Drive like a Jordanian

We left camp right after breakfast as two other guests were booked for a camel ride which was on the way back to the village. I got in the car and followed Ra'ad to a gas station which is the only place for miles that takes credit cards and we used my Visa to get cash to pay for the tour. I then headed straight to Aqaba. After a brief peek at Aqaba waterfront, I dropped off the car at Aqaba airport.

I will find out in a couple of weeks how to 'Walk Like An Egyptian', but can now say I know how to 'Drive Like A Jordanian'. The roads are rough (like Kingston, Ontario rough) and they have NO PAINTED LINES!. This works because the first thing to understand is that the drivers here are all totally crazy. However, that works out just fine because you know they are crazy and the other crazy driver knows that YOU know he is crazy, and thus you are ready when he does something crazy because that is what crazy people do, right? So when an oncoming driver pulls out to pass a car on a road only meant to have two lanes (remember the no lines thing?) he knows that both you and the car he is passing move over to use the six inches of shoulder and that gives him just enough room in the middle. See, Jordanians are a very sharing people, and that includes sharing the road in the most literal sense.Read more