Petra

Mehar, one of Faris's younger brothers was going to Aquaba, the local resort town for Jordan. It a beachy town near the bottom of Jordan right on the Red Sea. He was going to go down for five days and stay in an apartment with two of his cousins and said that he'd get a bigger apartment if we wanted to come as well. Thinking that this would be a good home base for things that we wanted to see in the south and a way to save some money we decided, sure and decided to tag along. This plan morphed a few days while we where staying with the family and in the end fell apart. This actually turned out for the best as the things tend to do. The "planned" trip was getting more and more expensive and Mehar was proving to be just as immature as other 18 years olds.

So Saturday morning we decided that we'd stayed long enough and didn't want to wear out our welcome, so we said goodbye and we kindly taken by driver to the bus stop. This turned out to require a trip to three different bus stops. Regardless of the fact that Petra is probably the only place that people outside the country know exist in Jordan (that's if they know that Jordan itself is a country), it's not that easy to get to from the capital city of Amman. Only tourist and people that live there (not many) want to go there, so the buses that go are mainly tour buses that leave once a day (around six am and therefore we missed it) or small transports. It was the latter that we ended up on. So us and about 15 other locals and one other backpackers (from some Asian country) boarded a mini bus and headed three hours south. Everyone was really nice and thought it was funny that our backpacks covered the entire aisle and one guy in front of us had to lean on my pack the whole way down to prevent it from smothering an old woman. What a great sport he was.

We were dropped off at the Petra Gate Hostel that we had researched (it got the highest rating from Hostel World - 92%) and then made a reservation with online so as not to be left without a destination once arriving. The proprietor was very nice and we were situated in one of the crappiest hotel rooms I've ever seen. It's low tourist season now and therefore they are doing some maintenance on the hostel. This means a lot of dust everywhere (I think the last time that the comforter was washed was last year during tourist season - maybe 10 months ago). The bathroom was about two feet wide and six feet deep with a rust like shower nozzle that we were almost convinced would squirt out brown water if turned on and a toilet that faced the wall so that you had to sit on it sideways. You're probably wondering why we didn't just say thank you and leave as any sensible person might have done (well except for the other 8 guests staying there). It must have to do with the fact that the manager was very nice and gave us new sheets and that we're too nice to up and go, besides we're traveling cheaply and this was $8 a night.

The manager told us that it was far too late to see Petra that night (it was about 4pm) and therefore he would drive us out to see Little Petra (if you haven't already guessed a smaller outpost that has buildings from the same time period and style). Little Petra was free and provided about two hours of leisurely strolling. We met a Bedouin who became our buddy and told us about the different ruins and their uses. He also helped us boulder up a cliff to see one of the more impressive buildings up close.

The beudions are well known for their hospitality and we were invited to Mohammed's home for tea and then to dinner at the camp were there would be music and such cause tourists (what turned out to be a group of Spanish and Jordanian Tourism PhDs and Archaeologists) were coming for dinner. Mohammed lived in a small town right outside Little Petra and everyone was pretty much related somehow. We met his whole family and Em gave then Altoid Sours. That was hilarious cause they would scrunch up their faces and make the weirdest noises and then mine (no English) that they didn't like it, but ten minutes later they wanted another one.

We were joined by Mochmod (not sure one the spell, but pronounced Moch-mood, which a ch like in lochness monster and hard D's), Mohammed's cousins and escorted to the Amarrin Bedouin camp. This is where I meet a bunch of Jordanian archaeologists and a woman was Spanish but had gone to get her PhD in Colorado and all of them know of Crow Canyon. That little place has World Wide notoriety.

Another conscience is that it turns out Mochmod and Mohammed (sometimes) work with Professor Levy on the excavation that I'll be doing in October. Now tell me can things get any more weird and consciencidental than that.

Today, Sunday the 9th of July, Em and I met Mohammed and Mochmod and went to Petra. Since they are Bedouins they get in for free and it I had my Levy excavation card already I would have too. The boys decided to be our tour guides and told us about the different ruins that we were seeing. If anyone has ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, then they've seen Petra. The building where Indie goes to find the Holy Grail is the Treasury. The building and all the others in the area are carved out of the natural sandstone rock faces and are intricately designed. Most of them contain giant square open rooms that once housed tombs. They say that only about 15% or 40% or 60% (depends who you ask) of Petra has actually been discovered. There's still so much out there.

Walking into the site involves walking between giant stone walls with a small space in the middle (about 50 feet across), it's just amazing. Then you come to the Treasury that appears out of the wall as if it had always been there. Walk a little further and you come out of the tunnel created by the mountains into to whats let of a Roman colonnaded street, the ruins of tombs, temples, and small homes. It's just fantastic.

Brown University has been working on an excavation to uncover the ruins of the Great Temple for the last 14 years and the lady in charge was kind enough to give me a brief site tour and explain the project. They have uncovered most of the Temple and are currently trying to uncover a Roman bathhouse that was built over a Nubattian structure.

We explored and then hiked up the side of a mountain so that we could view the Treasury from above. We didn't get to see the Ministry cause we were too tired to hike the 900 stairs after out 500 stair and then some climb. I will have to do it November and take pictures for Em.

And now my fans, you are all caught up on the latest and greatest adventures. Tomorrow we head to Aquaba, the final leg of the Jordan experience. Everyone watch the World Cup and vote for Italy (France cheats so we don't like them).