Abu Dager goes sandrolling

rollingdune
Originally uploaded by amsterboy.

Rocky roads, snow-like sand dunes, tripping donkeys, jogging camels. Jordan is quite amazing. It is a country that seems like another planet for someone coming from the north. It is also a place where you really see what erosion means. When one watches news about climate change, they are quite easy to make concrete over here. The whole landscape is sculpted harshly by winds, water and the sand.

"It's like being in a Windows screensaver", a friend of mine said as we bounced up and down in the open back of the jeep, sand scrubbing our skin. "A bit corny to take pictures which all look like postcards", he continued. We all had our sunglasses on and our red and white Jordanian scarves tightly around our necks.

Oh yes, scrubbing. In addition to the landscapes and among other things a night in a tent in the desert, it has also been a genuine feelgood holiday. From eating kilos of hoummous, plates and plates of tabbouleh, dozens of falafels and chicken cooked on an open fire in the middle of the desert to covering ourselves with the mud of the Dead Sea and sweating the dirt away in a Turkish bath, we have genuinely experienced Jordan in the full. "How is it", asked the Egyptian masseur as he was crunching my back with his knuckles after a day in the ancient city Petra. "Out of this world", could have been my conclusive response over the last few days.

And yes, that is me, Abu Dager (Arabic name given by a Jordanian student on our desert excursion) rolling down a soft dune.