The other day we drove to the visitor center of Wadi Rum where we were met by the shiek who would be our host for the night at his desert camp. He and two of his tribesman met us with their old-school, very beaten up, but still beautiful, Land Cruisers. We threw our bags in the back, drove through the little village (littered with more old Land Cruisers) to where the road ended and headed off into the desert.
Still barren like the Egyptian desert, but here the sand has a red color with great monolith rock formations rising up out of it. Somehow there is a beauty in the emptiness. A breeze kept the heat from weighing on us as we drove out through the sand. We saw the Seven Pillars of Wisdom (go rent the old film Lawrence of Arabia), climbed a sand dune, and saw ancient inscriptions that served as maps to the caravans passing through. It's amazing how a land that seems to have nothing in it can still have so much history hidden away.
That night we stayed in the sheik's camp and slept under the stars, watching satellites and shooting stars pass us by. When you marvel at the greatness of what God has created, you suddenly feel very small -- I think that is a good thing.
We used heavy goat hair blankets that had a certain stench in the morning when the dew had made them damp. As my new friend from Australia put it, "It smells like 70 bloody camels pissed on me!" Quite a lovely aroma to wake up to.
We watched the sun rise over the horizon and headed back to civilization. What an experience. And I must say, if I were an old Land Cruiser, that's exactly where I'd choose to be.
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