The Lost City

The day started out with a delicious breakfast! I have now decided that the Mediterranean breakfast is my favorite. There was a spread of dips (hummus and yoghurt), as well as fresh vegetables and fruit. I also noticed all the hotels have a cereal bar, and they always include Cocoa Puffs. Apparently, the Middle East loves their Cocoa Puffs.

We drove south along the desert highway where we saw almost nothing but rocky desert. Jordan is so dry that the each of the houses in Jordan have a little tiny water tower on top. Rami told us his family only used tap water twice a week. When the water tower ran dry, they would get more water from a “water tank truck.”

There is one fresh water spring that we stopped at, however, where most of the locals draw their drinking water. I swear I saw one or two cigarette butts floating in that water, but I guess in a land where there is no fresh water, you take what you can get!

After about 3 hours of driving, we turned onto the King’s Highway. This is the road built over the path that Moses and the Israelites took to the promised land. Coincidentally, this is also the road that many of the Muslims take to travel to Mecca. 95% of the population in Jordan are Muslims, and of the remaining 5% that are Christians, most are Greek Orthodox and only a small handful are Roman Catholic.

And now, Petra. Petra is Greek for “the rock.” Other names include “The Lost City” and “The Red City.” This is also where the wise men supposedly stopped on their way to see Jesus, where Moses struck the rock and water came forth, and Aaron is buried (Jabal Haroun, or Mount Aaron). The citizens of Petra were killed long ago by a flash flood and it was inhabited quietly by the Nabateans until  the city was rediscovered in the early 1800s. It is no surprise that Petra is one of the Seven New Wonders of the World as it is gorgeous. It consists of natural gorges (The Siq), canals, and tombs. Movies filmed in Petra include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Arabian Nights, Mortal Kombat, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tyiger, Transfomers II, among others.

While most of Israel and Jordan are built out of limestone, Petra is carved out of sandstone. The stone is a beautiful red color, and the shade changes throughout the day due to the sun. In fact, many of the native women use the red in the stone for makeup and to dye their clothing.

Camel rides were fairly expensive, but some of the camel herders let me sit on their camel just to take pictures!

We ate a quick lunch of PBJ, and then met back up with Rami at the treasury. Another 3 ½ hours later we were back at the hotel.

I wrote yesterday that there were no street vendors in downtown Amman. When I mentioned that to Rami, he asked me which direction we walked when we exited the hotel. “I walked right,” I told him. “No! Walk left. You will run into a nice Jordanian street with shops and restaurants” he promised. Sure enough we found a busy street with shops and vendors. E, A, and I had kabobs at a cute little Arabian restaurant. I also got to try some Kebbuh, and I tell you it is delicious! Unfortunately, I could not capture any photos as my camera decided to run out of batteries just as we sat down for dinner. Now we are turning in early for bed. I might practice some yoga, do some more reading before we conclude our time in Jordan tomorrow.