Wadi Rum, part three: camels

Camels!

We got up the next morning, ate breakfast, and packed our stuff. It was a miracle! The camels had multiplied in the night, from three to ninety-ish! Wow! The buses were outside waiting for us, so we loaded all our backpacks onto the buses and loaded ourselves onto the camels. Okay, really, other people (read: people who know what they're doing around camels) loaded us onto the animals.

How to get on a camel:

1. Select an appropriately-sized camel. Well, okay, they're all huge, so just pick one that looks about right for you. As we were all milling about post-bus, post-sunscreen, pre-camel, one of the herders came up and directed us to our camels. He pulled Lauren, Kim, and me over to a three-camel train, and organized us in height order.

2. Swing leg over camel's back - the camels in our part of the world are the one-hump kind - and try to situate yourself over the saddle in what you can only hope is a graceful manner.

3. Hold on to the saddle in front of you.

4. Up. If you're lucky, you've already been expecting it. If you're not, well, there's a little bit of awkward flailing, but it's all good.

We started out as pack leaders, and I remembered the previous day's race. Let me just say: atop a camel, I had absolutely none of the same "c'mon let's pass 'em, whoooooo boy!" feelings from the day before. But more on that later.

This was at the very beginning of the ride. Note the horizon? It's REALLY hard to take photographs from a camel. We didn't have to worry about holding reins because our camels were linked together and a guide was leading the front camel. But still - the camel is a lot for two hands to manage. I had my cell phone in my right back pocket, my camera in my left back pocket - not a really secure place, but the best I had - and they had given us water bottles right before we left. So to summarize... right hand occasionally checking cell phone pocket. Left hand frequently checking camera pocket. Both hands awkwardly hugging water bottle and saddle at the same time, although I would have preferred to have both hands free to embrace the saddle. As big and secure as the camels look, it feels pretty precarious from the top.

Omnomnom. Our camels had the munchies. Lauren's camel, being the lead, got to eat all the scrubby bushes that he wanted. The other two camels were a little jealous. Because of the way that they were roped together, once Camel #1 decided he was done eating, the whole group had to move on, and Camels #2 and #3 could only hope to get a passing munch. Poor things.

I wish I had a photo that showed the full size of our group - it was pretty dang impressive.

More munchies. The guy in that photo is our guide. He led the camels at first, but eventually decided to give the rein (singular, yes, it was really just a rope) to Lauren, and he walked by our side. By the third leg of the journey, some of the students had abdicated their camels, so he hopped up on one of the spare camels. It was probably a lot more pleasant for him that way.

This is a photo from our first stop. We got tea! In case it wasn't evident from my other posts this semester, tea is a huge cultural thing. We got it at the bottom of waterfall #11 in Wadi Feid and upon reaching the truck. We were given tea partway through the 4x4 tour. There's a lot of tea. And even though it was warm out, the only tea they ever serve is piping hot, like oh-man-I-can't-hold-the-glass hot. Yet somehow it's still refreshing. Magical.

One other thing about this photo: yes, that is a hitching post. Wild West?

A photo from the second stop. (I like the little local boy resting in the shade of the camel, completely unfazed by the fact that it could smush him at any moment.) You'll note that I abandoned my efforts at taking photographs from on top of the camel. As the day wore on, either our camels or our guide decided they would like to trot, thank you very much, and proceeded to do just that.

Ow.

Not fun times. Not fun times at all. This would be why I didn't want to race. The next day (or two) (or three) we all looked pretty pathetic around campus. There was a very classy moment when I almost fell down after trying to stand up from the table in the cafeteria. It huuuurts. Camel #3 was worse than Camel #2. How do I know? We rotated for the second leg of the trip. Kim wanted to steer the camels, so we shuffled. While trotting, thinking about how I was about to fall out of my saddle because Camel #3 had such a skinny back, I could see Lauren in front of me on Camel #2 and felt very jealous of his wide, comfortable-looking back. Besides that, I already considered Camel #2 to be my camel.

I was happy when we switched back for the third leg. Let's just say that if Goldilocks were in Wadi Rum, she would have picked Camel #2. We later found out that his name is Feynan. I forgot the other two camels' names, because obviously they were of no importance compared to Feynan. He's my bud. Trotting still wasn't a blast, but at least I felt a little safer on his back.

And the very end of our ride. How to get off a camel:

1. Enjoy the fact that you're not on the first camel. They go down in order.

2. Hold on, it could happen at any moment.

3. Drop, thump.

4. No, not yet.

5. Drop, thump, again. It's a two-part thing. Beware of the camel that decides, halfway down, that it doesn't want to be down. Tricksy.

6. Swing leg over and get off, much in the same manner as getting done. Success!

I was trying to take a very covert and sneaky photograph of our guide as he was walking away at the end. Too bad he noticed. (I still like the picture.) After this, we went into the Wadi Rum Visitors Center to watch a short film about Wadi Rum and eat lunch. I really don't know where the camels or the guides went, but when I came out after lunch to fill a bottle with sand, they were gone. We trudged back to the buses in complete exhaustion, and I can hardly remember most of the ride home.

Overall? Such a wonderful weekend. If you ever get a chance to ride a camel, and I mean really ride, not just a petting zoo or a state fair kind of thing, go for it. They're really quite sweet - and fluffy on top.