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Published: January 26th 2008
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Discovering Jordan
It was my first trip to the Middle East. I did not quite know what to expect, but of course you have visions in your mind of women covered up in burkas, and the anticipation of that as a woman I would not be treated the same as men. But Jordan was different - well - at least Amman was - I had no problems at all as a woman travelling alone, and there were very few women covered up. Many women did not even cover their hair, which was a surprise to me. I thought I would at least have to wear a headscarf. Amman is quite secularized that way.
Although...one image stuck in my mind - we were going out to one of the ruins outside Amman, and there was a father, mother and child visiting at the same time. The mother in a full burka. Only her eyes and hands showing, with a little daughter in a cute little skirt and pig tales. How does this work? At some age she is simply told to cover up? It is something that is very difficult to understand for a western woman.
It was a work
The Dead Sea
- with a view to Israel and Palestine... meeting that brought me to Amman. It was February, and I did not realize that it would get as cold as it was in that part of the world! -it was sleet a couple of times while we were there!
I had heard about Petra, and I had planned to stay behind for one day to go there. When I woke up in the morning I was tired, not feeling too well, and when pulling the curtains aside I was met with a grey, foggy sky, and drizzle....not exactly the most enticing, and I was really debating whether to embark on the 3 hour drive south to Petra. At the end I decided to go - when would I have the chance to come back here?! I am so glad I did.
The hotel had booked a driver for me. A young guy, probably in his late twenties. I was a little nervous - should I really go on a 6 hour drive alone with a man in Jordan? But soon we were on our way. I actually fell asleep in the car. When I woke up we were 2 hours south of Amman. It was a barren
Grave sites in Petra
On our way to the canyon landscape against a blue, blue sky and bright sunshine. Not another person insight. Just another car every now and again.
As we came to the end of the platau, the driver stopped the car. The air was so crisp and clean, and in front of us several mountains and the sea....the Dead Sea. Wow - it was quite strange to be there....just on the other side over there is Israel, he explained. And down there is Palestine...Just knowing that I was so close to the conflict happening in the Middle East, but yet in such a peaceful untouched location, was a strange feeling.
We got into the car again, going downhill and into a tiny town - just a few restaurants. The driver said he would sit in the restaurant while I went to see Petra. I was a little nervous - now what do I do if he decides to take off? But there were a few tourist buses around, some taxis, etc - so I would be able to get home.
I got the ticket, and asked for a guide. I was told to wait for a little while, and before I knew it, a
man with a weathered, dark tanned, leather-thick skin, dissheveled teeth, a red and white scarf on his head - and the biggest smile ever - walked up to me. His English was very good. As we started walking towards the stone canyon that marks the entry to Petra, he explained that he was from Petra. He was a Bedouin. His father was a goat herderer, as was his whole family, and he was the first to decide that he would like to test the tourist guide route.
As we walked on the sandy road, little caves carved out of the sandstone became apparent. The site of the sandstone against the incredibly blue sky was just beautiful. But the guide looked at me a little impatiently as I was taking pictures. I guess he did not understand what was so exciting about this...and little did I know what was ahead...
Some estimate that the ruins at Petra are close to 9000 years old. It is one of the oldest archeological sites in the Middle East...
Soon we walked towards what first looked like a massive stone in the desert. The guide told me that "petra" actually means "stone"
in Greek. The color of the stone was quite different from the sandstone - it looked quite pink. As we got closer, I could see the narrow "slice" in the rock creating an alleyway through the rock formation. The locals refer to it as the "siq." The colors in the stone were beautiful - all shades of muted, earthy pink, yellow, orange and red.
As I walked through this alley, - the siq -, I could only imagine 2000 years ago, people coming in through this alleyway by foot, on horses...the guide was telling me quite a bit about the various carvings in the rock as we walked the 1 kilometer distance between meterlong rock walls on either side, and I should have started this blog earlier because now I cannot remember half of what he was telling me...
All of a sudden the canyon takes a little bit of a turn, and the guide asks me to come all the way over to the wall of the canyon. Come here, he said, this is the most beautiful view.
It was - as you look ahead of you towards the end of the canyon, an enormous temple
carved out from the rock emerges ahead. It feels surreal - you drive across a platau of barren landscape, walk through a canyon in what looks like a huge rock, and then see this amazing structure carved out of the rock. It is truely breath-taking...how could they have created this? 2000 years ago? Sombody later told me that this structure is actually 43 meters tall! Absoutely amazing.
The "temple" is actually referred to as the "treasury." It was supposed to serve as a tomb, but the treasury name comes from a story that the Egyptian Pharaoh hod hos treasure here. In front of the treasury there is a small opening - sort of like a plaza- and the guides sit down and chat here while the tourists mull about. My guide invited me for tea - it is a very sweet tea served with mint leaves and some time pine nuts - its quite good, but I was too excited to sit down. It was just amazing to see the treasury. So beautifully carved, such enormous size, such beautiful colors in the stone.
Before we went further I just had to take a look at the silver jewelry
they have for sale there. Silversmithing is a bedouin tradition. They had some very beautiful things (but also a lot of fake stones etc - well - that happens in most tourist places!). I bought a beautiful silver necklace with a design modern enough to wear, but with bedouin traditional patterns interwoven.
The plaza that appeared next was where the slave trade in the region took place for many years. While you stand there, you can only imagine it being a busy marketplace with trading of spices, meat.....and human beings...I took some time to just sit down at a rock and take in the view of all the carved out rocks preserved after so many years.
At this point I had already spent two hours, so I decided to start making my way back, but if I had had more time, it is possible to get a horse-back ride to a mosaic museum only a few minutes further by horse. I was tempted, but my guide had promised to take me down to the dead sea on the way back, and I did not want to miss that before dark.
It was now early afternoon, and the
sunlight was a little dimmer and hitting the stone from a different angle. A whole new array of earthy pinks, oranges and reds emerged....as I was walking out the canyon, I was one my own several times. That is one of the advantages of being there in February - you can get a much more undisturbed view.
Somebody told me that a good route for vacation would be Jordan-Petra - the desert (hiking at Wadu Rum) and then go to Aqaba which is at the sea...I can imagine that must be an amazing trip! Maybe one day I will get the chance to go back....
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