Umm Qays

I had quiet the adventure today. I set off to Umm Qays and Pella, two historical sites in the very northern tip of Jordan that has beautiful views and ruins with my friend Colette. We rented a car, which started off great until about 2 minutes into signing for the car when the man working there informed us that there were no GPSs left, even though we had booked one. He assured us that the signs on the way would be very clear and it would be no problem to just follow the signs.

Colette knew the general direction we needed to head in, so I felt like all in all, this would be fine. We intended to go to Pella on the way to Umm Qays, but after a few detours, we didn't find it. No biggie, we figured we'd get it on the way back.

We spent about 3 hours walking through the ruins and old Ottoman city at Umm Qays, while also stopping for a nice lunch surrounded by the Golan Heights....such a beautiful view. From there you can see Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Just amazing!

We walked towards the car and were told by many men, that claimed to be tour guides that we needed to go to the "Jesus cave" that was just 2k away. We had no idea what that was, but everyone kept calling it the "Jesus cave." I still haven't looked it up yet. I will at some point. While, we found out the guided were fake, the cave was real and we attempted to set out to find it. Again...no signs whatsoever and after about another 30 minutes of driving we gave up and attempted to find Pella.

We left Umm Qays following the map that had absolutely no detail on it whatsoever that the car rental guy gave us and again...after about 45 minutes of driving we gave up and I asked for directions. I used my ever so changing Arabic skills to ask some of the local mechanics sitting around eating lunch where to go. He gave an an answer but it wasn't the most clear because I could tell he didn't 100% know where this place was either.

So, I jetted across the street to ask another man in one of the little shops. He also really didn't know where it was or how to direct me. Next thing I knew the first guy (the mechanic) came running over to help again. We spent about another 5 minutes discussing this in Arabic and a little English. He kept telling me to go back to Umm Qays and then keep going and go through the Jordan Valley. I understood all that. I think I just didn't want to believe it and knew that this answer was going to cause another smoke break/mild breakdown from Colette who was already on the verge of a total mental breakdown....so i was trying to avoid that.

We kept speaking in Arabic and eventually I had to suck it up and go back to Umm Qays. So we did. We set off up North again to hopefully find the right road to go South on so that then we could hit up Pella on our way back to Amman.

...We never found Pella and the 1.5 hour road trip it should have taken us to get back to Amman, took about 5 hours. Still not entirely sure why. We did get to explore a big part of northern Jordan however. We followed the signs and found signs for Pella and then they stopped. We were probably right next to it, but could never find it. Eventually we gave up and headed home. The signs are not consistent. So, We would see a sign for Amman and then many signs after but not with Amman on them. So, we travelled to Salt (a city about 30 mins from Amman) because some signs said that as well...so we knew at least we were going in the right direction.

We went the longest route ever clearly and we pretty positive we passed Salt. We got some gas and McFlurry to help us through the craziness. I asked one of the women that worked there how long it would take to get to Amman, she said another hour. I knew that was a really bad sign and I didn't tell Colette. We go back in the car and saw I sign pointing to Salt. We were confused cause we thought we already passed Salt. So some nerves, but we kept going for about another 2 minutes. Finally Colette said, "I've seen that truck before." I looked over a few blocks later an realized we were passing the gas station we had been to earlier. We were going in circles.

I finally told Colette what the women said and we stopped at another gas station to ask for directions. I walked in a was using my broken Arabic to ask were are we and how do we get to Amman? I got through a few sentences and the guy said, "Do you speak English?"

Well, yes, I do!!!

So he explained that we were literally on the outskirts of Amman already and were only about a 15 minute drive from our apartments. There were no signs to Amman, because we were in Amman. So sad on our part. We had been the outskirts before but went back towards Salt. We were so happy and yet couldn't believe we hadn't known that.

We survived. All in all it was a fun day and worth the crazy. Umm Qays is so beautiful!!! Not sure what Pella is like, but I'm over it for now!