1988-1989 Rothberg Yearbook

The travels of overseas students, made possible by ample breaks, have taken them all over this area
of the w orld. Some of us have let our bug fo r travelling take us to not so traditional destinations: Israel's
Arab neighbours, w h ich are still officia lly at w ar w ith our adopted home for the year. These countries
include Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. The d ifficultie s to get to these places are not few . First, since m ost of us
had evidence of Israel in our passport, we had to get new passports issued from an A m erican embassy
outside Israel. Next, one m ust cross over to these countries. Jordan is the obvious starting point since
it is a m e llo w country th a t essentially has ,'u n o ffic ia l” peace w ith Israel. It allow s passage through the
A lle n b y /K in g Hussein Bridge on the pretext that you are co m in g /g o in g from the W est Bank, not
Israel. Illogical, huh? You can also cruise dow n to Nuweiba in the Sinai, get a diffe re n t kind of stoned
than in Israel, then hop a fe rry to Aqaba, in Jordan. Once in Jordan, you fin d w h a t many of us consider
our favourite sight: Petra. It is an incredible place, so we w o n 't try to describe it. Just look at the pics
and go before it is too overrun by obnoxious tourists. As w as said, Jordan is a friendly, m ellow place
w ith a guy running the show w ho looks conspicuously like Sean Connery. He also has a very blonde
w ife w ho doesn't look of the Arab origin she claim s to be. I guess good old Hussein knows how to pull
the right strinc s, huh? W hat a dog!
Now, Jordan is the logical jum ping off point to Syria and Iraq, but people have also gone via Turkey
to Syria. Syria is som etim es d iffic u lt to get a visa fo r if your passport looks suspicious — such as having
a brand new one issued in Istanbul. Supposedly, they a re n 't as strict anym ore. Syria does provideyou
w ith probably the biggest rip -o ff in the travelling w o rld w h e n it com es to exchanging money. You must,
as they sa y,"kin d ly exchange $100 US at the border." Now the catch is you get 11 pounds to the dollar
at the border, 20 at the bank, 45 at the black market, if you can fin d it, (Syrians get 15 years in ja il for
dealing in it) and 70 to one dollar in Am m an, at the bank. Pretty screwed, huh? Also, hotels m ust be
paid in dollars. A ll th is aside, Syria is an interesting country. A llepo and Damascus have beautiful old
cities. The m ountains and coast have nice scenery and interesting sights. There is much history in
Syria. Some of us loved th £ place, some of us th o u g h t it not w o rth the bother to see. The people are
very nice and helpful and probably all of us w ere invited to som eone's hom e at least once. Secret police
are quite evident. The general reaction was: glad I w ent, glad to be out.
Iraq provides a very unique travel opportunity, having only opened its borders to travellers in
January. It is a controversial place, to say the least. This is a place to look, listen, and learn. Baghdad is
a pleasant, m ellow , M iddle Eastern-city. The Kurdish north is very beautiful w ith people in traditional
dress. The south is w here the w ar devastation is. It w as a shock to see the devastation in such m ajor
cities as Bosua. Some of us visited the form er fro n t lines. It w as sobering. Babylon, the old historical
sight, is being reconstructed "to its fo rm e r glo ry", but looks cheesy — not a great place to see. Iraq is
d irt cheap, if you exchange m oney in A m m an and sneak the m oney in. You get 2.2 diners to the dollar
there w h ile only 0.33 to the dollar in Iraq. The best deal w as o v e rn ig h tfirs tc la s s s le e p e rtra in s fo r $2-
3. The place seemed frie n d ly to some of us, but others had hassles w ith the police. Basically, the
reaction to th is place w as the same as for Syria.
I'm sure all of us w ould say our travels to these countries w ere rew arding, but not w ith o u t some
paranoia and fear (more fo r one of us than others). W e all gained valuable insights, got to see more
than enough pictures of Hussein, Assad, and th a t dem agogian d -—head Saddam Hussein (this
a u th o r's unsolicited opinion), and came out w ith a vie w of countries fe w people in our position get to
see.
M ark Dennis
J A BUG FOR TRAVELLING