You’re Driving Me Crazy Speed Bumps

An Unwritten Code?

Maybe it’s unwritten. Maybe it’s on page four of the immigration training handbook distributed on the first day of training. It must clearly state: “When a tourist, someone not from your one county, asks you any type of question not directly related to immigration, do not, under any circumstance, make eye contract or even acknowledge you heard them utter a word.”

I asked the immigration officer at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport “kayf halukum?”

He had no answer this fine April Day.

Eventually, he had to return our passports and our entry into Jordan was official.

Every Jordanian we met after that interaction was overly engaging and helpful, even to a fault.

Speed Bumps – A Natural Jordan Training Tips

Travel slows life down. So do speed bumps. Or at least rental cars.

This first day in Jordan, we drove to Madaba, Mount Nebo, and Suweimeh along the banks of the Dead Sea. We rented a Chevrolet Captiva. We encountered a local Jordanian hazard along the way. Several times, a speed bump jumped out of nowhere demanding the Captiva immediately stop. These safety inventions were bound to cost us dearly in rental car repairs if we weren’t more careful after a few “direct” hits.

Like a hyper vigilant bird stealing bread from a plate on a restaurant patio, we became overtly attentive speed bumps. This was one of our first Jordan driving tips, slow down for speed bumps.

A History Lesson

Madaba possessed some impressive Byzantine mosaics, which I learned this was the time period roughly from 300 to 600 A.D. (sorry history teachers). But flight fatigue limited our ambition to see more than the mosaics of the Virgin Mary Church.

A Prophetic Vision

En route to the Dead Sea, we paused at Moses Memorial Church atop Mount Nebo. Here is where Moses looked upon the Promised Land in modern day Israel. This Promised Land is supposed to be visible on a clear day. Today wasn’t that day.

The structure inside the Franciscan run Moses Memorial Church was impressive. Light colored wood smoothly contrasted with the ancient foundation, as the walls of the church framed ancient mosaics on the floor.

At the end of the first day, speed bumps slowed us down enough to enjoy Byzantine mosaics, prophetic heights, and the lowest points on earth. It also taught us a few Jordan driving tips.