With my Arabic translation in hand, I had no trouble getting back to Damascus or on the right bus to Jordan. The Jordanian border was much easier than Syria’s. Fifteen USD and three windows, and I had my visa.
There were two young Jordanian guys who were desperate to talk to me. They had a vision of America that was purely drawn from our movies and I tried my best to dissuade them that that was not reality. The one guy said he wanted to visit the US, but not Chicago, and he made gun motions with his hands, indicating it was way too violent and dangerous. I laughed and told him that I really liked Chicago. There was no way I could convince them. They knew the truth from our movies. Then they asked me if I liked Bush. When I said no, they told me that they wanted to kill him. They said this with such vehemence that it worried me a little. I was about to launch into the beauty of a democratic government, term limits, and the horrifying prospect of a president Cheney when we had to leave.
The buildings in Amman are a little more attractive than Syria—not much. The city is entirely monochrome. All the buildings are shades of dirty white/grey. It is a desert city with no lack of dirt and almost no sign of greenery. It is also a very conservative city with the highest percentage of completely covered women I have seen. In general, it is boring.
I was still feeling a little unwell and out of sorts when I took a taxi to the US embassy to get more pages added to my passport; to my delight and chagrin, it was full of stamps and visas. After I got out of the taxi and he drove off very fast, I realized that I had given the driver the wrong note, but he gave me the change for a smaller bill. My unfamiliarity with the Jordanian money and the driver’s dishonesty resulted in a 26 USD tip. Doh!
The embassy was easier than I thought and it only took about an hour to get more pages stuck in. The problem was getting back to my hotel with the pittance of Jordanian money I had left. I found some people by the side of the road that were waiting for a minibus. We ended up taking a shared taxi back into the downtown for only 40 cents each. I also discovered that there was a much shorter way from downtown than the way the first taxi took me. Errr….!
