Travel Log Part 7

I get back to the states in 3 days and I definitely plan on blogging more and posting some pictures so please forgive me for taking so long to post (not that anyone was waiting). It’s been really hard maintaining my blog lately. I left Lebanon after 2 months and went to Jordan where I barely had access to the internet. I was there for a week and it was a pleasant time… surprisingly. People had painted the most awful picture of Jordan for me describing it as a lifeless and boring place but I had a blast. Unlike other places I’ve been this summer, Jordan had much to offer in terms of the outdoors. And although I am not much of an outdoorsman, My friends and I went to Wadi Mujib and went on the most amazing hike and at the end we repelled down a beautiful waterfall.
People of Palestinian origin constitute the majority of Jordan’s citizenry but obviously you can’t tell who there is Jordanian or Palestinian. I, however, discovered a way. So when people would ask me where I was from, I always said that I was an Iranian from America and I always got 1 of 2 responses. The Jordanians welcomed me as they would anyone else. The Jordanians of Palestinian origin gave a distinct response that made it obvious that they were not regular Jordanians. When Palestinian Jordanians found out I was Iranian they would not stop telling me about their admiration for Iran and particularly for Ahmadinejad.
Anyway, the one thing that disturbed me greatly about Jordan was the fact that my friends informed me that for kicks, Jordanian boys capture cats and poke their eyes out. I didn’t believe it until I saw a cat with its eye poked out. And as much as I dislike cats (I’m a dog lover), it was heartwrenching to see those cats. Anyway, I left Jordan on my birthday and I’ve been here in Egypt since the 27th. I’ve only seen Cairo and Alexandria but Cairo is especially noisy, crowded, dirty, and generally chaotic but it is still a pleasant experience and there’s much to see. Ramadhan started here today and it was amazing to see this bustling city just shut down into near silence during the breaking of the fast.