ends meet while others live a
luxurious life only because they happened to be born in a richer part of the
world.
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| Colorful markets of Amman |
Back at the hotel, I checked into the room I reserved earlier and moved out of Margaret’s
room. She probably enjoyed the extra space, but I’m sure she missed me. (Maybe
not the vomiting, though!) Then I went straight to bed where I planned to spend
the rest of the afternoon and the evening. Around midnight I would need to leave
for the airport – my flight back to Amsterdam would leave around 4 am. I wasn’t
going to get much sleep the next night, so I wanted to rest as much as possible
beforehand.
In the evening, Ryan
and the Canadians went out for dinner to an Iraqi restaurant. They said the
food was delicious. I was a little jealous but felt too sick to join.
At midnight, I went
down to the lobby and the men behind the reception desk called a taxi for me.
The driver spoke good English and we chattered on the way. He used to live in the
United States. A few hours before he returned from a ride to Wadi Rum and was
quite tired, so he went to bed and intended to sleep until the morning – but
then around midnight the hotel called and he had to get dressed get into his
taxi again. He had no choice – business is business.
At the airport, I went
through security twice – the first time before even entering the airport and
the second time before going to the gates. I have never before experienced this
double security check! The moment I got an exit stamp into my passport it
became official – I was leaving Jordan. I felt a little sad… I had had such
great time in this country, much better than I had expected! This trip had
definitely been among one of the best in my life!
Regarding my flight
back to Amsterdam, it was quite challenging due to my stomach problems. I had
to use the restroom several times on the plane and at the Athens Airport where
I had a layover. I made a mistake of eating the breakfast I was served on my
flight to Athens – my stomach didn’t appreciate it. I learnt my lesson, though,
and on the flight to Amsterdam I didn’t eat anything – just drank water and
electrolytes.
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| Ruins of the Citadel |
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| Ernie thought a "hate free zone" during lunch would prevent me from playing pranks on him... *shaking head* It's not a prank-free zone, buddy! =) |
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| My first hamburger in 45 days! And it was delicious! |
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