The red mountains grew larger as we turned off the main road and approached Rum Village. Our gracious Bedouin guide and host, Mosalem, greeted us, took us to his home and served us tea while we waited for him to prepare the jeep for our excursion. The entire experience felt like […]
I’ve been waiting a year for October and November to arrive. Autumn is my favorite season in Jordan. Though it’s not the glowing orange, red, and yellow colors of Fall I’m familiar with, it does bring cooler temperatures and the Jordan olive harvest.
I was able to experience the olive harvest […]
By John – former guest of Engaging Cultures Travel
I had the privilege of traveling to Jordan late last spring. I had traveled to Africa and Europe a couple of times before, but never had the opportunity to travel to the Middle East. It had always been a dream of mine to go, so when I found out […]
As an American living in Jordan, Ramadan can be a lonely time. Many of my local friends are exhausted during the day, and busy with family in the evenings. Occasionally, however, an invitation comes to break the fast with them. Daniel, myself, and my son recently had an amazing meal […]
After a long hot walk we entered the first Bedouin tent we came to. Our host for the day ended up being a widow with three children.
Because we were a group of men, we did not greet her or her young daughter (her two sons were at school) but sat […]
Crossing sites off a bucket list can be fulfilling, but we need to add more human experiences to our bucket lists.
After our tours, we ask our guests to give us the top 2 highlights from their trip. They often say: Petra and the village experience in Ghor.
A simple experience with […]
Our friends at The Abraham’s Path Initiative and the Ayoun Community Project have started weekly walks in this beautiful area of Northern Jordan. If you’re traveling in Jordan, or live here and want to experience this surprisingly green side of Jordan, check it out.
Walks are held each Saturday and include a locally prepared lunch in […]
This post originally was featured in the Voluntourist newsletter for Voluntourism.org.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
Jordan has some of the most spectacular sites I have ever seen. In a country smaller than the state of Indiana, Jordan […]
I recently discovered the hardest question you can ask an Arab: Fairuz or Umm Kulthum? Taxi drivers in Amman typically answer this question: “This is too hard.” or “You cannot ask this question.”
Fairuz and Umm Kulthum are Arab singers. Umm Kulthum was born in Egypt in 1898 and died in 1975. According to Wikipedia, “More […]
Staying at the Ammarin Bedouin Camp within the Petra Archaeological Reserve helps the traveler enter into the atmosphere of ancient Petra. How jarring it is, then, when they pull up to the front gate and feel like they’ve walked up to the Disneyland gift shops.
My preferred way to enter Petra […]
