matt & jeannette: Living the Bedouin Life

For 6 days and 5 nights during the first week of May, I experienced a culture and lifestyle very different than mine. This trip was the culmination of a semester long class that I took at JUC called Cultural Background of the Bible. The primary goal of the trip was to experience Bedouin life and that is exactly what we did! Our first day we got up bright and early and left from Jerusalem and drove to the border of Israel and Jordan. After crossing the border, we drove south to the Dead Sea and then headed east to Wadi Dana which is located in the area of Biblical Edom. Wadi Dana is actually a wildlife preserve and we stayed overnight here in pyramid tents. We also got a tour of the old city of Dana where Bedouin still live today - these are Bedouin who have become more stable and settled and have moved into small houses as opposed to living in tents. We learned how to plow a field, bake bread, catch animals, dance, and of course we also drank Bedouin tea!

Wadi Dana

Bedouin woman baking pita

The next morning we got up and walked to the bottom of Wadi Dana which was a 10 mile hike. The views were amazing and when we got to the bottom of the Wadi, we were all surprised to see a hotel waiting for us. This is an EcoLodge that has been set up by the Bedouin to encourage tourists to come to Wadi Dana as well as the Finan copper mines - these are extremely old copper mines that may have been mined during Solomon's day! After a tour of the mines, we watched the sun set over the mountains while drinking Bedouin tea. That night after dinner, we went to the rooftop of the EcoLodge and spent some time talking about the history of this area as well as looking at the stars.

Don't have to worry about loud neighbors out here!

Fresh pita

The next morning we loaded back on the bus after a 10 minute jeep ride - the only way to get from the main road to the EcoLodge is a 10 minute jeep ride! We then drove to Showbak where we spent the rest of the day and night at the Jaya Camp where we were hosted by Saleh Rawashde and his family. Here we learned how to farm, how to plant, how to milk, how to grind grain, and how to make Bedouin coffee. This was the first day that we began to truly experience Bedouin life which meant a lot of sitting around and talking and of course, drinking tea! Bedouin life is extremely relational - something that doesn't come naturally for me. For lunch, we ate a traditional Jordanian meal called Monsef and for dinner we ate madguga.

Grinding grain

Roasting coffee beans

The next morning we got up bright and early with the sunrise and went and toured a Crusader castle. Then we got back on the bus and continue to drive south to Wadi Rum. This is where we left the bus behind and drove in jeeps across the desert to a Bedouin tent where we spent the next 2 days with Abu Faad's family. When we arrived, we were of course welcome with hospitality (and more tea!). The next 2 days were probably the most interesting 2 days of my life. I got the chance to ride camels through the desert, take down an actual Bedouin tent made of goat hair and move it and then put it back up again (when the tent is taken down and rolled up, it weighs around 700 lbs), sleep in a Bedouin tent underneath the stars, and slaughter a lamb for dinner. It was a very surreal experience to live with this family for a few days and to experience their culture. In some ways, it was like stepping back into the past to the time of Abraham.