It had been over a month since we left, and Dwayne was getting shaggy. Wes was definitely shaggy and was actually asking for a haircut. We ended up in Madaba, Jordan, staying in the heart of this less-touristy town where there were 3 liquor stores and 4 barbershops on our street. For 8 dinars (about $10), both Wes and Dwayne came back trimmed and shiny. True to his hygiene habits, Wes’s hair was a bit gross, so the barber put some product in that Wes would be forced to wash out—with shampoo, no less—back at the hotel.
Side note: I think it is hilarious the barber smoked while doing Wes’s hair. According to our guide, Jordan has the highest number of smokers per capita in the world. [Bing insists that currently, Jordan is a lowly #6.] I could have sworn Egypt would be higher, but supposedly, Egyptians smoke everywhere but Jordanians usually smoke less inside touristy areas. (When we were sitting in the lobby of the fancy Pyramisa hotel in Cairo, I think I had more secondhand smoke in one afternoon than in my last 30 years of life.) And smoking in Jordan takes dedication; one doesn’t have a few cigarettes a day and call themselves a smoker. One needs to be able to quantify by packs per day. Again, our guide tells stories that seem unbelievable. Jordanians spend a third of their income on cigarettes. (Please, in a country that makes such amazing baklava?!?) Faisel’s own father finally gave up smoking when our guide was a child, and with the extra money, bought his wife a washing machine, his kids a TV, before going on to furnish the entire house with “normal” appliances, like a toilet, fridge, and oven. Faisel was really poor growing up, but much less so when his father quit tobacco.
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