Will the Volunteer Visa Materialize??So we were back in Amman once again. The organization that oversees volunteer visas for volunteering in Israel and the West Bank does not mention them on their web site. But we learned they do exist and they take a month. But COGAT promised a 2 week rush. We crossed our ten fingers and toes and decided to do a whirl wind tour of outdoor adventures in Jordan.Our 7^th Circle neighborhood had seemed like a suburb to Amman when we arrived, but we quickly learned that we’d landed in a great location. The bus station was around the corner and nearby were a number of coffee shops, restaurants and liquor stores (yes you read that right—Christians own the liquor stores in Muslim countries and Amman has its share of Christians and not-completely-devout Muslims.)The chatty Missouri couple we met in the Israeli border control had advised us that although it was still winter in Jordan, southern Jordan was not too cold to visit. We could sleep in goat-hair tents in Wadi Run and swim in the Red Sea.So we were off in our large 50-passenger, air conditioned Jet bus along with a school group from a Russian speaking company. We travelled the Desert Highway and stopped for a break at a rest stop that was an opportunity for shopping, bathrooms and refreshments, in that order.  It was frequented by several stray cats and before we re-boarded the bus, we heard the call to prayers.  It was Friday after all, equivalent to a Sunday in the US, no work and a day of prayer.Before I give you some highlights of our 2-week holiday with a medical twist (Reed is writing the travelogue), allow me to talk about likelihood of the volunteer visa. Reed and I gave it 50/50. If you follow the news, Israel is notorious for broken promises. One of the biggest issues in this regard is settlements.  For a quick 2012 summary of this issue CLICK HERE The IDF soldier who interviewed me at attempted bridge crossing #2 asked me what I thought of settlements. My answer: there are a lot of them. They have increased dramatically since 2012 and do threaten the two-state solution to the Israel Palestine conflict. Prime Minister Netanyahu has been very aggressive with settlements. They start as a trailer home on Palestinian land. Other Jewish neighbors migrate to the area and then one-story structures appear. Next is the security fence, then roads are built so the settlers can travel on safe roads to Jerusalem. Those roads cut across Palestinian land, and cut Palestinians off from olive groves, eliminate easy access to schools and work. One of our Palestinian colleagues used to walk across the street to grade school when she was a child. Now her niece has to drive 1 ½ hours by car each way to get to the same school. Much of the access is controlled by checkpoints and gates that open and close at will. If a farmer doesn’t visit his land on a regular basis he loses it. Palestinians lose jobs because they may miss too much work because of erratic checkpoint schedules. It’s a tough story. Eventually the settlement population expands, larger homes are built, synagogues, community centers, swimming pools, vineyards. Israel controls security and water and hence can borrow or in reality steal water from Palestinian land to water all of the above. The Jordan River and Dead Sea are shrinking due to the water consumption in the desert.So 50/50 seemed optimistic when we learned that Palestinians must obtain visas to leave Palestine and they may or may not be granted, and sometimes they are granted after the desired date.Now my health twist on our Jordan tour:Smoking is a big problem as is water pipe smoking SEEJordanians don’t drink alcohol, but they like their sweets and we enjoyed them too. My favorite ice cream contained pistachio nuts.Turkish coffee is tasty. The tiny kettle is set in a pan of sand and brought to a boil over a gas flame and served in tiny cups. A half inch of sludge sits on the bottom.  No McDonald’s like regulations about how cool the coffee served must be. Our grocery store tour demonstrated lots of sugary cereals, candies and snacks like hostess cupcakes, as well as liter sized soda bottles and bins of nuts and dried fruits, and mounds of spices.People drive instead of walk. There is little infrastructure for walking outside. Sidewalks end abruptly and do not connect smoothly to the street. We did see a play area in some of the smaller towns. And walking routes were outlined in malls. I didn’t’ see any runners or bikers (the pedal kind).Being differently abled would be tough. We saw very little that was handicap accessible.Trash is an issue, the conventional wisdom is that it will blow away.  (I’ve seen this on the Rez as well as in Central/South America.Tap water is not clean enough to drink, so people drink bottled water and that adds to the trash.Snorkeling off the southern beaches in Aqaba confirmed that the coral is dying.Ecotourism efforts started in the 1990s and we supported them in the Dana Nature Reserve and Azraq Wetlands where there is an effort to provide jobs and training to minimize damage of the land. i.e. train goat herders to be tour guides and work in hotels, restaurants and create local crafts.The safety of walking paths in national parks reminded us that the US rivals England as the nanny state.BTW—a month later the volunteer visa didn’t come through.   https://youtu.be/UX5G0lr6OAs