The days have run away from me! I better catch them, eh? Two days ago, I was in Jordan. We awoke to a bright, sunny day and knew that the adventure for the day was going to be great! Gretchen and I ate breakfast in the hotel and were off with the group to Petra. Our guide, Samer, led the way as we disembarked. We walked down a path and arrived at a very large gully. In Jordan, it is the Siq and was to be our entrance into Petra. Before the trip, I had not been up to date on my Middle Eastern history and had only heard of Petra from my parents’ stories.
The walk down the Siq was long but totally paid off! The first view of the treasury of Petra took my breath away. I was walking along and turned a corner. No longer was the view in front of me rough sandstone; I glimpsed the beautifully carved pillars and entrance. After looking around the entryway for a bit, a few of us headed towards the monastery. The journey would take us a ways past the Treasury and up 900 steps. It was a quiet hike, especially since we were all huffing and puffing our way up. The monastery is tucked among the hills on a plateau. I’ve decided that I love hiking. I get super tired walking up a ton of steps, but I thoroughly enjoy the climb and concentrating on where my next step will be.
At the top, there was a carved entrance similar to the Treasury, but the view was worth the climb. One outlook was called “The End of the World”. On a clear day from that spot one could see Egypt, the Dead Sea, and Israel. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but the view was still spectacular. We hiked around on the plateau for a while before heading down to meet up with the rest of the group. My feet and legs were tired by the time we climbed back to the bus. I was ready for a little rest, but instead, we headed to Little Petra.
Little Petra is home to a chapel carved up and into the sandstone about 15 minutes from Petra. The dome of the chapel has a mosaic, so we climbed up to look at it. Most of the mosaic had been damaged because of smoke from Bedouin fires. The Bedouin lived in the caves and all aspects of life took place within the natural shelter of the caves, including cooking and heat production. There were families out for picnics at Little Petra, since Friday was a holiday. It was fun to see the kids running around these beautiful sites, although seeing toddlers really just made me miss Adam. I’m excited to get home and hang out with the little guy.
Luckily, it was a short ride back to our hotel. By this time, my feet were ready to kill me. They wanted out of my hiking boots and were incredibly close to waging a mutiny. Thankfully, I was able to coerce them into movement and made it back to the room. I stripped off my dirty shoes and socks and changed into pjs. I was fully aware of it only being 4:30 in the afternoon, but after a long, hard day of hiking, my body wanted a nap. Gretchen went for a Turkish Bath, but I opted for the cozy comfort of the bed. Instead of sleeping for a brief moment, I slept for 2.5 hours. Maybe a waste of time? Regardless, I was fully revived in time for dinner.
After dinner, Sue came to use the internet, and Gretchen and I convinced her of the incredibly void in her life. She was without a facebook profile. We quickly rectified the problem and she is now able to be friends with her daughter. Sue is totally like a mom to us and such a blessing to have on this trip.
Yesterday, we said good-bye to Wadi Musa and began the trip to Amman. Along the way, we had a few stops to make. The first being a stop to check out the stone that Moses touched to get water for the Israelites. There is a stone with a pool, but it is pretty hard to know for certain that this is the stone of Moses. It was neat to look at and touch the water and to share in the history of the pilgrimage to the now holy site.
We drove out of Wadi Musa towards a Crusader castle that is now in ruins. No longer can groups go into the castle and look around. The only option is to take pictures from the road. The stop happened to be next to a Bedouin shop, so of course we popped our heads in. The shop was one of the coolest we’ve been to. It was in a cave that also was part of the home. The minute we walked in, the proprietor started making tea for us. It was the hands-down best tea I’ve ever had. It was a hot sweet tea, but so much more delicious that I can properly describe. The young son was off of school until the end of January, so he was helping out in the shop. This kid had style and wore some super sweet kicks. I liked him immediately, so we bonded while haggling over a pair of earrings. There have been so many kids on this trip that I want to bring home. They’ve been so cute!
We reluctantly left the shop and drove to Madaba. Jordan seems to be the location of lots of places that are really important, yet I am lacking the basic knowledge of their significance. Madaba is an ancient city that is home to a beautiful mosaic in the floor of an orthodox church. It is a map of the Holy Land tracing Moses exodus out of Egypt. The map isn’t complete anymore, but it was still sweet to see. We ate yummy Shwarma for lunch and were off once again.
We had one more stop before Amman. Mt. Nebo is the location of Moses death. In the Bible, Moses and Aaron broke God’s rule, therefore they were never to enter the Promised Land. At Mt. Nebo, God showed Moses the Promised Land and then Moses died. He was buried and the Israelites mourned before entering the land of Israel. The view from the monastery was great. We could see into Israel and the West Bank. It was hazy yet again, so we missed the phenomenal view. We could still see pretty far and could pick out the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Forrest, one of our leaders, read the passage from the Bible as our meditation for the day. We were the only group at the outlook, so we could soak it all in without interruption.
There was a small museum on our walk back to the bus, so I perused Greco-Roman pottery and architecture. I’m pretty sure if I could go back in time, I’d go back and check out the height of Roman influence and power. It’d be sweet to see the streets and buildings complete.
Our day ended in Amman. We arrived in the city early enough to have a little bus tour. We drove past the Roman Theater, the Royal Palace, and the Citadel. The streets were busy and packed with merchants and shoppers. Many of the shops had salesmen sitting outside waiting for customers. The Western influence is very apparent throughout the city. Lots of Popeye’s, Starbucks, and Hardee’s. We drove through the very rich neighborhood and saw the giant, beautiful homes situated between embassies and homes of the diplomats. Just in case we needed the information, we drove by the US embassy. Of course, no pictures were taken.
The hotel we were at was the nicest one yet. It was in the city, but not right at the city center. We had full beds instead of twins and a spacious bathroom with a stand-up shower. Dinner was served for just the 11 of us and was quite the spread. Different proteins and FRESH, steamed vegetables. Soooo yummy!
Today’s update will be posted as soon as I get to the airport. I’m packing to travel back to the US now…pretty crazy that my time in the Holy End is already over. See you soon!
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