Tea with the Bedouins

My Bedouin Tea Afternoon
(Clockwise) Traditional teapot; Bedouin tent made of goats hair (to keep cool in the desert);
Fresh cup of Bedouin tea (green West Africa tea with sugar and cardamon); Our Bedouin host

I just got back from a class trip to the Middle East, which was more fabulous than I could ever have expected … in large part due to a day where we camped out in Wadi Rum – a sandstone / granite rock valley in southwest Jordan – and home of the Bedouins, an Arab nomadic tribe that lives out in the desert.

I’m a creature of comforts. Those who know me can attest to the fact that I am unfortunately not the nature-loving, outdoors, camping type. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever really truly 'camped’ before (at least as my friends describe how 'real' camping should be experienced). But this was one of those life experiences that I’ll never forget …

Sitting in the back of an old, rickety pickup truck, driving up and down the sand dunes in the Jordanian desert, stopping by a traditional Bedouin tent made out of goat hair, taking off my sandy and dirty shoes to have an oh-so-delicious cup of Bedouin tea (Green tea from West Africa spiced with cardamom and sweetened with sugar). Not blissful (that denotes some level of comfort which was completely lacking in the situation) – but truly magical.