Jordanian Police

Russ with a Ceremonial Jordanian Guard at the Treasury

After rising early, ordering box lunches and eating a dual-threat, guilt-ridden Ramadan buffet breakfast (due to the fasting Muslims serving us & the amount of food eaten), Russ and I inspected the car tires and deemed them minimally passable for the day-long trek. We wound our way in a dense, cooling fog through the twisting hillside streets of Wadi Muse, the town adjacent Petra, wondering how long it had been inhabited. It had the appearance of being very old. We made our way into the mountains which run from north to south down the spine of the Hashemite Kingdom and came out into a broad valley lying next to the mountain range. There we headed north on the main four-lane route to Amman next to the Hijaz railroad that supplied the Turkish Empire's hold on Mecca and Medina and which "Lawrence of Arabia" helped attack during WWI.

Russ and I are used to driving conditions in Saudi Arabia and we usually drive as fast as the conditions allow, because of the sparse populations and the remoteness of where we live. We have actually seen signs that read “Inhabited Area.” Taking our habits from the Saudis, we rarely slow down through towns unless they’re busy and it is unsafe. Traditionally, the Saudi police rarely give tickets, but they are really cracking down lately, on orders from the King, and it is making a positive impact on the number of accidents. Still we don’t worry too much about police in Saudi Arabia. In Jordan, traffic laws are a very different stroy. We were pulled over in the first sizeable town we came to for speeding. The Jordanian policeman at the checkpoint had radar and clocked us at 110 kph in an 80 kph zone. When he saw we were “not from around these parts” he smiled as he asked us where were from. We said we live in Saudi Arabia but we were Americans and he smiled even broader as he said, “Welcome to Jordan. Please slow down and have a nice day.” We were stunned at the kindness and we began to get the feeling the phrase, “Welcome to Jordan,” had been taught to every school kid as a country slogan compulsory for graduation.