December 1st, Part Two: Wadi Rum

By the time we were done wandering all over Petra, we were pretty hungry. We still had a little bit of time before we had to meet Ahmad, so we went to Petra Kitchen to grab some lunch.

Mint lemonade and hummus with pita and eggs with potatoes...I think I drooled on my keyboard a little bit just remembering that. We finished lunch, met Ahmad, and started off toward our next stop.

We stopped at a few scenic overlooks on our way out of town. You'd never guess that there's a whole city hiding in those rocks.

A little while later, we made it to our next stop: Wadi Rum. This is the desert from Lawrence of Arabia, and they also used it in The Martian because it looks so much like Mars. I was really looking forward to checking it out! We stopped at the visitor center for our entry stamp, then Ahmad parked the car in a lot off to the side. We all grabbed our overnight bags, met our driver...

...and hopped in the back of his truck for the ride out to the Bedouin camp where we'd be spending the night.

We had some crazy views on the way out, and it was especially fun to take in the desert from the back of a truck as it slid and bounced its way toward camp.  :)

A few miles of bumpy scenic driving later, we made it to camp. This is what we had been riding in.

The camp was near some taller rocks; each couple or small group had their own tent to sleep in, then there was a big common tent for everyone to hang out in. We got our stuff set up in our small tent, then decided to go explore the rocks off to the side of camp.

We wound up finding a cool spot nearby, and sat down to watch the sunset.

Looking back toward camp. It was really cool how remote we were.

It was neat to watch the desert change as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky.

I feel like this picture could have come right off of one of the Mars rovers. I definitely understand why they filmed The Martian out here!

After the sun dipped below the rocks, we went back to camp...

...and hung out in the common tent, drinking very sweet tea and watching night settle in.

Eventually, it was time for dinner. The Bedouins in our camp had buried our food in an underground oven in the sand, and we got to go watch them dig it up before we ate.

Everything was really good! There was chicken with veggies, and rice and hummus with pita, and a few other odds and ends.

We hung out a bit more in the common tent after dinner, then Ahmad pulled me and Mark outside to "look at the stars". He was a bit nervous and would point out a constellation, then look sharply back at the tent, then point out another constellation, then look sharply back at the tent again. I had an idea of what was coming, and that was confirmed when Ahmad abruptly ended our "star lesson" and brought us back inside the common tent.

We walked into the tent; the lights had been turned off, a radio was loudly playing a version of "Happy Birthday" that I'd never heard before, and there was a beautiful cake with candles on top waiting for me on a table. Ahmad threw me a surprise birthday party!!

Having a bunch of Bedouins sing Happy Birthday to me was definitely a fun way to kick off being 37.  :)

While we were chatting and driving on our first day together, Ahmad had told us about a special cake that people usually get to celebrate big occasions, like weddings or anniversaries. While we had been wandering through Petra, he arranged to get one of those cakes for me! It was such a cool thing for him to do.

The cake was delicious, too; it had a bunch of layers and fruit. We shared it with everyone else; it was definitely one of the coolest birthday parties I've had.

After cake, some of the Bedouins sang some Bedouin songs and danced in front of the fire for a bit. Mark and I hung out for a little while, then went outside for something I had really been looking forward to:

checking out the stars!

Even with a little bit of light in the distance, the sky was incredible. I have never seen so many stars.

We stayed outside for a while, watching the stars creep across the sky, before eventually heading back to our tent and heading to bed. Between Petra and Wadi Rum and my surprise birthday party, I couldn't have asked for a nicer way to spend the day.   :)