Blog # 9
FROM PETRA TO BORDER CROSSING INTO ISRAEL
We pile into Jim’s car and with the help of our hotel porter
manage to get another suitcase into the trunk. Jim decides to drive back on
King’s Highway that goes through Madaba where he lives and works. He entices us
by telling us about a great restaurant there that has hummus (chick pea dish) and
Diane assures us is “to die for”.
We dream of Palestinian food in anticipation of Madaba’s Haret Jdoudna restaurant.
During our drive I find it amusing to listen to Jim arguing with his MapQuest
voice lady (not Siri but maybe Cleopetra) who tells Jim to drive down nonexistent
roads and Jim tells her off when she leads us astray. There is no irrigation on
this desert and in contrast with Oman it seems very desolate and isolated. I wonder
why anyone would live here and what their daily activities would consist of. We
arrive in Madaba, best known for its mosaics and carpets and because of its
irrigation is like an oasis. Jim
drives us through the 2-year old university where he works which has just had
palm trees installed. We arrive at the restaurant and have what John says is
the best Palestinian food we have had on this trip. We share hummus that is
definitely a religious experience, pickled eggplant with walnuts, sundried tomatoes
and garlic (Makdous); tabouli (parsley, vulgar wheat, lemons); fresh salads and
freshly made pita bread and taboun flat bread. Diane increases our food appetite by telling us about various
spices and other incredible Palestine dishes such as ensaka (chicken dish) and
a fruit dish (pomegranate, bananas, ½ cup of lemon and 1 tsp of brown sugar)
that she says is crack cocaine. She reminds us we can get pomegranate and
pomello (type of grapefruit) at Costco. We end our lunch with bread pudding (Um
Ali) the best Diane has found in Jordan or Israel. Diane tells me she is trying
to get the recipe. She says we can ship incredible spices home ~ she may make a
cook out of me yet!
Border Crossing
We head for the border and John worries about not having
shekels and I worry about left over Jordanian dinars we have not spent because
we haven’t had time to shop. This
time Diane rescues us loaning us shekels and assures us the bank machines will
be plentiful in Jerusalem. We have to pay to get out of Jordan as well as to get
into Jordan. I have been worrying about going into Israel because our passports
contain Arab and Muslim stamps from Dubai, Oman, and Egypt. Or, is the more difficult problem
entering Muslim countries with an Israel stamp in our passport? Since we are going
home through Jordan and Dubai I wonder what we would do if Dubai refused us
entry. With the Arab world in a state of ongoing revolution, policies seem to
change daily. However, I do understand from our travel book that we can’t have
our passports stamped with an Israeli stamp on the way in and must ask for an
entry stamp on a separate piece of paper.
But first we must get through 4 different wickets on the Jordanian
border, a model of gross inefficiency as we go from police 1, to police 2, to
police 3 then back to police 3 -all before getting onto the bus on the
Jordanian side. They take our passports and tell us to get on the bus.
Thankfully we have Diane as our coach who tells us this is normal and as we
start for one bus we are told to get on a different bus. Interestingly we read in the Haaretz
newspaper the next morning that Israel is enforcing separate buses for Palestinians
and for Israelis. These discriminatory travel regulations remind John and I of
the racial segregation of the 50’s when African American people had to sit in
the back of the bus. John comments
on Israel becoming apartheid.
We drive 5 kilometers to the Israel border where we go
through immigration. Coach Diane has practiced with me what to say when they
ask questions such as, “why are you
coming to Israel?” “Why did you go to Dubai?” “ Are you going to West Bank?” She
cautions us not to expand on our answers.
While I have rehearsed my answers, John is the one interviewed by a
woman and not me. She asks John
why he flew into Dubai and is perplexed when he explains we got free tickets on
air miles. Then he adds, “the Seattle
Dubai flight is direct, you should try it.” She replies she cannot or she
would not get back into Israel. She asks for a copy of our return e-ticket and John
tells her he doesn’t have it because with computers and Internet you don’t need
paper any more. As I watch this I am hoping she has a sense of humor and
doesn’t react to his attempt at humor. Luckily after a few more question about going
to West Bank and we lie saying “no” she passes us through. Then we wait for 20
minutes to get the luggage and mine is the only one not to arrive. I am
thinking of Italy when my luggage never arrived but coach Diane tells me to use
my positive self talk and that it will eventually come ~ which it did. Next we
take a bus for about 20 minutes into town and I notice all the others on our bus
are Palestinians. One lovely, helpful man helps us with getting on the right
bus and not paying an outrageous price for a taxi. He and John talk on the bus
and he tells us his daughter is at university in United States and passes John
his business card telling him to call if we need any help. I notice the wall
with barbwire on top separating West Bank from Jerusalem… I am thinking of the
Berlin wall. This so called “security barrier” which cost billions of dollars
separating the Palestinians from the Israeli population is a temporary
illusion. It would seem to breed fear and paranoia rather than safety. Arriving
in downtown Jerusalem with our 2 large suitcases, 2 backpacks, my purse and
camera and my ridiculous bag with my camel basket in it, we are let out on the
sidewalk just opposite the Old City.
All my senses are in turmoil. Diane calls her friend, a Franciscan nun
who picks us up and takes us to the American Colony hotel, an old lovely
colonial leftover that has been thoroughly renovated. We are exhausted and I feel brain damaged – John suggests we
watch a movie (Campaign)on his computer, and I fall asleep. Tomorrow we will see the Old
City and John will search for data to prove where Jesus was buried.
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