The Desert

Being in the desert, outside of Rum, is the purest quiet I've ever known.  Our first trek out there that first night was surreal.  First of all, I still had no idea what Wadi Rum looked like, because we arrived well after dark.  So, we're bouncing through the desert tracks with young climbing guide Mohammed Hussein driving.  For kicks and to freak us out, he turns the lights off and drives by starlight.  We're all laughing nervously, but then we realize there is no road to follow and nothing to hit, so it's all good.  I feel myself surrender to the waves of sand and feel a sense of trust in the land and people ignite in me.  

At the camp, we park and scramble up some sandstone boulders to the tents.  We head for the round tent and join the circle of Bedouin men drinking tea around the fire.  A few minutes later, Abu Ayman, the humble aging cook, brings out five platters full of food for us!  Unbelievable variety of the most delicious middle eastern food.  We eat hungrily and happily and we smile and nod at Abu Ayman every few minutes.  He sits by the door, smoking a cigarette, nodding back.  This is a man who deserves his own cooking show, but he's opted to live in a goathair tent beneath the sandstone cliffs of Wadi Rum and cook for the tourists in the evening in a kitchen the size of a closet.  The rest of the evening is spent talking by the fire and then we settle in our sleeping tent.  We pile 3 very heavy blankets on us and listen to the breeze blowing outside.  I can't sleep.  Too much tea.  So by 1 am I get up and just stand outside the tent and look at the blanket of stars.  The moon had set, but I could still make out the outline of the mountains by starshine.  I felt like I was on Mars.  I think I could actually feel the planet flying through space with me just barely glued to the ground by some futuristic magnetic shoes.  I breathed deep a few times, walked back to my sleep mat and fell asleep.

In the morning, I awoke to some voices and light filtering through the weave of the tent.  No words to describe the color of morning reflected off of the orange rocks and red sand, contrasted by the blue of the brightening sky.  Wow.  I ran back to Bailey and shook her like it was Christmas morning.  We opened up the tent door and stepped into our new world of rock and sky.