Border Crossings

We safely arrived in Syria yesterday afternoon. It was really hard to pull ourselves away from the kindness of the Jordanian people but here we are in a new and intriguing place. After spending the night in Madaba, Jordan we took a bus to Amman in the morning and from Amman we found a "service car" to take us to Damascus. Service cars fill up with 4 passengers before they leave, and you pay per seat. In our car we had a mother traveling with her 1 year old son and 2 year old (very stubborn very busy) daughter. The kids were absolutely darling but the poor mama was all snuggled up with them in the back seat in her hot, black, drapey outfit with her head covered trying to make them behave. No car seats here folks. To give you an idea of a woman's place in society here, I learned a lot just by being in that car. When we arrived at the Jordanian border to get our exit stamps, we spent two full hours waiting. The Jordanian border officers wouldn't let the mama take the children out of the country without her husband's permission (which she had in a letter but apparently that wasn't good enough-- she said they even called ahead of time). If that wasn't enough to add to her stress, the driver in the car controlled her window and kept it rolled up in the 100 degree heat while the rest of us were allowed to play with the up/down button freely. And as much as I thought our cab driver was a loser for doing this, we noticed a box of some sort of medication in his car that was clearly labeled "anti flatulence" ahahaha! Well they finally let this poor woman out of Jordan and getting into Syria was no problem at all for us or for her, thank goodness. She spoke decent English and told me she was originally from Palestine... had to leave... moved to Syria... and then married a Jordanian man. I had fun playing with the kids in the back seat but it would have been interesting to hear more of her story.

(me and the kids after the mom left them with us to go deal with some stuff, the poor little boy doesn't know what's up)

In Damascus we are staying at the "Damascus Hostel" run by Raymond who is also originally from Palestine and his Australian wife, Julie. I think he is the Father Bruno of Syria. They make their hostel seem just like home and they will do everything in their power to make your Syrian experience awesome. They even mentioned getting KFC and coleslaw to celebrate the 4th of July for us... I think we'll pass though and go see the Whirling Dervishes. You know, do something completely opposite of what we'd be doing on home on this day. We will probably even eat at a restaurant that doesn't serve booze.

Speaking of eating... HOLY MOLEY! The food is absolutely amazing we haven't stopped eating since we got to Syria less than 24 hours ago. Hummus, falafels, shwarmas (can't spell that), amazing flat bread, salads, ice cream.... muah, everything is delicious!

(Pete doing what we do best, EATING in the Damascus Souq)

Funny thing about Syria, I can't view my own blog (or facebook for that matter). I can write all I want but when it comes to seeing what it looks like, nope, can't see it. Ironically enough, we are staying in the Christian quarter of Damascus and everyone is dressed in western fashion. I thought I really needed to cover up but there are some scantily clad ladies running around here in jeans tighter and higher heels than even I would wear.

Right now I can't put up pictures but as soon as I can, I will update the last few entries....

So take care everyone and light some fireworks (and drink some beer) for us on this years 4th of July!