Aqaba Again

Aqaba, take two! This time it was a smaller group of us headed to the port town for some sunshine and relaxation. To be honest, we didn't do anything all that productive. The bus ride down was a little rough, though I think part of it came from the fact that our "air-conditioned" bus was CLEARLY note air-conditioned. We were roasting, tired, and hungry...never a good combination. Luckily, we made it and were able to have a nice dinner and some ice cream before completely passing out.

Horrible photo of us in the sea!

Shock and awe

Goofs in a pool

The next day we hit the beach. Despite the appeal of our hotel's pool, we couldn't go all the way to Aqaba without swimming in the Red Sea. We attempted to build some human pyramids and I only got the wind knocked out of me once (thanks to Jared and his inability to throw a person properly off the dock). It was the first day of Ramadan so absolutely nobody was there. We had the water and dock to ourselves which was helpful when trying to teach Celinda how to dive. I think we got her to around an 80% dive 20% belly flop. Success!
After our adventures in the ocean we headed back to town...to bad there was absolutely nothing open. We walked around for about a half hour looking for food and finally found a small shop that was open. When we walked in there were men huddled around a refrigerator stuffing their faces with sandwiches. When we entered they hurriedly hid there food, but then relaxed and continued eating when they saw that we were foreigners. Definitely an interesting experience.
That night we wandered around and eventually sat down for dinner. The streets really come alive at night during Ramadan. People don't start eating until after sundown and it seems like the festivities go all through the night. I like it!

Next day we laid by the pool. I read To Kill a Mockingbird and only moved to jump in the pool every now and then. That is definitely my kind of vacation. We definitely had some good times while we were there...too bad we had to get back to reality:(