Day 33: September 26

Woke up at 4:45 to the blaring call to prayer. The local mosque was located about ten feet from our window and was exceedingly loud… rolled back over after 20 minutes of chanting to catch few more hours of sleep.

The first bus to Petra from the hotel left at 7 and the ten of us got up at 6:30 to get breakfast and then head over. Unfortunately for us the bus was full by the time we got there. It turned out to be ok because it gave the slower members of our party time to eat.

The next bus left at 7:30 and we all piled into that one. It was a short bus drive over… approximately 10 minutes. We arrived and made our way into the park. Henry and I had received 2 day passes from some friends we made at the hotel and attempted to use them at the gate. Unfortunately they required a signature… so we bit the bullet and bought new tickets for 21 dinar (30 dollars).

After we all bought tickets we passed through security and started our walk towards Petra. To get to the main ruins of Petra one must first walk through what is called the Siq. The Siq is a winding valley that goes from the city through the desert and into the valley. It was originally dirt only but has since been partially paved by the Romans. The Siq runs approximately a mile and a half and was absolutely gorgeous. However, I do have to say I was a bit jaded to the beauty after seeing all the beautiful rock formation in Wadi Rum.

Just when you think that the Siq will wind on forever, you come around a corner and find yourself looking through the valley at a large structure carved out of the sandstone. This building is the treasury and is one of the best preserved structures in Petra. It is also famous for its appearances in Indiana Jones and Transformers 2 (I did not however find the Chalice from the Last Supper).

The treasury is just one of many buildings carved in the sandstone cliffs of Petra. The valley and surrounding area was built by the Nabataeans in 100 BC as their capital city. It was absolutely amazing to stand there and see all that these people accomplished so long ago. Long before modern machines.

From the Treasury we walked down towards the main part of the city. Just outside of the city we took one of the side trails that leads up the valley to a cliff overlooking the city. We took the trail up a long set of stairs (I’m beginning to hate stairs). Eventually it led to the top of the mountain where the Nabataeans used to perform their ritual sacrifices. The altar stones are still there along with the burial grounds. We stayed briefly but eventually made our way to the overlook point a short distance away.

It was absolutely amazing on top of the mountain with the entire valley stretching out before us. We could see much of the city and outlying buildings. After about a half hour up there we headed took another path down the mountain around the back side of the city. It led us past many temples and old municipal buildings for the old city.

We stopped at most of them and enjoyed the scenery. At one of the temples we had what has become known as the ‘rock incident’. We came to one of the temples just as another couple was leaving. After a few minutes Jeanna accidently kicked a rock off the ledge that the temple rested on. A minute or so later the couple returned with a very pissed off European boyfriend. Henry, Jake, and I were standing near the path and he immediately started yelling at us and accusing us of throwing the rock off at his girlfriend. We denied it and told him it was only an accident. He responded by winding up and hurling the rock at the girls of our group. Luckily for us and him he missed. They quickly left which was probably good because nobody in our group was particularly happy with how he handled it.

We all sat in utter amazement at what had just happened. This gave them time to walk away while the guys cooled their temper. I seriously don’t know what he was thinking throwing a stone the size of a softball at girls. Absolutely, uncalled for.

After awhile we walked on continuing our walk through the back side of the city. We did at one point pass the couple again. They definitely received some dirty looks. Jeanna apologized and the girl told her that it was fine the rock never landed near her…. Absolutely crazy.

Anyways we made our way into what would have been the center of the city and ate lunch. It was the standard lunch in Jordan: bread, yogurt, a tomato, a cucumber, cheese, and juice. Simple but sufficient.

After lunch we decided to tackle the other big hike in Petra. This one leads to what is called the monastery. The monastery was at one point a temple to one of the local gods. It is the largest monument in Petra. The hike was estimated to take an hour by foot. We did it in half an hour. At the top we all took pictures and rested from our suicide climb of the mountain. After a half hour at the top we started our decent. This we decided to jog… not the smartest idea considering the rocky conditions, but fun all the same.

We arrived at the bottom and made our way back through the main part of the city. This brought us to the largest free standing structures in Petra, the Great Temple, and the large amphitheater. We poked around these for another hour or so until we were all exhausted from the heat and walking. From here we headed back to the treasury and up the Siq.

We arrived at the top of the Siq and an hour early for the bus. We decided we did not want to wait for the bus and would rather walk. I actually don’t know who was responsible for this decision, because I was absolutely exhausted. The walk back to the hotel was mostly uphill and by the time we returned we were all ready to pass out.

Luckily for us by the time we arrived at our hotel our minibus driver was already waiting for us. The bus driver from the night before had agreed to meet with us and take us on the next leg of our journey. We all jumped in the minibus and headed for Amman. Most of us slept through the journey except for our brief stop at a gas station for food.

We arrived in the capital city of Amman a few hours later. We made our way from the street down an ally and up some stairs to the Nancy hotel. Not allot of glitz and glamour, but it had showers, beds, and bathrooms. As far as we were concerned it was perfect. We all gladly took showers and changed out of our sweaty clothes (most of us just changed into slightly less dirty clothes). The staff at the hotel was exceptionally nice and offered to take us out to a local hot spot for dinner. We gladly accepted.

They took us to a local café called Books@Cafe. The bottom floor was a book store and the top floor was restaurant. The restaurant was very sheik and it reminded me of an upscale sports bar on top of a book store. It was, however, a nice change of pace to our on the go meals of late. We all wolfed down our meals. I had an excellent cheese burger washed down with a local Jordanian beer.

After dinner our group decided to split in two. The first group wanted to stay out and see the night life. Then there was the second group who was a combination of broke and exhausted. Henry, Mike, and I formed the second group and headed back towards the hotel.

Apparently we missed a fun night at the local club/brothel… I was fine missing it because I got a solid nights rest and didn’t break the bank. Anyways was passed out by midnight.