Jordan was the first country I visited that made me cry. In a good way, might I add…
eventually.
Everyone talks about Petra and the Treasury, but Jordan’s true beauty is in its people.
I hadn’t experienced such warmth from strangers before. Especially travelling mainly in Europe. And there I mainly got the death stare.
So, this trip to Jordan was humbling, and I couldn’t hold back the tears on the long bus ride back from Wadi Rum.
Mind you, the tears had probably been building up since my first day in Amman. I’d been doing a bit of sightseeing, wandering the streets and my senses were in hypervigilance mode. The high street was busier than any I’d seen back home. Traffic surged endlessly from all directions. Horns beeped constantly, and I was convinced that at any moment, some sort of accident was about to happen.
It was my first time in the Middle East, and let’s just say: I was struggling.
But through the noise and chaos, I did notice one thing. The smiles. Everyone I passed greeted me with a warm ‘Welcome to Jordan’, and their kindness travelled through their eyes.
Slowly, I started to relax.
I stopped at a juice stand, and even the vendor greeted me, with that same warm smile. He asked ‘where I’d travelled from and how long was I visiting?’ When I tried to pay, he waved me off . ‘Next time, you pay!’
With it being a hot(ish) Ramadan afternoon, I knew he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since daybreak.Yet here he waw offering kindness and expecting nothing in return.
It’s only now I’ve realised what moved me to tears. I mean the memories of Wadi Rum, Petra, Rainbow Street and the Citadel fade with time.
But the warmth and kindness of the people…
that connection I felt, still lingers. And it’s something I rarely feel on the high street back home.
So, yes Jordan was the first country I visited that made me cry.