When the human mind is blinded by external believes and abstract ideas about the eternity, the destiny and the outside world, no action is driven by any logic, and Jerusalem/ Al Quds is the consequence of this kind of believes. Three of the most important religions in the world meet there, in each of its streets and around it to dialogue, fight and refuse the ideas of the other. Sadly, in the last century the dialogue has waned and confrontation has arised as the main mean of relation between them.

Nowadays, Jerusalem/Al Quds is controlled by Israel, a semi-religious state founded in 1948 and aiming at becoming the state of all Jews in the world, but falling in their task. However, the holy city is under their control and it is the main place where they can show to the world their muscle. In every corner and street of the Old City you will face the israeli army and security forces, waving their weapons and demonstrating that there is a new guy in town, and it is there to stay, forever, or at least until someone else is able to kick them out. It will not be the first time in the History of the city, and surely it was not the last one. Obviously, when one of the groups control the place, the other two consider that fact as a grievance. It can be compared with a Vatican city controlled by a muslim country or Lhasa controlled by a communist state (irony, of course).

Jerusalem/ Al Quds is politics, everything has a meaning, from the falafel shops, to the language you use in a shop and the names. One of the main victories is the language. The world speaks about Jerusalem, with actually is the Jewish name, for muslims, the city is called Al Quds, but that is not acepted broadly by the international media, use that name is already a label of palestinian support. Oh, yes, the Palestine issue, I maybe forgot to mention it, but actually so many things are around the city that is difficult to focus on all of them. Palestine is nothing, it does not exist, and everything they show us in the media is false, there is no palestinian authority but rather some no-law parts of the country. Everything is clearly under the same authority. As clear example are the israeli buses. They cross freely the West Bank, as an another part of israel. In the way, two things can shock you. A high wall, decorated with Israeli flags in which, actually, is supposed to be, by UN definition, the future Palestinian State, and some fenced places, with good-looking buildings and military security around them. They are the settlements, those who think that Israel has the right (because their holy book says so, I should check what my holy book says about my neighbour’s car, maybe I have the right to take it…) to use these lands. It is their “holy land”  and they are coming back to retake what they just temporaly gave up some thousand years ago…but of course, Divine right is over International Law and they can do so.

There is something that keep knocing in my mind, and it is the influence of religion in the region. Five times a day, every single day of the year, the praying call storms all the arab cities, few minutes after, thousand of persons, looking in the same direction pray to the same God, in the same language and with a fairly amount of similar faith. They are the majority, but not the only group present in the region. One thing, however, is clear, people will define themselves upon their faith, and that makes a difference between two persons. After the clasical arab greetings, the first question is “what is your religion”, which, actually means, who are you?, how can I label you? How can I prepare myself to interact with you?. People´s faith should not, in my personal opinion, be the label hanging from our head in order to make easier our classification, we are, above all, the same. Several times during my time in the Middle East I tried to explain my situation: “No, Sir, I do not have a religion, I do not believe in any God, I just believe…well…in nothing until I see it with my own eyes!”….the face was always the same: “These europeans are crazy” and at the end it was easier to say: “Yes, I am catholic”. It was actually kind of easier and better since catholicism is respected as one of the religions of the book in the muslim world, therefore, the label hanging out of your head doesnt say: “infidel” or “crazy”, it just says: “close to the right path, but not enough”

Religion is everywhere, in the language, in the names, in the outfit, in their daily greetings (the blackbone of the arab society!) and it is impossible to live without its influence. Talking with some friends we came to the conclusion that actually Islam is the best marketing product. It was able to correct the “mistakes” of the other religions (mainly judaism and christianism) in order to obtain a pretty obedient mob, which is actually able to live their religion by themselves but without the possibility to even dare to question a single idea of it. A.k.a, without a door open for evolution.

But again, this is my biased ignorant western view….

From Amman to Cairo is possible to go by land, heading south to Aqaba, taking a ferry there crossing the red sea and then taking a bus to Cairo, however, it takes almost a whole day, and Cairo deserves more than just a glaze, it deserves all the time you can give her (and i use her as the Cairo’s population). Cairo is that woman full of mistakes, messy and impolite that, for some reason, you cannot stop looking at.

Touching down in Cairo is already extreme, you flight over a huge city, spread around several kilometres and arrive to a pretty modern airpot, clean and cold…but Cairo is waiting outside, when you cross the automatic door and a warm welcome slap your face for the very first time…welcome to hell, its 35 degress during the night. Jump into a taxi after half an hour looking for a bus nobody knows about and I dive into the massive gridlock that the city traffic is. No corner is free of traffic jams, everything moves in a way barely possible by physic laws, but it moves…its Cairo.

Cairo is many cities at the same time, its an old islamic city, traditional and designed in the islamic style, with minaretes dominating the landscape and the skyline of it. But it is also a arab-socialist city, with some stalinist-arab buildings, big avenues and Midans (rounds). But of course, Cairo is also a old egyptian city, although no really important during that time….still, Cairo was lucking enough to grow until it included in its border the three Giza Pyramids.

Its 2200 and the streets are full, families, young unemployed guys, hijab-covered Channel-dressed teenagers giggling and strolling. Street-food sellers screaming around to catch some hungry client. The people making their life around the Nile, as always, as it has been the last ten centuries, as it was during the Pharaohs time. The same river Salah Al-Din saw, the same one that Nasser or Napoleon looked at some point in their life. Stroll around, see what people do and how the do, eat what they eat (mmm….wonderful falafel there!) and cross the streets as they do (not an easy task)..thats the way to get along with Cairo, to cope with the oppresing pollution, dust and heat that will sorround you during all your time there. If you do it, you will either love the city or hate it with all your will…think you can guess my opinion

Wadi Musa is such a funny place, everybody knows some sentences in english, and the children in the street are constantly impoving their language-skills asking all the tourist “where are you from?” and saying “welcome!”. One constant question after say that I am from Spain is “Real o Barcelona?”….football is everywhere, and actually is the first thing that poeple know about Spain. It is somehow curious here since Spain is such an important place for arab culture and History. For centuries it was the most advance part fo the arab world and many thinkers and politicians were born there. Internet and satellite TV has ereased this idea, depicting Spain as a country were football is the most important thing.

My “wonder-spotting” path has some further appointment, this weekend I am flying to Cairo, the capital city of the Arab world and the hosting city of the famous Giza Piramids.

When living in this region the question is always around you, mainly when it comes to women-rights. The debate, as usually, is endless and you will find westerns defending the social function of the hijab, muslims considering it as a old-ages symbol of masculine domination and people staring at women because they are not covering their hair.

There is, of course, no right answer to this dilemma, and everybody will think that his/her opinion is actually the right one…so do I. I consider all human beings to be the same, with the same rights, the same capabilities, the same possibilities and the same natural processes; therefore, a labour division based on gender should not be natural. It is obvious that there are some differences between men and women, mainly, women can get pregnat, men cannot (so far…) but apart from that, everything is the same and all the differences are constructed by the society and the culture. These constructions can be adapted and changed to the current time and i will call that evolution. In the concrete case of the hijab, it obviously inhibit the freedom of women. It is argued that it is a tool to avoid harassment, however, the sole responsible for the actions are the actors, and not the one who suffer the actions. In this vein, the sole resposible for the harassment is the man who does it, and no the woman. Think the opposite will be like think that the guilty for a wallet-robbery is the owner of the wallet rather than the thief. Sometimes is also argued that they do to feel more confortable without men looking at them…but again, do we lock our car just without any reason or because we are afraid to leave it open? if it is open, somebody can take but….if we know that nobody will take even if it is open, will the cars still have a locking system? probably no.

However, as I said, this is just my “western” biased-opinion and probably people will have different ones…anyhow, I am still thiking about the woman in the car, her freedom and her choices and I feel somehow sorry for her, but of course, thats only my western-biased eyes….

But Damascus is not only religion, its also politics. In the entrance of the old city a big regime-ad, with the picture of Bashar al-Assad and the sentence “I believe in Syria” welcomes the visitors. Inside, the president is depicted in several signs, sometimes as the president, other as the commander of the country (with top-gun sunglasses and three days’ stubble), other as part of a biggest group, in which Hizbullah and Iran leaders are also included. In many shops there is a Syrian flag hanging, but also Hizbullah flags are around and the leader of Hizbullah also has its owns signs, claiming a future victory over the enemy, Israel. The Christian quarter of the old city is the only alive place during the night and there women do not cover their hair, either because they are Christians or because they can be there without the hijab. Iraq and Palestina are also present, in the feeling and in the flows of refugees hosted by the city. It is, summing up, a perfect example of what is the Middle East. Islam, Christianity Arabism, politics and the Palestine occupation are present in each corner and in each mind.

Damascus is my style, dusty, messy, dirty and chaotic..as I like. It is not a city created for tourism, it is over that, is bigger than that; the tourist is just an adventurer how decided to explore the city in his/her free time, but he/she is not welcome. That does not mean that Syrians are not nice, in fact, they are extremely nice, but Damascus is for them, is not for the tourist so you must adapt to the norms of the place. You must learn how to grab a cab, how to eat, to find places, to bargain in the shops and this helps to keep the spirit of the city alive. Sometimes touristic hot-spots have lost their identity, they have set up an stage for the tourist where things are not anymore following the daily-life path but rather, adapting it to the desires and wishes of the travelers. Luckily, Damascus is not like that and thats the reason why it is a extremely nice and interesting city.

There are some things you cannot miss there. Go, walk the old-city and get into their frenetic Saturday activity. Go to the door of the mosque after Friday praying, that will help you to understand why Islam is so important and finally, get lost, find a tiny restaurant, ask the waiter to bring you their best food (is going to be good, do not worry), grab a narguile (water pipe) and relax in the shadows of the oldest capital city in the world, you cannot do that all the days of your life!

The flat is, well, wonderful, cheap and huge. Usually a student (a normal one) does not have the opportunity to enjoy space, commodities and affordable prices at the same time; luckily, in Amman that is possible and it probably worths to live like that two months, not enough time to get used to some luxuries but still time enough to enjoy it.

There are some remarkable things in the Dead Sea that can shock a European like me. First of all, the road is full of military check-points. I don´t know exactly why, but I guess the proximity with Israel entails some sort of security…you can actually swim to Israel if you want/can to do so. Other interesting thing is already in the “beach”. We choose the cheapes option to swim in the Dead Sea and we were sorrounded mainly by Jordanians. They tend to swim with their clothes, and of course, usually only man do so, the women stay outside and dry taking care of everything. Even, some of the women wear a burka under the 45º sun. Appart from ethical considerations, you wonder how can they survive with that clothes. After a bath, wearing only my swimming trunks and in the shadow I was about to melt due to the sun and the heat so, what about the same heat but without bath, with all your body covered and wearing only black clothes?. I guess they get used, or they just cannot complain (how can they if they are “forced” to wear that!?). Appart from all of these, the uniqueness of the Dead Sea is provided by it amount of salt it has, that allows you to literally float…quite wierd feeling, but worthy to try once in your life.

Just one more experience from yesterday…drive in Jordan. Although we always have the image, and for someone who has been in Morroco or Egypt, the expierence of caotic traffic in the arab world. Drive here was actually pretty easy, just keep your eyes open and honk several times to communicate with the other drivers.