Feynan EcoLodge, Part Two

I woke to a light rapping at the thick wooden door to our hotel room. Peter and Sam were stirring behind me, but perhaps not quite fully awake.

I struggled with the key in the lock for what felt like eternity before I finally got the door open. Elise was peeking back at me through th the crack in the door. 

“They went on ordered departure,” she whispered to me. I knew exactly what she was talking about without her having to say more. 

Colombo. 

“Shit.”

“I’m not telling you this so you stress out or to ruin your day,” she quickly added. 

We hugged. She told me it was going to be okay, everything was going to be okay, Elise taking the role of the rock. She has been calm and resolute, the eye of the storm. 

But we didn’t have much time to wallow or fret about the future. After breakfast, we headed out for a long my morning hike in a nearby Wadi (river bed). 

The kids quickly decided the fastest route through the river bed was through the river. Even if it meant their shoes and socks would be soaking wet for the rest of the day and the long drive home to Amman. 

There wasn’t a lot of wildlife to be seen, but the kids did discover schools of tadpoles in some of the calmer eddies and pools of the creek. 

We didn’t make it very far into the Wadi before the morning grew long and the afternoon sun began to creep upon us. We made our way out of the canyon and back to the lodge just in time for a late lunch before hitting the road and heading back to Amman. 

The kids — much to their chagrin — did have school early the next morning.