Aqaba

Internet access has been rather spotty up until now. A lot has happened since my last post but I'll try to include everything. Travelled to Aqaba, the only costal city of Jordan and met up with some Aggies who live there named the Mathisons. Their daughter Becca '13 is a friend of Jill's and they were extremely hospitable to us. Pretty much the whole city is a tourist city for europeans and wealthier Arabs. Aqaba is on the Red Sea and the snorkeling there is very good with fairly clear water, nice coral, wrecks and pretty fish. It is easy to see across the water to the opposite coasts of Egypt and Israel. The city itself is a sort of economic free zone with very low taxes and TONS of real estate projects like resorts and high end apartment complexes. Jordanians truly believe in the saying 'if you build it, they will come'... Insha'Allah (arabic for 'God willing'). While the water is nice, it is very hot and, surrounded by rocky hills and it is impossible to find a spec of green unless it is part of landscape.

A really popular thing to do here at night is to go to a local coffee shop and smoke hookah (argilla) and watch the world cup. Although its not really a habit of mine to consume tobacco, it is a pretty relaxing and social activity. One thing heather and I have noticed is that it is impossible to find a place (that serves alcohol) that does not serve Amstel beer. We discovered that this is because they actually have a brewery in the country in the city of Petra. Therefore its much cheaper than the other beers and can be found on tap almost. So we were out one night with Semma and her friend Basim and I ordered an Amstel. He said "ah, Jordanian beer." Heather and I looked at each other with a sort of strange expression and then turned to Basim and told him that it was neither exclusive or original to Jordan. "...What?" he said. "Yeah, we have this in Texas," Heather said pointing to the beer. His facial expression melted like someone had just informed him that santa clause wasn't real. Since then, we've experienced similar reactions from several Jordanians to whom we've gently broken the news.

Heather called this one "Sayed Paul"