Aqaba, Jordan
Couchsurfing is exactly as it sounds - people let you stay with them for free, and you let others stay with you at a later date. It's a great way to see a place in a whole different way, meet some interesting people and learn a lot about the real country. I've tried to use it a number of times on this trip, directly contacting a number of people in different places but to no avail. However, other people also have the option of inviting you to stay, and one evening sat in 'the cafe' in Amman I recieved a simple invitation message from 'Mohammed AlShafey', which simply said 'you are welcome'. I was intrigued. He had information about himself on his profile page, but no-one had indicated they've stayed with him before so still the mystery - it's a bit like eBay in that you build a reputation over time. I replied and learnt a bit more, and got enough of a good enough feeling to go for it.
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I really enjoyed the bus journey from Amman to his place in Aqaba; a city in the south of Jordan on the Red Sea; it was often pretty plain, but a real contrast to other countries I've visited on this trip. Two hundred odd miles of desert, indispersed with small villages, people selling petrol by the road, Police checkpoints and finally a descent down to the Dead Sea through towering mountains with stripy lines running through them. I got to Aqaba around five, expecting to walk to my host's house when a guy smiled and said 'Hi Steve' - Mohammed had guessed which bus I'd arrived on and come to collect me - a great start. He's a thirty-five year old Head of Strategic Planning for the regional water board; quite a responsibility in a country where it doesn't really rain. He has a fiancé who lives in America but he lives in a suburban semi, with his Mum occupying the other side, and I was given a sofa bed for a few days. We sat down and started chatting, and it soon became apparent he's a very intelligent and deep thinking guy. He's studied both Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience in the States, and has loads of equally challenging interests.
We talked water, personality profiling, travel, religion, Jordan, hiking in India and a thousand other subjects, and I can't say I was able to grasp everything he explained, but had a good go. We suddenly realised it was nearly eleven pm and we hadn't actually eaten, so went into town for a chicken wrap, Jordanian style, and he encouraged me to grab a beer. I was thinking we were going home to eat and drink, but instead there was a change of plan, and we sat by the beach. So I'm in a Muslim country where alcohol is strictly against the religion, and there I am in public drinking a can of strong local beer wrapped in a plastic bag to try and hide it; not the done thing and very trampish of me, but no one seemed to notice thankfully.
The next day I hired a snorkel, got dropped a few miles down the road to an excellent local spot known as 'The Japanese Garden', and waded into the Red Sea for the first time. I've not snorkelled for a few years, and forgot what a great experience it is; just quietly floating around looking at brightly colored and funky shaped coral reef, with tropical fish darting between. Hours passed without me really noticing and the light started dying. Watching the sunset, I looked around and realaised what a unique location this was - I could clearly see the coastline of Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia, all of which was within ten miles; not every day you can say that.
The Japanese Garden
I'd planned to catch up on a few jobs that evening, but once again Mohammed and I ended up talking til late, with the only interruption being his Mum dropping in a meal she'd prepared for me; a dish called Dolma (actually Turkish) - stuffed grape leaves, stuffed corgette and stuffed aubegine with slow cooked lamb. A very sweet lady and a delicious meal.
Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling pretty excited, for I was off to do my first ever scuba dive. The Red Sea is known to be a good spot for it, and the instructor decided we were going to a spot called 'the tank'. It was a quiet day for them obviously, as it ended up being just me and him - a guy from Peru. On the shore he set up the equipment and I put on the wetsuit and flippers. We waded in to shallow waters, and he started explaining the basic principles of diving, which all seemed quite straightforward. He then had me doing exercises by just putting my face under, and it was then time
for the main event...
for the main event...
That moment you first start descending and realise that your life depends on the air regulator - the mouthpiece - is a strange and unnatural one. It's very hard to trust this abnormal way of breathing, and I naturally felt quite tense, seeing lots of bubbles pass in front of my mask as I breathed in and out heavily. Once I settled a bit we started going down, and I saw the tank for the first time - not a container as I expected, but an actual old army tank. After going back to surface to check all was OK, we descended for the second time, much deeper than the five meter depth of the tank this time, floating around the large chunks of reef on the sea bed. The sensation felt like a cross between skydiving and swimming combined. At our lowest depth, I craned my neck and looked back to the surface - surreal yet very beautiful.
The instructor checked my tank levels a couple of times, and indicated the second time that we should slowly start ascending, using the last bit of air to go back to shore just under the surface. On shore we chatted, and he told me people normally go to about 9 meters below, and their air lasts about 20 minutes because of nerves; I'd gone down 17 meters for 42 minutes; sorry to boast but I was pretty pleased with that! I loved the experience, and very much hope to have the opportunity to go again sometime.
Video of the dive - click to watch
That evening back at Mohammed's we were chatting away when he had a phone call from a friend. 'Do you fancy going to an engagement party?'. Not every day you get such an opportunity, so why not. It was at a local function room, and it seems the way it worked was for males sit outside, and the females inside. Sat on the pavement, I met three Scandinavian couples who also happened to be there by sheer chance through friends of friends, so had a good to them for a while. The father of the engaged couple then came around and gave us all a piece of cake and a can of fizz, which was kind considering we were essentially gate crashing. We weren't there all that long but it was good to see anyway. I also learnt afterwards from Mohammed, that in Jordan it's common for parents to repeatedly set up dates for their children, until they find a suitable partner and also once you get engaged you sign a contract, but should one of you decide to break it off the male has to pay a settlement, like during a divorce.
I was supposed to leave on the Thursday, but had too much to sort out and was feeling stressed - finding a tour for later that day, finding a flight for next week, sorting out some more Couchsurfing and help exchange placements, and getting up to date with photos and the blog. I shouldn't be getting stressed, it seems ridiculous given my circumstance, but things don't happen by themselves. I'm not afraid to say I made a phone call back to base at that point, to get some perspective on things - traveling on your own isn't always plain sailing, and you sometimes don't see things in proportion. It helped, and I decided to stay one more day to get things up to date.
The next morning after sorting a few more jobs, I said goodbye to Mohammed and headed off, ready for an exciting three nights of camping in the desert.
Cheeeeeese
En route to diving
Blobobooobloobblobb
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