Amman and the miraculously recurring Davide

After abusing my knees on the hills of Amman looking for my hotel, and reuniting with Davide, he and I saw the sights of the downtown area.  I have to credit that meeting with getting me back onto the street – I was about ready to throw in the towel that morning after a somewhat confusing entry and taking the children’s friendly verbal abuse.  The added walking was well worth the painful knees and we saw some cool stuff. 

Amman is on some 19 hills (having been built initially on 7 in the Roman style.  We were near the highest hill, crowned by the Citadel and near an enormous Roman theatre.  The citadel had housed folks for nearly 8 thousand years.  That is a long time.  The city did not have its own water source, so the collected rainwater and built an impressive cistern beneath the entire city.  There was also a museum housing some surprising finds, including parts of the copper casing for the Dead Sea Scrolls and the oldest statues discovered (again, 8 thousand years old!). Here are some photos from Roman Amman and the Citadel.  

The seating and stairs were almost IDENTICAL to modern stadiums

The nose-bleed seats

Read the caption - this was lovely I thought

View from the Citadel

Again, try for the description, its a cave tomb from a long-ass time ago

Temple of Hercules - it's part of a hand and an elbow of a 13m statue (that's very big)

One massive flagpole

A very old statue - the oldest really

Iraqi dinner!  Delicious!

Air diffuser in Amman airport - just for you C

After wandering for the day, we enjoyed a delicious Iraqi dinner of soup, rice, bread, salad and some rotisserie chicken.  Entirely satisfied, we found a few cafes where we enjoyed some sheesha (hooka / water pipe which is ubiquitous in the middle east) and tea and had a number of conversations with Jordanians about Palestine and Israel.  

We talked with a guy from Jordan who had a perfume shop in Rosedale of all places.  He believed that Palestine was the only occupied territory in the world (while unique in that Israel is so supported by other countries, this is ridiculously false and we talked about that – Tibet, Western Sahara, etc), that Jews where good people but too proud / too stubborn / too whatever and were at fault, along with the US.  This Rosedale guy also LOVED the US, and believed that the US was the best country and could do no wrong.  He also thought that Madoff gave all his money to Israel, which seemed crazy to me and I told him so.  He struggled with nuance a bit I think.  We talked about the international affect the US can have as a result of its prosperity and economic influence, but agreed that the law and government structure was hard to beat (this was also held by everyone we spoke with – folks across the middle east valued the US law system.  This makes sense given the poor condition of many of theirs.  You are NOT safe from the police in Egypt, and you cannot trust the Egyptian government to say the least (though of course the US funds Egypt nearly as much as we do Israel, some 1.9 billion a year – the next country, Columbia,  receives 500 million, even though Mubarak has been 'elected' President for nearly 30 years and he son might be next).  A more opinionated list of recipients is here, easier to read but pretty cheeky.  

Another fellow we spoke with later was a bit more in tune with reality, but equally passionate about the issue.  He held similar beliefs about the conflict and the fault, but also held that everyone wanted peace but that it is up to the US to fix it (this belief was also in an article I read in the Egyptian Gazette), which somewhat surprised me.  He talked about the massive Palestinian population in Jordan (the refugee population also includes a lot of Iraqis now as well).  

These were great conversations, level-headed, open, with allowances and compromises made by all sides.  We could all raise our voices and be heard, and the perspectives of the Jordanians and Egyptians I spoke with were, while sometimes blunted by the same kind propaganda that comes from Fox News, was also open and flexible, at least in our conversations.  No one I spoke to hated Jews (though certainly some folks there do), but they were intolerant of the treatment of the Palestinians and saw US involvement as essential and so far ineffective.  I wish I had more time in Amman for more of these conversations.  Not only was it good to stretch my brain a bit (first time in a while really), I learned a great deal about the situation, not only facts but how the Jordanians thought about them and talked about them.  I cannot claim to have a finger on the national pulse - I spoke with three or four folks in international areas of Amman - but it is a sight better than what I knew before.  

Davide also lived and worked in Gaza with a human rights organization and consequently knew a bit of Arabic and a bit about the situation.  He was a great guy to travel with and I will miss his company (though I am hoping for another surprise meeting!  It has already happened twice, why not three?).  He flew to Beirut when I flew to Istanbul through Cairo.  

Preliminary report on Istanbul - it is pretty damn cool.  I'm going to wander around today, take it very easy to stave off a cold, move to our booked hostel, the Tulip Guesthouse, and prepare for Corinne's arrival, which has mostly involved cleaning myself up, shaving etc.  We are staying in the tourist area, which is in the shadow of the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sophia (holy wisdom), and very beautiful.  Thanks for reading!