A Jordanian Picnic

Yesterday I was invited to go have a picnic in Wadi Rajib, a valley about 30 km northwest of Kufranjah with my landlord's sister and daughters and a couple of nephews. Forsaking my big Friday plans to do laundry and clean my house, I decided to go and it was AMAZING.

A view of the valley (arabic 101: wadi=valley)

It took a while to get to this viewpoint, but clearly it was well worth the journey. We parked the car in a field, and carried all of our picnic supplies through a very muddy, blustery field, through some bushes, up hills, down hills, past some goats in another blustery field, until we finally arrived at the perfect picnic spot.

Pictures never give natural beauty justice. But imagine this x 1000. The waterfall is beautiful and the caves protected us from the wind. 

We decided to go exploring. Point of destination is the cave in the top center of the photo, right behind the green shrub.

The voyage was not easy.

Don't let her fool you.

But we made it!

The caves are remnants of a Byzantine church, likely from the 6th century. Some of the mosaics are still in tact.

At one point, this was the inside of a church.

Notice the one very wet pant leg.

We returned safely in time to make and enjoy lunch. Complete with jadge, salata, patata, and cake. In Jordan PB&Js and granola bars just don't cut it.

After several hours, we moved spots and settled down to drink some gawha (coffee) and watched...

...as some sheep passed by...

...and huddled together as the sun went down before finally heading home.

A wonderful day indeed.