Hike through Wadi Hidan Part 1 in a multi part series

I know this has nothing to do with the studies at Qasid, but I like to write about hikes :), and I am here and it is part of the studies in a way.

I did a hike through Wadi Hidan with the group Tropical Desert Trips.  I love these types of adventures and this one turned out to be great.  Signing up for the trip took some work.  Here is the story.  

We got a week off for Eid.  So I was looking for something to do.  There were a few overnight trips, but they all started on Friday since they catered to expats who don’t celebrate Eid which started Saturday.  This Eid is four days long but the first day is the most important.  

While it appears that you can sign up on the web, it actually requires going to the office and paying in cash.  I did this on Saturday.  When I walked in the office I saw another student from my grammar class with a couple of her friends.  They were going on the same trip as well.  We were told we had to be at the office at 6:30 on Monday.

Well finding a cab during Eid that early took a while, but I did get to the office at 6:29, which I knew would be too early.  People take their time around here.

I introduced myself to a guy who appeared to be the guide, named Murad and he introduced me to a guide in training called Hamadi, although that was not his real name.  I did not get a good look at Hamadi, but later as I talked with him and heard more about him from Murad, he reminded me of Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men.

Murad for some reason looked familiar, but I could not place him.  I thought that I might have seen his picture on the web site, but could not place the picture either.

My fellow students from Qasid were already there; Tara who is in my grammar class, probably weights about 85 pounds, with her friends Kelly and Rosie.  They looked very sleepy.

Murad asked if anyone knew how to make American coffee.  I volunteered.  American coffee is drip coffee.  There was an old machine in the kitchen so I made coffee for everyone and there were some cookies.

I served coffee.  Two other guys showed up, Milton from Chile and his friend from France, I forgot his name.  They were speaking French so I started conversing with them.  They thought my French was pretty good, but I explained that I had forgotten most of it.  They both worked at a water treatment facility.   A Jordanian couple was hanging out by themselves outside so I did not get to talk to them till later.  He is an electrical engineer working in Saudi Arabia.

A couple walked in, Ben and Debbie I believe.  Ben was retired but used to work in IT.  Debbie is a professor at the University of Jordan teaching communications.  I served them coffee and cookies.

Debbie wanted to know if Hakim still owned the place.

“I don’t know” I said.

She looked surprised and said: “Last time we took a trip Hakim was here.”

I said: “Probably, but this is the first time I’ve been here.”

“So you don’t work here?”

“No, I am just serving coffee.  Nobody knows how to make coffee so I volunteered”

We had to fill out the required legal paper work, and then we were off to the bus.

We were joined by another guy; Abdu’Allah, a friend of the guide and a full time lawyer who helped out on hiking trips during weekends and holidays.

We got moving around 7:30.