My Actual Night in Wadi Rum

In a previous post I discussed the amazing night we spent in the Wadi Rum, and, truthfully, I will never forget it.  We're already discussing our next trip to Jordan, which will have to include at two nights, hopefully more, in the Wadi Rum.  However, I didn't actually get to sleep in that lovely little desert hut that was reserved for me.  As is well documented, I have profound sleep apnea, which would mean that trying to sleep without my CPAP machine is almost impossible - I definitely wouldn't sleep much, and my extraordinary snoring would assure that no one else would get any sleep at all.  Still, I had warned the students and Cyndi, and positioned myself as far away from others as possible, and just decided to cowboy up and accept that it was going to be a bad night (and brutal next day).  However, we were sitting in the large communal tent when I noticed a plug-in, which, I discovered, was fueled by solar power.  I asked if I might be able to sleep on the floor in the tent, and the Jordanian who ran the camp, as one would expect from a Jordanian (famous for their hospitality) immediately set up a little bed on the floor - and they even went out of their way to be quiet and prematurely shut down the party of a group of German tourists in the other part of the communal tent.  And, so, here is my bed, replete with my CPAP machine, which has toughed it out and traveled all over the world with me, and once again helped me pull through what might have been a bad night.  It ended up being a great night, and I rose, a little achy, but prepared to tackle Petra.

Not a bad set up, all things considered.  They dragged a slight mattress and a large pile of blankets, and I survived the cold desert night just fine.