Day 62

Friday March 21st,

Today we went to Petra. Petra, according to the recent online world poll has been voted, one of the new wonders of the world. I have been hearing about the splendors of Petra since my first semester at Notre Dame, when Professor Amar ranted about it for what seemed like weeks. Petra is probably the number one tourist site in all of Jordan and after today I could understand why its gained such a reputation.

We woke up at 6:00 AM in order to get picked up at 6:30 by Jameel, our friendly mini-bus driver who we hired through the hostel. In all reality, we couldn't have slept that much later because the sun beat through the poorly constructed bamboo stalks and it became way too hot to sleep. I had decided to sleep in my sweatshirt and shorts and noticed bites all over my knees and legs as soon as I woke up. The bugs had come out that night and had feasted on me and the other guys making for a very uncomfortable night. So by 6:30 Jameel showed up, surprisingly exactly on time, and we made our way towards Petra. I slept most of the way in the mini-bus. Sleeping in such a small space takes ingenuity and a low comfort threshold. There is no way to really recline or stretch out. I think there are some pictures on facebook documenting my sleeping arrangements. Regardless, it was still better than the hut that we stayed in at the hostel.

I awoke during the trip to find us pulling up to a highway overlook. Jordan is a beautiful country, it kind of reminds me of Montana near Flat-head lake mixed with Washington around where Lake Missoula sculpted the landscape, mixed with the Arizona desert. So gorgeous. We took some pictures as all tourists do whenever they show up somewhere. I wonder what people did before they had cameras when they traveled? I personally don't take so many pictures because I like to enjoy the scenery rather then just snap shots of it.

We finally got to Petra around 9:00 AM. Showing up in the Morning is the best idea, not only because its cooler but you get more time at a massive area and the early on sites look best with the sunlight on them. Petra is a good couple clicks from the entrance city of Abu Mussa and is reached by following the Petra Aqueduct road. This canyon is stunningly beautiful in itself and it takes you along this aqueduct carved into the side of the canyon. As you meander through the canyon suddenly you run into a road block of people all with their cameras out. I was like, "what the heck are all these tourists doing." Then you look up and see the Treasury in full light through the canyon walls. This is like one of those magical "oh wow" moments and has been well documented by many photographers. I think you are to google Petra this is one of the first pictures you see.

However the Treasury is only one tiny part of Petra. The city is huge as it used to hold 40,000 people I think. The greatest part about touring Petra is that you can pretty much go wherever you want. There are a lot of easy paths for the old people to follow, but if you have some energy and some nimbleness in climbing you can go just about anywhere in this expansive canyon city. I took advantage of my youth and not only climbed amongst the tombs but also just went off the path entirely and started hiking through the desert and mountains. I found myself alone on a mountain in completely tranquil spot. I understand the fears of the vanishing quiet, and here in Petra I found one of those spots where it was just me and mother nature.

Petra is all about exploring. The next time I go I would definitely bring power bars or energy drinks or something, because all the climbing around wears you down. There is a lot of tombs to see and a lot of exploring to be done and the only thing that kept us from doing more was the lack of energy. Some people do Petra in three days. We did it in one and we were absolutely exhausted afterwards. I remedied this problem by buying ice-cream from the Indiana Jones Shop. It was amazing.

Jameel our driver picked us up and took us to watch sunset over the Jordanian Mountains and then we were back to the hell that was our hostel.