Whatever Enters My Head

After our delightful stay in Jordan, we finally made the trip into Israel. The crossing of the border was no trouble, and after a good nights sleep our first destination was the Tel at Megiddo. This is the rather awesome little Museum there, where different parts of the excavation lifted up to show what they have found underneath.

This is the view from Mt. Nebo in Jordan, looking out towards the Promised Land. The Bible says that Moses looked out off of Mt. Nebo to see the Promised Land before he died, because he was never to enter it.

Tradition says this is the spot.

We did go in. :P

I’m watering a shoe. Mind your own business, fool.

This was in Jordan, near the Madaba area. There was always graffiti like this, but this one caught my eye. We were late to something, so I just snapped it and moved on. I think the chain over the cross is particularly interesting.

There are a ton of icons in all the churches in the Holy Land, mostly because the major holy sites are shared by multliple denominations. In Israel, they tended to be painted but in Jordan they made them to last. This mosaic was actually a massive 3x6 thing, and was framed and hung on the wall. No idea how much it weighed.

They dug up this lovely mosaic under the floor of a church, around the Mt. Nebo area. One thing I didn’t know, is that that each tile isn’t a tile. It’s a piece of stone.

I apologize for missing many of your photos… my computer has been undergoing repairs for over a week, and I just got it back yesterday.

Sadly, we had to eventually leave Petra. We then traveled to Mt. Nebo, the place where Moses saw the promised land. There are a bunch of old monasteries on top of the mountain, and excavations are being done to find and restore the original mosaic floors of these buildings. This guy was just hanging out on a tent over one of those mosaics.

This gentleman was perched up on top of the cliff that forms the treasury. He was really clever. He had what he claimed was fake, and (much more expensive) real coins and other antiques. Of course, it is really really illegal to take antiques out of Jordan.

So what this gentleman did was take the same fake coin, put one normal obvious fake on cardboard and show it to you and proclaim how fake it was. Then he would show you the same coin, only rubbed in dirt and in a nice case that he showed you on a piece of felt like a diamond. It had the same weight, same fake wear marks, but presentation was all that mattered.

I asked him if I could take his photo. He said go right ahead. I didn’t buy anything, but I told him that I would be sure and tell others about his store. If you ever find yourself in Petra, swing on by. Tell him Evan sent you.

I know there are often animals at tourist sites in the states, but in the Middle East they aren’t a petting zoo. Most of the animals we saw were actually being used for transportation or as beasts of burden. These donkeys were just chilling in the shade and keeping the flies off of one another.

I think the conversion to B&W was a good idea…. the sun was so hot on the rocks behind. It also just felt right, and I wanted to enhance the soft feeling, make these animals a bit more cuddly. I think it worked.

My dad actually found this shot for me. He ran back to where I was shooting, and told me I needed to come see this before it was over. Thanks dad!

It’s really dark and cool in the building in Petra, but occasionally there’s a window for light. This window is in a large structure known as the temple or the library. This is a small side room with a really high ceiling. The temperature was really manageable in there.

When inside the caves you can easily forget how magnificent the rock the place is made of because of dust and the lack of light. Places like this illuminate the beauty of the place that has been named among the new Seven Wonders of the World.

My mac is in the shop, so I’m becoming a linux junkie. Programs here: Bash, screen, ncftp, vim. I’ve made my own Coda, in the terminal. :)

Warren Buffett on why he will give away nearly 99% of his wealth by the end of his life.