Jerash Report, and Photos

Yesterday's trip to the ruins at Umm Qais and Jerash was great. Unbelievably hot, but great. Susan and I improvised most of our transportation, with a patchwork of minibuses and taxis, but everything turned out safe and relatively quick. Despite quirky internet, I was able to upload my pics here. Some highlights of the trip:

• Scrapping our plans to travel by fancy motorcoach once they sent us to the wrong station at 7:30 AM, opting instead for the cheaper, more informal minibus network. 
• Arriving at Umm Qais remarkably painlessly, and having the deserted site to ourselves for about half an hour.
• Scrambling through Roman theaters, Byzantine churches, and an Ottoman village built from the stone of the two older civilizations.
• Gazing out at the Golan Heights and Sea of Galilee, wishing that our itinerary included a swim.
• Chatting with an old man at the bus stop who, after living for 15 years in Germany, spoke great Arabic and great German, but no English. I found my German vocabulary from years of voice lessons to be a little bit useful.
• Hitching a ride from Irbid to Jerash with a friendly off-duty Jordanian military officer, saving us an hour's wait while the bus filled up. The air conditioning in his car was most welcome.
• The all-you-can-eat buffet at a restaurant just outside of Jerash, featuring traditional hummus and mansaf, as well as less-traditional pasta with meatballs and marinara sauce.
• A surprisingly empty Jerash - tour groups came and went, but we had plenty of time for pictures at empty monuments.
• Overhearing the Jordanian Bagpipe Ensemble practicing in one of the site's theaters.
• Watching a local guide move a stone pillar with a metal spoon - apparently, an earthquake set the standing pillars off-balance and made them incredibly easy to wobble back and forth.
• Testing the acoustics at the empty North Theater, performing for a crowd of zero.
• Consuming three ice cream cones, as well as water in one day than I went through during all of Petra
• Communicating smoothly for the entire trip. My spoken Arabic isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, don't get me wrong. But I got directions, chatted with drivers, bargained for souvenirs, and even defended myself against an attempted scamming taxi driver, all in Arabic comprehensible enough to be understood. Baby steps... 

I'm now looking at less than two weeks left in Jordan. It's been a great run, but the little annoyances are quickly adding up. Ramadan starts in the middle of the week, so I am looking forward to that new experience - I'll write more once I have exciting news.