Painting in Jordan& other adventures
.First of all, I have to say that I didn't just fall off a camel like
some clumsy oaf who doesn't know how to ride a camel (though that I
may be...)
Let me start at the beginning...
I had planned a painting holiday to JOrdan for a few of my students,
but only Sylvia Bell was able to go at short notice, so I thought
thought, good idea. I'll do a little recce, and postpone the main trip til the
spring...
SO SYlvia, (aka MaryPoppins) and I set off to Amman, on Monday, Nov. 27.
Tuesday morning found us in the remote medieval village of Dana, a
Nature reserve with a lovely guesthouse above a a beautiful valley.
I got up early, did a bit of painting and went for a hike with
a local guide who took me through ancient olive groves to a natural
spring. THe village was irrigated by little channels that had been
there since Jesus, and there were biblical goats and sheep and it was
gorgeous...
So Sylvia and I got to Petra quite late in the day, and it is a gob-
smackingly amazing as you imagine it will be. And it is VAST. A long
lwalk down the very narrow gorge, called the siq opens onto the
ancient monuments and an enormous valley that is filled with suprises.
You could hike around here for days... but Sylvia is not such a happy
hiker.
A camel driver named Taysir had been walking with us for some time,
touting for business and sort of flirting with Sylvia (who has been breaking hearts since we arrived and speaks enough Arabic to get by.) She
convinces me that camels are easier than walking, and after about 2
miles of bargaining, we mount our trusty weird lumpy animals and go
into the farthest reaches of the valley. Taysir's in the lead,
Sylvia's camel is roped to his, and I'm roped to hers, bringing up the
rear. CONTINUE
By now it's getting late and Taysir says that it's the same distance
to his village as it is to the entrance of Petra, and he asks us to
come back and have tea with his family in the Bedouin village, and
he'll give us a lift back to the entrance in his uncle's truck.
Why not! And it was magical. The sun was setting, we were the only
people for miles around and we wend our way through the back of the
valley and look back at the monuments from our happy camels, with only
a few sheep and donkeys for company. Taysir gives us Arabic names
(though I've had mine for ages. In Bahraini slang shayna means ugly
and Zaina means beautiful, so no contest there...) and he sings at the
top of his voice, echoing through the valley. He sings of his love for
Zaina and Yasmine (aka Sylvia) and we sing Beatles songs back and then
we're silent and it's a perfect moment. So beautiful.
In the twilight, we begin to climb the steep rocky path that leads to
his village just a few hundred yards away. It is very narrow... and I
already said steep and rocky, right?
I see Sylvia's camel struggle a bit on a particularly steep and
slippery rock and I hold on tight... which does me no good at all
because my camels back feet slip, his hump drops and the whole saddle
with me on it, slips off the back of him. I fell flat on my back on
one big rock, cracked my head on another. A festive fountain-like
spurting came from my head, not that I noticed. Taysir leapt from his
HUGEcamel, held my head and by the time I could see him, he was so
covered in blood I thought he'd hurt himself too! And you should see
the rock!
Anyway I had to lie there for a while, praying for a speedy death, but
no such luck... All the time wondering, where the F*** is SYLVIA???
Eventually got up, realized that my head was being a bit Quentin
Tarentino, but was fine. It was my left arm/ shoulder that was really
painful, and that wasn't going to kill me.
(I feel I have to mention that I have a very low pain threshhold. i'm
upset for at least a week if I stub my toe or get a paper cut. Just
saying "paper cut" makes me squeamish! So take this whole account with
a pinch of salt.)
So I get to the village and Sylvia is there, and we have a cup of tea
with Taysir's family and Sylvia was about to phone her boss to get his
friend King Abdullah of Jordan to arrange an airlift. I am not joking!
I say I don;t think that'll be necessary, but where have you been!?!
Poor Sylvia has had an adventure of her own. When Taysir heroically
leapt from his lead camel to care for me, the line of camels kidnapped
her. They just kept going. They were on their way home! Sylvia's stuck
in the middle about 7 feet high, with absolutely no control crying
STOP!!! . The last thing she saw was my head hit the rock. She thinks
I'm dead, and she can't get the camels to stop. She gets as far as the
village, and the Bedouin look on bemused. Finally a brave little boy
figures out what's happening and bravely stands in their way... so
they stop, but they just stand there being huge. Finally a man comes
and with much hissing and spitting from all parties the camel sits
down and Sylvia is released.
After tea, we get back to our driver who is having kittens, cos
Petra's been closed for about an hour now and he has no idea where we
are. We go to a government hospital close by and are very well taken
care of. Lots of pictures, no broken bones, and the nurse gives me a
pain-killer injection in my bum that creates a bruise about the shape
and size of Africa. Still hurts!
So that was my camel related incident.
I went back to the hotel and had a long bath and a couple of whiskeys
and Sylvia opened her M. Poppins bag and has arnica and ??? a massive
variety of medicaments and ointments and is so used to dressing and
undressing children that she is completely unphased by having to do
the same for me. And then half-Italian Sylvia settled into the
Italian game shows. They're somethiing else again...quite amusing when
you're a bit drugged and drunk!
We went back to Petra the next day. Taysir was waiting for us, so
relieved and apologetic and thanking Allah for my life etc. etc. We
sat and had tea at a different uncle's tea shop, and he let game
Sylvia ride his camel back to the entrance. I walked...
Enough. jordan is fabulous. Come visit! And I promise, no camel
related incidents!
Still can't tie my shoes, but feeling better all the time.
All th e best to all of you,
Zaina
