“Where you want to go?” a taxi driver, or bystander (one can’t be sure) asked before I was fully out of the taxi when we arrived to the slushy bus station in Amman.
“Petra.” I responded, trying to avoid the puddles and heave my bag out at the same time.
“Oh no, No Petra. Only Aqaba.” He said pointing, and drawing a crowd of older Jordanians around to see what the fuss was about.
“But… Aqaba is further south of Petra…” I replied, confused, yet not at all surprised by the possibility we wouldn’t get out of Amman, again. Andrew got out of the taxi, I could see the frustration creeping in. When frustration creeps over Andrew, it’s slight, not at all obvious. I could see it nonetheless.
“No Petra! Aqaba.” The men repeated.
“Ok, ok, thank you!” I said to them, and then turned to Andrew, “Let’s just ask around… we’ll get there.”
And sure enough, on the other side of the station, men were waiting for the shared taxi (picture a mini-bus) to Wadi Musa. We got some tea, met a Wadi Rum guide, got his card, and eventually the shared taxi came. It took around three hours to get to Wadi Musa (the town where Petra still stands) and driving past all of the snow, I could see why the roads were closed. Footprints dotted the snow. One field bore the name “Josef” written clearly in the snow, like one might write in the sand. Cars were pulled over on the side of the road for its occupants to play. One person told us ‘it hasn’t snowed in Jordan in twenty years…’ I wondered how many people were playing in the snow for the first time. I was also struck by the lack of sledding trails. There were none. I wished I had boots and a garbage can lid (or at least a piece of cardboard) to show them that there is more to do with snow than write your name in it!We got into Wadi Musa too late to do much of anything, other than chat with other guests (from New Zealand, France, and Argentina) and eat a really great buffet spread that the guesthouse put together. If there was heat at the guesthouse (and the owner didn’t lie and promise me there would be), it would have been perfect, unfortunately there wasn’t and we had a mountain of blankets to keep us warm instead when we went to bed.
