Making Lemonade

Richard, Ken, Barney & Brian

It is early Sunday morning in Wadi Musa. I got up with first prayers at 3:59 and it provides this time to reflect while so many of those I love are still having Saturday. The seven of us working for Petra this time (3 Park Ranger/Tourism Police Mentoring/ 2 SAR/ 2 GIS) were honored guests at Ranger Atef’s home in Um-Sayhoun on Thursday evening (after he’d completed the basic SAR training). We brought a half-kilo of cookies and a football (soccer) that I brought from Big Five in Santa Fe. He served his traditional “Upside Down” with rice & a few veggies and 3 chickens crowning the mound of food. Of course yogurt and salad (cucumber & tomato) alongside. The food was excellent as usual, but was secondary to being with his family & friends. 

Upper Dana

Returning from Atef’s the van broke down: we nursed it to Wadi Musa, but it lost the clutch near park HQ. The latter part of the evening and early morning were spent coordinating for van pick-up, repair & replacement. Being as Fridays are holy & sacred, with little work performed, it was amazing to see how efficiently things proceeded for us. The van owner arrived from Amman (3+ hours away) shortly after 8AM. He had another van and driver (Mohammed: who had lived in New Jersey and Florida for 2-years) and arranged for our van to get trucked back to Amman for repair while we went on our visit to the Dead Sea. We stopped into the Visitor Center area of the Dana Biosphere Reserve (they sometimes have SAR events/incidents). Then it was on to Al-Tafila and the highway down from the highlands into the rift valley containing the lowest point on earth.

pouring lemonade

We took shelter for the evening at the Swiss owned Movenpick Resort & Spa (I’d checked the newer Holiday Inn, but they didn’t have 7-rooms & cost more for less [having stayed there previously]): it was tough alright- can you say Five Star? Since I’d booked the 7-rooms I was treated to an upgrade, a suite with two of everything but only one of me. In the morning we were treated to an excellent b-fast buffet and in the lobby the best lemonade I’ve ever had (and I love lemonade). It reminded me of a saying from my ol’ master sage Kung Fu-tzu (Confucius): “when you have bitter melon, make sweet melonade.”

Kastel stable

The remainder of Saturday was sweet: visit to Jesus/John Baptism Site, van trade for our vehicle with new clutch by 11, Mt. Nebo Moses Memorial, Madaba mosaics, Karak Krusader Kastel, etc. getting back home a little after dark-30 (half-past 8). We are now ready for another week of mentoring, advanced SAR & GIS training and making lemonade (Inshallah)…