The Quantar Resort

Just like the wheelchair project we did last week, the diabetic retinopathy project in Jordan will have an "education" component.  Doctors from this area will come together on March 8 for a meeting and will be taught by trainers who will come here from Salt Lake.  They will all learn how to work with diabetes patients to prevent blindness caused by the disease.

We've been looking for a site for the 3-hour meeting which will include a dinner.  (Jordanians are just like everyone else--if you have a dinner they will come)  The interesting thing we've been told is that most Jordanians prefer to eat at home so even though there's over a million people living in the area, there aren't a lot of really nice restaurants or convention centers.  We were lucky to find a resort/wedding center right here in Husn and almost next door to the Bedouin camp.  It's called the Quantar Resort.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Quantar to check it out and to tell the truth, we were not impressed.  The place is across the street from an ancient Roman pool and we thought the pool and the resort looked like they were built the same year.  It took three trips and many translated conversations before we were convinced to book the place.  The outside is a mess, but inside isn't too bad.

 This pink room is called the Mona Lisa.  We'll take it.

 Lynn's "not so happy" face.

The complex has a restaurant, so we decided to go there for lunch and try out the food to see if it was any good.   It was a weird place with stalactites hanging down from the ceiling.  No one else was there (not good).  The waitress (dressed in old jeans and a jacket) brought us some water and then left.  We waited for a menu, but she didn't bring one.  Finally we asked someone passing by if we were missing something.  He explained that even though it was 2:00 in the afternoon, the "lunch" didn't start until 7 o'clock.  They didn't know what to do with us, so we sat and sat.  Finally a man came out and we tried to explain that we wanted lunch.  He said "chicken."  We said "okay" and then waited to see what would happen.  Lynn said we should order Coke too just in case they brought us something upsetting to our stomachs.

After another very long wait the food arrived and surprise surprise-- it was delicious.  We had barbecued chicken and salad and fries all beautifully presented.  Who would have thought!  We think it was the best Jordanian food we've had here.  If they didn't have such bad service, we'd probably go back again.

The view from our table.  Someone said they clean it up when the weather gets warmer.  Today there were big black things floating in the pool.

We won't even begin to say how crazy it was to negotiate the contract for the room.  The Arabic men used a Philippino translator and the whole thing was enough to give us a headache.