An awkward tea party

"Tea, tea, tea"…the repeated chant of the word forced me to open my eyes and stare at the teeny glass of the warm beverage being thrust in my face. This was at least the 1000th cup of tea that has been forced upon me in the past 24 hours. Somehow I could clearly recall my tea overdose but I couldn’t tell you where I was. I glanced around the tent that I was lying in...on a thin mattress next to a roaring fire while a Bedouin sat nearby playing some hypnotizing snake-charming music and two cats eyed me suspiciously. The other Bedouin man kept chanting “tea, tea” – it seems my short but powerful nap had left me completely disoriented.

The voice of Carrie, my travel mate, startled me back to reality - we were the sole guests of a Bedouin camp in a Jordanian desert. Initially a brilliant idea… sleeping in a traditional camp, learning the ways of the nomadic Bedouin people, sampling traditional fare…it quickly turned into an awkward affair.

As we were the only guests, our hosts were constantly aware of our presence...trying to entertain us or give us more tea. The chilly temperature of the desert at night meant we were forced to remain with them and the fire. Then came the food...I have seen less food at cruise ship buffets. I am not sure who they thought was going to be eating but there were several dishes, an entire lamb and a huge basket full of pita bread. The Bedouins (musician Mohammed and fire-making Mohammed) did not join us rather they sat and watched us eat…yes creepy. We ate enough to be what we hoped was polite before returning to fire.

It seems no visit to the camp would be complete without a visit to the ‘museum’ on site - this was a mandatory fun activity. And was we followed behind musician Mohammed nodding politely as he pointed at random old photos and explained them to us in Arabic as we wandered through the only actual building on site…all I could think was ‘if it got cold enough my toe may actually just fall off’.

Despite the warmth (and the generous offer to spend the night with them next to the fire) we braved the cold and headed into our goat hair tent to hunker down for the night…and don every piece of clothing we brought.