Southern Jordan and Wadi Rum Day 4

Today started off early, with an early morning wakeup call. After getting everything ready for the day, realizing that my sunscreen I brought along had went bad, I had to go and eventually buy one small tube today, for $45. It was a bit depressing....and I wasn't really going to fight it, as I knew I was going to be in the desert all day today.

So we ventured off to Petra....on foot. We got to the Moevenpick Petra late last night, and so everything was dark. Little did everyone realize that Petra, one of the seven man made wonders of the world, happened to be just about 500 feet from the front door. Well....at least the entrance to the park.

The city of Petra, like most of the cities I have seen thus far, sits along the slope of the hill and winds its way downward into the valley. Roads wind in every direction, and it's amazing how our bus driver is even able to maneuver the streets.

It was a beautiful morning this morning starting off at about 62 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. A few people got a bit bent out of shape because the official itinerary said that we were supposed to visit Petra in the afternoon. When they looked at everything in retrospect afterwards, it was a very good thing we did it in the morning, as the number of people that we saw as we were leaving was incredible. While there were people there, it wasn't crowded.

Petra is indescribable. A city carved into the mountains, accessible through a narrow gorge. It's huge, the rock is beautiful, and it goes on forever. It's utterly amazing. I was trying to figure out how people would actually live in the city, but given its scope, I'm having a hard time doing that. It's massive, and spectacular. Seeing the veins of iron, manganese, and other minerals in the reddish rock, not to mention the piping running along the entrance where water was piped into the city, or the ruts in the cobblestone where Roman chariots rode over them, it was utterly spectacular.

We spent most of the day hiking with the group, with a few adventuresome souls venturing even higher up the mountainside. It was a very sunny day, and got up to about 76 degrees. The sun was very hot and I was glad that I had bought my sunscreen.

On the way back, there was a group of us that stopped and had some freshly squeezed pomegranate juice before making our way up the gorge and out of the park. I had never had pomegranate juice before, but it was tasty, tart, and very good for you. Noticing the people serving it, the Bedouin people that run the shops are quite stunningly attractive. They have beautiful eyes and features, and often time, men and women, wear mascara to accent that.

Many children follow you throughout the site, as they are peddling postcards and bracelets. They're cute children, and with their persistence, they'd all make excellent telemarketers or sales people.

Once back, we boarded the bus, and our guide, Ace (Ahmed), took us south to almost the Saudi Arabian border to a place called Wadi Rum. Here a bunch of Bedouins took the group of us on the backs of 4x4 trucks around in the desert and among the hills. This place, most famously pictured in "Lawrence of Arabia," was breathtaking, remote, beautiful, dry, quiet, and incredible. Here, we were able to have lunch with a Bedouin group of men in their tent, which was a delicious blend of vegetables, salads, and chicken. From there we were off in the trucks again for about an hour, when we again stopped at another point, to learn about bedouin hospitality custom, sip some tea, and I purchased a bag of cardamom tea, and two Jordanian head scarves (as I was the demonstration model for how to properly tie a head scarf.

Anyone who knows me knows I have a huge head...and was extremely afraid they'd need a bigger scarf....like the size of a queen size sheet, to wrap it around my melon....but somehow he made it fit. It was quite comfortable, and was actually way cooler for my head than the baseball cap I was wearing.

From that point, several people got on camels (me NOT being one of them) to walk further in the desert while the rest of us drove to a beautiful gorge with a big sand dune. My group consisted of Ginny, Anne, Diane, and Dee. Dee sat in the cabin of the truck while the remaining 4 of us shared several laughs sitting on the benches in the bed of the truck. The first laugh (while Jim was with our group before he took a camel ride) was pointing out the many dents and dings and trouble one of the other trucks were having getting started. As we rolled forward, the young kid killed the engine, and thus we were the last group to leave. The trucks we used looked like they had rolled over at least once or twice before, and we were hoping that there weren't any people (nor us) that were in the back when it happened.

Anyhow, once we reached the sand dune, most of us climbed it to some extent, and sat and took in its beauty. We saw some other things to purchase to help the Bedouins (who were truly warm people), before heading back to the bus to make our way back north to Petra. I was able to smell myrrh for the first time (it actually smells quite good, and last a LONG time), as well as amber.

We said good bye to our Bedouin companions, loaded the bus, and headed back to Petra for our 2 hour bus trip back to our hotel. As I was on the bus and after pulling out the map of Jordan, I realized that we pretty much covered the entire north/south length of Jordan while on our stay here, which gives a sense of the size of the country.

Halfway on the bus trip, we stopped at a souvenir shop to view he sunset and overlook the valley. I bought a Jordanian cookbook and we headed back to our hotel in Petra. Once we arrrived we immediately went to eat, and the food was again fantastic. There was a bit of an international incident at dinner when the waiter tried to overcharge some in our group's table for drinks they had (like $56 for 2 beers), and then tried doing the same thing with my table....I'm sure the server won't be working there much longer.....What actually happened, from what I heard after the fact, was that the server had multiplied the conversion twice, and therefore the price of the items were about twice as much as they should have been. I wonder how many other people just paid the bill. It didn't seem very ethical to me, and was a blemish experience on the otherwise beautiful hotel.

Then a group of us (Jim, Allison, Sandy, Sue, Diane and I) went to the oldest bar in the world (well....at least the oldest location), where we enjoyed a drink together, and continued to laugh. We then decided to try a hookah (which I had never done before), before heading back to the hotel. It was interesting how it worked, and apparently the smoke is flavored. We had apple flavored whatever, which tasted more like licorice. Nonetheless, it was an interesting experience being there. It was the perfect end to a great day. And there's nothing better than laughing with the company you're with.

We then stopped back at the hotel where there was another group of people sitting and sharing a bottle of wine. We stayed and chatted a bit before I went up to my room. I felt kind of bad for not joining them earlier in the evening, but I really didn't want to spend any more time with one of the women in the group (not someone I knew previously before going on the trip) than I absolutely had too. She seems to be somewhat of a know it all, and has no shortage of criticisms to throw out, whether it be when itineraries change, or something about the food, or something about the guide, or something about the service, or anything that should happen to differ from the expectations she has of the way that things should be, and yet has no problem pointing out her worldliness to everyone else. Yeah, it's pretty annoying. Then again, I look at it that everyone is different and has a different way of handling things. And...there are always going to be people on the trip that you just differ from...and that's ok too.

The great thing however, is to get to know people better, and be able to share an experience of a lifetime. Everyone has a reason why they're on this trip, and it certainly is great to learn more about them. I envy one of the people, Gary. He's made it a point to just sit down with everyone one on one to talk with them. I really admire him.

Tomorrow we go back to Nazareth, and continue our adventures in Israel. It's been a fabulous day today. Jordan, and the Jordanians we've met, have really shown us a very hospitable time. I really look forward to more learning, laughter and camaraderie. It's been fun!