Feb 17th and 18th – The Petra Experience

We headed to Petra on an early shuttle from our hostel. The walk from the gate to the treasury was so much different during the day and even more impressive. We were uncertain how to attack the area. It was large and daunting, so we just headed along the main route towards the center along the main track. Along the way we met some people which we'd end up hanging out with over the next few days. We made our way slowly towards the museums and restaurants that mark the end of the day trip path for tour bus tourists. When we arrived we had established two things, our afternoon activity should be climbing up to monastery and that we were wholly unprepared with food supplies and we were hungry. We didn't want to eat the expensive hotel buffets (yes, The Crown Plaza Petra...ugghh!) so we made friends with the Bedouins hocking donkey and camel rides and ate bread and cheese with them on the floor of a small concrete shack near to the restaurants.

We met some interesting people there and that would come into play later. We talked, ate and drank tea. After we finished we decided to head up the mountain to the monastery (about 45 minutes), when we arrived at the top, we agreed with others we met that it was more impressive than the treasury. It was less ornate, but much more massive than the more famous monument. I ended up talking to one of the Bedouins we met at lunch, Salam, a weathered looking 20 something with a spider web tattoo on his forehead. We had found out earlier that he would be climbing the monastery that afternoon as he does most days and jumping from peak to peak. He was a very nice and talkative guy with admirable English skills. We sat and talked and he invited us to hang out with him later on and mentioned a gathering at a restaurant that evening in town. I said that I hoped we'd have the opportunity, but didn't much count on it.

We wandered for a while, watched Salam jump and then made the long walk back to the gate. We returned to the hostel and our new friends met us there for dinner and a few beers. We were going to head down to the restaurant Salam mentioned, but we were told it was most likely closed. As we prepared to go anyway…in walked Salam. He told us the event was over, but we should come with him to his home in the Bedouin village to relax, drink and smoke nargila. I was a bit hesitant with bringing my sister, but with her encouragement we jumped in a cab and headed off.

I felt immediately comfortable once we arrived, though his room/apartment was just a small concrete room of an unfinished concrete building. He and his cousin Mohamed were warm and welcoming and we talked and chatted openly. We were there past when would be feasible to get a ride back to the hostel and so he invited us to stay with him. After a while longer and the arrival of another friend of his, he suggested we pack the mules and head out to his cave just a little while a way into the desert.

So we headed off into the dark desert, my sister, our new Aussie friend and I accompanied by 3 new Bedouin friends and 2 mules (all at various stages of intoxication) with no flashlight. It was an adventure and it took about 20 or 30 mins, I even fell off a mule at one juncture (the saddle slid off the side), but we made our way carefully and finally arrived. We made tea and looked at the stars before jamming 6 of us into the small cave shoulder to shoulder. It was a real experience, though, naturally, it was not the best night sleep I've ever had.

The next morning we awoke and headed back to the village to get a ride back to our hostel. The walk back was easier, but we wondered how on earth we had made it out in the pitch black. We quickly went back to prepare our things for another full day at Petra. We came much more prepared this time, with enough store-bought food to last us the day. We met our Aussie friend at the gate at 10.

We worked through the entire day making to all the remaining places on our list including the high alter of sacrifice (I’ll refrain from to many details and let the pictures do the talking). Due to varying degrees of exhaustion we enlisted the assistance of mules at a couple junctures. By the end of the day we felt like we could confidently say that we saw virtually all of the main Petra points of interest. The last hike up to a hill above the treasury to look down on it nearly killed us, but we made it out the main gate around 5 feeling exhausted, but accomplished.

We were planning on going to the desert of Wadi Rum the next day and with our time for getting back to Israel running short; we decided to book our tour out of the Petra hostel as to streamline the process. We ate dinner and then tried to keep our eyes open to watch Indiana Jones...we failed and slept early.