Jordan: PETRA AND THE DEAD SEA (OR...'INDIANNA JONES AND THE SEA OF UNSINKABLES!)

 

So, Kerry, Melanie and Matt (fellow teachers) and I decided to trek to the middle east (Jordan) and see what its like to visit these two places:

1.)    Petra: the site that always has a large prominent picture in travel-themed wall calendars entitled things like ‘things you must see before you die’ or ‘marvels around the world’  but is often overshadowed by  its popular Greek and Mayan ancient ruin counterparts…

 

2.)    The DEAD Sea: The sea with so much sodium its impossible to sink. ( I have to add- this was NOT a gimmick. I could NOT believe this until I realized I could ‘barrel-roll’ from one end of the swimming area to the other. Floating. On the water.

 

I went out for dinner for chicken shawerma with luther before leaving at a restaurant in maadi called ‘dishes’.  This restaurant knows us by now because luther always asks to watch UEFA on their tv.  We bid eachother adieu as he was writing his final exams the next day (he is officially DONE) and I had to catch a flight to ammon, Jordan at 11:15pm.

 

PETRA!

After we got there, we rented a car and Matt, Mel and I drove to Petra.  For those who do not know, petra is an ancient city that was used by Egyptians, Greeks, Asians etc. for trading.  It was built/carved into the red stone and although much of it is destroyed by water (once submerged by channels) its ruins are a large (expensive…75.00 cdn for a day pass!) and mysterious site to see.

(For more information: please consult your local dvd cabinet/torrent site/favorite 80’s youtube channel to check out petra. Its where they shot Indiana jones!)

transformers II too :)

epic.

 

 

Anyway, petra is HUGE.  We first saw it at night where they have this event called ‘petra at night’.  You walk down the path to the ‘treasury’ (most well-known building) and they have all these candles lit up in front of it. Its very beautiful (and impossible to take pictures in front of because cameras just don’t capture its mystery and beauty of the building behind the flames.  If you have ever attempted taking a picture in front of an awesome Halloween display you get what I’m saying. )

 

We walked back and called it a night only to arrive there early the next morning at 7am (hotel breakfast = shrak bread ie: Arabic bread and different spreads and such) Its like greek pita bread really.  Anyway, Petra was A LOT A LOT A LOT larger and spread out than I realized.  In fact, by the time I hit ‘the hill of sacrifice’ I was ready to take a nap.  Petra is the kind of place where its a lot of climbing and stairs.  Since the stairs are eroded and ancient they are not very levelled- so it takes quite an effort to climb around this place (also…whoever built petra must have really liked stairs and heights.  There was a TON of them.)

camels

for further info: google, 'married to a bedouin' -amazing lady who gave everything to live in the caves with her husband.Still lives there and I bought luther a ring from her. :)

 

Mel and I made it from 7am-2pm.  By then, we heard it was another ‘hour long walk’ mel decided to take a donkey. THEN we heard it was another hour long climb up to the monastery.  Factor in an hour walk down and an 1.5 hour trek back through the city to the entrance gates and mel and I decided to pack it in.  The others went ahead and we began the endless walk in the blazing hot sun back to the front gates.  We were both excruciatingly hot and tired.  My favorite conversation went something like this:

Me: omigod. I’m going to die.  I think I’m going to cry. I m actually going to cry

Mel: Oh- Go ahead, s’okay.  I already cried twice now.

 We also decided that perhaps mel wasn’t shedding tears, her eyeballs may have been sweating.

Anyway, after a long cold shower and some beloved Middle Eastern gummy worms, we decided that returning home early was the BEST DECISION OF LIFE.

The other teachers crawled in a few hours later.  Needless to say, we all went to bed early and walked and complained like old people for the rest of the trip.