Day 160 - Tel Aviv - Elat - Aqaba, Jordan
Monday, December 10th, 2018.
We got up early and got ready to go. We first ran to the grocery store to get lunch for the road. I miss France or Italy where they had prepackaged lunches. We bought hummus and veggies and almonds and off we went. The drive was long and it seemed like we were never getting closer to Eilat. At first, we were fascinated by the desert and trying to get a picture of camel crossing. But after two hours, we were bored. We stopped in a place that said "wadi" which means oasis. We wanted to see one and have lunch there. Well, we drove away from the road and we only found the traces of water but not water. We sat on the dirt, underneath a tree and had our lunch. Gregory and Daniel disappeared looking for stones. After a 20 minute break, we hopped in the car. We had two more hours to go. We finally made it to Elat. We returned the car and took a taxi to the border of Jordan. The taxi was expensive but there was no other way to get there. It cost 50 shekels. The driver was very opinionated and said that Jordan was no good place to visit. Too late darling, I was thinking to myself. We first walked to what it was the border of Israel. They checked our passport, we had to pay to leave (weird if you ask me) and then we passed through another door where they took our payment, took our picture and said goodbye to us! We were now entering the Jordan border. It was kind of empty except few men crossing without bags. We passed our suitcases and backpacks through detectors when my diet coke, which I was saving like gold, exploded and I had to run outside to throw it away. When I ran back, I went through the metal detector with my purse and of course, it went off. The officer reminded me to put my bag through the detector separately.
We then went to another two offices. The border is in bad shape, under construction and the soldiers don't look friendly but they actually are. The one who stamped my passport started to sing Isabella, Isabella while stamping her passport. Ok, we made it, I thought. It was getting late and I was getting nervous. But no, the next adventure, the taxi drivers who want to overcharge. Gregory was ready to negotiate but I was anxious to get to our place. The taxi driver boss first wanted two taxis because we weren't allowed to put a suitcase inside the car, only in the trunk. Gregory of course, said no and showed him how all the suitcases fit in one. They argued for a while. Gregory even went to check to the border where they have the official fee and was ready to ask for help to the guard in the door. They agreed on a fee and we all hopped in the taxi.
I asked Gregory about the money and he said, no worries, we will stop for an atm! I wanted to shout! I thought he had already figured this out. I warned him to be prepared to pay more if he requested this to the taxi driver. Then we asked the driver if he took US dollars and he said yes! I, fortunately, had spare change and we were able to pay the exact amount. We arrived at our place and it wasn't looking nice. I told myself to wait and not panic but the neighborhood was looking like the one in Istanbul.
I give the apartment two stars. I remember seeing the furniture being tacky but when I saw the bathroom and kitchen I just wanted to cry. There is no shower, well there is but in the middle of the room, there is no door or division so when you shower, you get the whole toilet wet. There is a sink for the bathroom and the kitchen and they only have a tiny stove. Very few utensils for cooking.
The refrigerator is in the kid's bedroom and there is no table or chairs to eat.
Maybe I was just tired from the long and stressful day but I just couldn't help it anymore and I started crying really hard. I couldn't stop myself and had the urge to cry and cry and scream!
Gregory told me to stop because I was scaring the kids but I just couldn't. I was feeling so homesick, lonely, desperate, frustrated and with no way out.
I tried to take a nap even if was late to see if I could feel better but I couldn't. We decided to go out for dinner, not far, we had fast food right around the corner and I felt a little better. Still not the neighborhood I want to stay but we have already pay for a week!
After dinner, we walked to Carrefour, yeah, the French grocery store to get breakfast for tomorrow. We saw many things that we wanted to buy but I reminded everybody no to do it since we were going to try to find another place to stay!
When we came home, I felt a little better but I couldn't get a good night sleep. The place is located on a very busy street and we could hear a lot of noise. Well, Gregory was snoring so I was probably the only one awake. I cried more. I miss my mom, my home. I cried almost 10 times and I felt really depressed. (She really made sure everyone knew)
We got up early and got ready to go. We first ran to the grocery store to get lunch for the road. I miss France or Italy where they had prepackaged lunches. We bought hummus and veggies and almonds and off we went. The drive was long and it seemed like we were never getting closer to Eilat. At first, we were fascinated by the desert and trying to get a picture of camel crossing. But after two hours, we were bored. We stopped in a place that said "wadi" which means oasis. We wanted to see one and have lunch there. Well, we drove away from the road and we only found the traces of water but not water. We sat on the dirt, underneath a tree and had our lunch. Gregory and Daniel disappeared looking for stones. After a 20 minute break, we hopped in the car. We had two more hours to go. We finally made it to Elat. We returned the car and took a taxi to the border of Jordan. The taxi was expensive but there was no other way to get there. It cost 50 shekels. The driver was very opinionated and said that Jordan was no good place to visit. Too late darling, I was thinking to myself. We first walked to what it was the border of Israel. They checked our passport, we had to pay to leave (weird if you ask me) and then we passed through another door where they took our payment, took our picture and said goodbye to us! We were now entering the Jordan border. It was kind of empty except few men crossing without bags. We passed our suitcases and backpacks through detectors when my diet coke, which I was saving like gold, exploded and I had to run outside to throw it away. When I ran back, I went through the metal detector with my purse and of course, it went off. The officer reminded me to put my bag through the detector separately.
We then went to another two offices. The border is in bad shape, under construction and the soldiers don't look friendly but they actually are. The one who stamped my passport started to sing Isabella, Isabella while stamping her passport. Ok, we made it, I thought. It was getting late and I was getting nervous. But no, the next adventure, the taxi drivers who want to overcharge. Gregory was ready to negotiate but I was anxious to get to our place. The taxi driver boss first wanted two taxis because we weren't allowed to put a suitcase inside the car, only in the trunk. Gregory of course, said no and showed him how all the suitcases fit in one. They argued for a while. Gregory even went to check to the border where they have the official fee and was ready to ask for help to the guard in the door. They agreed on a fee and we all hopped in the taxi.
I asked Gregory about the money and he said, no worries, we will stop for an atm! I wanted to shout! I thought he had already figured this out. I warned him to be prepared to pay more if he requested this to the taxi driver. Then we asked the driver if he took US dollars and he said yes! I, fortunately, had spare change and we were able to pay the exact amount. We arrived at our place and it wasn't looking nice. I told myself to wait and not panic but the neighborhood was looking like the one in Istanbul.
I give the apartment two stars. I remember seeing the furniture being tacky but when I saw the bathroom and kitchen I just wanted to cry. There is no shower, well there is but in the middle of the room, there is no door or division so when you shower, you get the whole toilet wet. There is a sink for the bathroom and the kitchen and they only have a tiny stove. Very few utensils for cooking.
The refrigerator is in the kid's bedroom and there is no table or chairs to eat.
Maybe I was just tired from the long and stressful day but I just couldn't help it anymore and I started crying really hard. I couldn't stop myself and had the urge to cry and cry and scream!
Gregory told me to stop because I was scaring the kids but I just couldn't. I was feeling so homesick, lonely, desperate, frustrated and with no way out.
I tried to take a nap even if was late to see if I could feel better but I couldn't. We decided to go out for dinner, not far, we had fast food right around the corner and I felt a little better. Still not the neighborhood I want to stay but we have already pay for a week!
After dinner, we walked to Carrefour, yeah, the French grocery store to get breakfast for tomorrow. We saw many things that we wanted to buy but I reminded everybody no to do it since we were going to try to find another place to stay!
When we came home, I felt a little better but I couldn't get a good night sleep. The place is located on a very busy street and we could hear a lot of noise. Well, Gregory was snoring so I was probably the only one awake. I cried more. I miss my mom, my home. I cried almost 10 times and I felt really depressed. (She really made sure everyone knew)
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| Beware of camels on the road! I love it. Too bad we didn't see any! |
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| The road to Eilat. Very few trucks |
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| Admiring all the spices they had at Carrefour |
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| All sorts of spices |
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| I was surprised to see a lot of people doing their shopping at 10:00pm (when I took this picture) |
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