Looking back down on Wadi Ma’in Zara on the way to the canyon rim.
I finally did it, I slept with some Jordanian shepherds in their tent. They were young, in their twenties, and I got there about an hour before dark. They offered me a place to stay and showed me their tent. They had a pile of old dirty mattresses and several blankets. When I entered the tent there was an immediate, ferocious attack on my olfactory senses. There was an almost overwhelming smell of sheep, not a pleasant one by any means.
I reluctantly agreed, knowing that my clothes would probably never smell the same again. They built a fire and we sat around it for the next several hours sipping – you guessed it – tea. They also had the she-sha pipe going. They had some Arabic music playing from their smartphones. They would sing along and clap to the music. It was a pleasant and entertaining way to end the day.
As it turned out, it wasn’t a bad night. I slept well. In fact, overpowering the sheep smell was the smell of my stinky shoes and socks!
Picnickers from the big city of Irbid invited me to join them for a second lunch of freshly slaughtered lamb.
Abu Saif treated me to a wonderful lunch of traditional Jordanian food.
Sometimes the track leads me directly through a farmer’s field.
I will post all my journal entries from the Jordan Trail here: Jordan Trail
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