Jordan is amazing, or I should say, Jordanians are amazing! Seemingly guileless and so friendly and welcoming it's almost heartbreaking. Mannah, my driver picked me up at 8am and we headed south to Mt Nebo. This is where Moses finally looked out upon the Promised Land after 40 years leading his people in the wilderness, and died without ever making it there. The view was thrilling, over the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea to Jerusalem and Jericho where of course the 'walls came tumbling down'. I decided I didn't need a guide as this was a small site, but while looking at some some exquisite Byzantine mosaics from the 5th century church built as a shrine to Moses's tomb, an on duty policemen asked where I was from, duly shook my hand and welcomed me to Jordan. Then he took it upon himself to show me proudly around the site, explaining details and history of the mosaics. Shukran! An hour later we're making our way to Petra through the desolate and dramatic 'Grand Canyon of Jordan' and were stopped by the transport police to check our papers. When they found out I was from New Zealand they welcomed me to Jordan and asked us in for a cup of coffee. Mohammad, the young officer who stopped us, showed us into their humble tin shed beside the road and introduced his commanding officer who was watching 'Lord of the Rings' on an old TV set. We chatted for 15 minutes in a mixture of Arabic and English, they clearly relished the visit and hoped I'd come back to Jordan one day.
BTW: No one knows where Moses was buried, (if he ever existed) it even says so in the Bible. "God Himself buried him in an unknown grave in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor" (Deut. 34:6).
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