Destination known and looking for jobs!: Petra, Jordan (Dec 27 & 28)

After waking up and relocating to the hostel we originally wanted to stay and where the taxi drivers wouldn’t take us, we spent two days exploring Petra, Jordan. Petra by popular vote in 2007 became one of the ‘new’ seven wonders of the world. It is an old city that was carved into the sandstone in the 3^rd century BC and was a major trade center. You enter Petra through the Siq, which looks like a slot canyon, but is actually a rock landmass that has been pulled apart by tectonic forces. We spent the day hiking with Beck and Lena, the Australian sisters we had meet on the ferry over from Egypt to Jordan. As we exited the Siq, we came in site of the Treasury. For those of you who have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade know what this site looks like. It’s the temple that Indiana gallops around at the end. From the Treasury, we broke off the ‘main street’ and the packs of tourists and hiked up the sacrificial view point of Petra. From there we got amazing views of the old city. We descended down the opposite side of the mountain and saw the ruins of Lion’s head fountain, the Garden temple, and the Roman soldiers’ tomb. We ended the day by climbing around the Urn Tomb.

We decided to pay an extra 5 Jordan dinars at our hostel, the Valentine Inn, for the dinner buffet. It was amazing! There was so much food. I had decided to call my mom just before dinner time so we were a little late for the dinner bell and had to wait at the end of the line. There were over 20 different dishes to sample and Jose (our Pilipino friend we had also meet on the ferry) was sampling as he went down the line until Beck caught him red-handed. There was a lot of laughing and teasing during the dinner conversation as we stuffed ourselves.

The next day our hiking group grew. Besides Jeff, me, Lena, and Beck, Jose joined us and one American named Alice, and two Swedish guys Nick and Dave also from the hostel added to our numbers. We hiked up the structure called the Monastery which was originally used as a tomb around 86 BC but was used as a church during Byzantine times. It took us about an hour or so to climb up; we kept losing Jose who would stop and talk to everyone. Jose is a friend of the world. We climbed up into the Monastery and ate some snacks enjoying the view. Jeff after seeing a picture in Lonely Planet of someone walking around the top, was determined to do the same. The stairway that lead to the top had been walled off because as we found out later two people fell off a couple of years ago. But Nick was also a rule breaker, so off Nick and Jeff went to find a way to the top despite the warning signs. The plan was, if they got caught, for Nick to pretend he didn’t speak English and do a Swedish chef impression. Well, they did make it to the top, and after snapping a few photos were yelled at to get down. There was no Swedish chef impression, but no one escorted them from the park either. We spent the rest of the day exploring the few sites of Petra we had yet to see. Beck, Lena, Jose, and I decided to go back earlier than rest of the group. Jeff, Nick, Alice, and Dave did some more exploring and got yelled at again for being in places where they shouldn’t have been. We all meet back a Valentine Inn for the wonderful dinner buffet and fun conversation.

Even though we had only just meet Jose, Beck, Lena, Alice, Nick, and Dave, it was still sad having to say goodbye to them. We had a wonderful two days in Petra and although Petra is beautiful, the people we spent our time with made it the most memorable. We wish everyone safe travels and maybe someday our paths will cross again…. En’shallah!