Petra

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Amman is so large and crazy, I went immediately south to Petra by minibus on the desert highway. Really there is nothing to see on that road except sand and camels. However, Wadi Mousa is immediately interesting with two different types of mountains: the rounded top mountains that surround Petra, and then the jagged larger mountains eg. the mountain where Aaron (Moses' brother is buried). And then there is Petra........

Of course, we all know the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" section that was photographed in Petra. But photos, whether moving or still, cannot capture the feeling or the complexity of the place. Multiple cultures for five thousand years have left their mark here, the sandstone is remarkably colored (and I'm color-blind), and then there are amazing wadis and slot-canyons to just hike through. I feel sorry for the travellers who can only spend part of a day here.

I wound up going into Petra 6 times--and still there are a lot of places that I never got to that from photos seems worthy on their own. A lot of where I went was dictated by the sun, whether it was good photo shooting or whether it was shade from the hot sun.

My favorite of all was the "Little Siq" entrance to Petra. It started out just as a regular dry canyon, and then gradually narrowed as the cliffs got higher and higher. About 30 minutes in suddenly, there are boulders on the floor of the Wadi that take a bit of scrambling around, and then it narrows to about 3 feet wide and becomes just a slot-canyon with sandstone floor and small pools of water left from last month's rain. It was just like being in Utah and Arizona. After a 6 foot drop around another boulder, you arrive at the first of the Nabatean carvings (2000 years old) and niches for worship. Just amazing, and then suddenly the canyon opens up and you are in Petra near the really large tombs. Highly recommended way to get to Petra.

Another highlite was the "Petra by night". It is a 9 PM walk through the usual Siq entrance that has been lined with luminarias (1500 of them) to the Treasury, where you sit on mats and are served hot desert tea, while Bedouin musicians play and sing. The best was a Bedouin flautist who played 3 different songs while he walked around the canyon among the crowd. Walking in with no sound but footsteps, seeing Orion and the Milky Way clearly above the canyon walls, hearing eerie Bedouin music floating through the air...it all was so evocative of being in the long distant past.

Stopped in for a beer at the Cave Bar (converted 2000 year old tomb). The crowd was wild with noise and line dancing. Even with napkins in my ears, couldn't stay too long from the loudness, but it was a hoot watching the leader on the line manage to snake through the rest of the line, and watching the foreigners trying to learn the 6 step dance to a 4/4 beat.

One small moment: watching a bedouin horseman riding at full gallop with head wraps flying behind... talking on the cell phone.

This is a place I can imagine myself coming back to many times. It certainly is really a "wonder of the world".

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