The Bus from Aqaba to Wadi Rum

approaching Wadi Rum village

Armed with a copy of T.E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and a cool black jalabiya (i have finally gone local), i'm ready to hit the deserts of South Jordan.

There is only one bus per day that departs from the central bus stand at 1pm. I get an interesting insight to local life from two expats living Wadi Rum.

The first is a big-boned young American from Chicago. She married a local Bedouin man two years ago and has been living there ever since. Her Christian parents are from Arkansas and have virtually disowned her for her life-choice. I ask her if she likes her new life, but the best she can offer is “it’s different”. She now cooks and cleans at her husband’s Bedouin campsite.

The second woman is also American born (New York), but has lived abroad most of her life. She is now in her late seventies and has spent the last fourteen years in Wadi Rum. She is a “Truth – Seeker” collecting Biblical evidence on both Abraham and Moses. She is convinced that evidence has been hidden by the Jordanian authorities for “political reasons” and has had interest from a German TV station to make a documentary on her findings next year. She asserts that Gadaffi is right – the US government has brought the insurgents in Libya and that they are working in partnership with Al-Qaeda.

The bus stops off at the Visitors’ Centre just out of Rum Village do i can pay the entrance fee – adults/students for JD5/JD1.

Both these characters make for an interesting hour and fifteen minutes.