We drink all day long, and it is never enough. We make hydration look good, don't you think?

Here is Petra . . . one of the wonders of the world, and the location of the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was really spectacular.
For $5 we rode donkeys up a mountain to the great sanctuary at Petra. It was one of the most frightening things I have ever done. We were riding up steep steps and rocks along big edges, and the donkeys may have been suicidal. I was definitely scared for my life, and I fell off once because the make-shift saddle swung underneath the beast.

Here we are sitting in the only shade we could find in Oman while listening to our tour guide use really bad English to explain this ancient Roman city. It was really hot and I had just taken an allergy pill because my eyes hurt, which I did NOT know would cause drowsiness. I think I almost passed out about three times that morning. It was terrible.
We had to put on these very modest black robes to go into a Mosque in Oman. It was very fun. There were no Muslims there, but we got to take as many pics as we wanted.

There are really large pictures of leaders all over Jordan. I think this guy is the king, and a total babe. Check out that mustache. All the men here sit around and smoke those things.
I have become addicted to playing Phase 10. Kader, Dallin and I are playing in Petra by the pool. In the past week alone we have played over 20 full games. It is really addicting.
This is Elder Matson (i.e. John). We served together in Moscow and then both ended up coming on the program. Here we are sharing a head set for our tour as we begin to walk into Petra. John is one of the coolest guys I know, a really good friend and a really good influence.

How many camels for your wife?

Our first night in Cairo we went to a laser show at the pyramids. It was really cheesey, but the back drop was spectacular.
Gotta love the JC (Jerusalem Center ) fanny pack that I worse everywhere.

"How many camels for your wife?" Is the question constantly being asked to all of the young men in our group as we palled around Egypt. We spent seven days in Cairo and Luxor seeing all of the sights and doing some great shopping.

Jerusalem

Well, here I am in Jerusalem. It is pretty incredible. I live at the BYU Jerusalem Center overlooking the old city. It's only about a fifteen minute walk to visit Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, the Old City, or pretty much anything else.

Dome of the Rock
The Garden Tomb
Climbing around in some ancient caves

Bogota, Columbia

On my way to Peru I had an eight hour lay over in Bogota, Columbia. I made a couple of friends on the flight who drew me maps and told me where I should go. I ended up going to a couple of museums, doing some shopping and taking a gondola to the top of a peak overlooking the city. It was great. The way back from Peru wasn't so great, as my Columbian layover took place from midnight to 8:00 am. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed falling asleep on a bench in the airport with the Spanish version of Total Eclipse of the Heart playing loudly in the background.

Peru!

We arrived at Machu Picchu early in the morning so we could climb Winna Picchu, the mountain right above my head. I would say that we "hiked" the mountain but that wouldn't do the 3 hours of practically verticle Inca steps justice. Ouch.

Since I was already in Mexico . . . I decided to make the South America swing and see Nate in Peru. I flew into Lima, by way of Columbia, and stayed with him and some mission friends for a few days. We then flew to Cusco (where we got our great llama hats) and headed to Machu Picchu. It was COLD, but really fun.

Mexico in a Nutshell

The kids is Mexico were adorable. We had about 35 students who came each day for an all English preschool program through ILP (they are the same non profit I went to Ukraine with in 2004.) Isai and Vanilka were two of my favorite kids. I was the head teacher this time, which meant I didn't get to teach my own class, but I did have a lot of interaction whenever the other teachers needed me (team teaching, taking kids to the bathroom, management issues and calming the crying kids.) It was a great experience.






April 28 I took off to Mexico. There were four other girls in my group and we spent our first 8 days in Mexico backpacking the Yucatan. We stopped in Merida, Chichinitza, Ciudad del Carmen, Palenque, San Cristobal and Oaxaca. Gotta love our matching drug rugs.