Friday, Bill was off from work as usual and able to help us load up for the four day excursion. Our trip to the Dana wildlife area was cancelled due to impassable roads covered with snow and no electricity!! We decided to add on an extra day in Petra. We arrived at Petra late in the afternoon (about a 3-4 hour drive from Amman) and walked around the city for a view. Gray, Natalie, and Owen were busily engaged in snowball fights! With a long evening ahead, we ALL decided to try a Turkish Bath. The hotel clerk recommended an establishment...which turned out to be the ONLY co-ed Turkish Bath in all of the Middle East, I'd guess. The hotel clerk had assured us it was separate-genders, but it wasn't. After we got there and found out, we shrugged our shoulders and decided to take the plunge. It was crowded with Europeans in their swimsuits who didn't bat an eye at the co-ed situation, but knowing the Middle Easterners' sensibilities, it was probably a scandalous setting. We enjoyed the steaminess for over an hour, kids included. Leslie and I skipped the full body loofah rubdown and massage, but everyone else partook. What an adventurous bunch!
The next morning dawned crystal clear in Petra, picture-perfect conditions. The temperature was cool but not cold, with not a puff a wind. We started the long walk into the chasm about 8:45 am. It's such an exciting place to visit, there's nowhere like it in the world. John read that the narrow winding canyon that leads into the valley was actually cleft by an earthquake, not erosion as you'd guess. That makes it all the more incredible.
We all experienced that moment of wonder when you emerge from the mile-long walk through the canyon into the wide open view of the towering Treasury building. It's unbelievable that workers 1700 to 2000 years ago could've carved such towering majesties out of the stone.
I won't go on and on about all the fabulous sites we saw in Petra--I'll try to post a powerpoint show to do justice to them--but I will say that we spent two full days there, going from height to height and sight to sight. The little ones, Gray and Natalie, did a fantastic job on our long and arudous upward hikes, encouraged along all the way by Adelaide and Owen and regular infusions of potato chips and oranges.
Monday morning we headed out of Petra on the high road towards the Wadi Rum desert. Much to our surprise, the road was still quite snowy, and got down to a single lane of tire tracks along the ridgeline. After an hour, we saw stranded cars ahead and decided to circle back. We didn't have to backtrack the entire way, but we were a bit late meeting our guide at the village entrance to Wadi Rum. We grabbed some bag lunches at the village and scoured the mini-market for snacks, then jumped into a red-scarfed Bedouin's four-wheel drive vehicle and headed out overland. This desert with high sandstone mountains is every bit as beautiful as any parts of the U.S.'s desert southwest I've ever seen.
At our tented campsite, we met up with another family of four, friends of Bill and Leslie's. Part of the group jumped in a jeep to go for a hike, and part stayed at the based camp for fun and games in the sand. We undertook an almost two hour upward hike to a breathtaking view of the desert for miles around. We actually stepped over into Saudi Arabian territory at the top of the mountain, no passport needed. Ha, ha, there was not one human being in sight from that vista at the top of the mountain. We could also see the tip of the Red Sea from the pinnacle. I promise to post pictures once I download them--unbelievable views!!
We spent the night like bedouins in a large tent for 12 persons. Bedouin men cooked a full meal for us (men do all the work, including shopping, women stay at home almost all the time here) which we all enjoyed. The temperature plunged below freezing after dark. We slept on thin mattresses under thick heavy blankets, once we all stopped laughing and telling stories in the dark inside the tent. I for one stayed cold, especially on my nose and toes, but everyone else claimed to be warm enough. Breakfast was pita bread toasted over a campfire, inedible jelly (think cough syrup in jellied form), and hard boiled eggs. We all took a two hour morning walk (no more hills, thank you) and then loaded up the jeeps.
Back in the village we bought nuts and chocolate for the return drive. We left behind the specatacle of Petra, the wondrous desert, and the unexpected snow for the comfort of Bill and Leslie's spacious apartment, Kimani's warm soup, and some tasty foods from the chicken and falafel stalls. We just went from one great thing to the next.
Today we're off to see one last site near Amman, then prepare the five hour flight overnight to Delhi. We'll be sleepy but the jet lag will be much, much less with the adjustment to Jordan's time zone over the last week.
Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and the first few days of 2007---we certainly did.
Onward to India!
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