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Published: December 18th 2012
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Petra is probably the most visited attacktion in the Middle East, and probably the only reason for many tourists to come to Jordan in the first place. For me, it was a very short experience. I knew I had to visit Petra eventually, despite the 50 JD entry fee, because you can't go to Jordan and NOT go to Petra.
So I didn't hesitate when my Bedouin friend from Wadi Rum invited me to go and stay one night at his friends house in Wadi Musa and visit Petra the next day. I grabbed my backpack and off we went, Bedouin style: Very spontaniously. We went with 2 other guys from the village and after a short drive we arrived at the friends house. For me, a European girl alone, this was another scary experience. I speak no Arabic, and gradually more and more guys started showing up. Strangely enough, I was being ignored by all of them, the whole time, only spoken to throgh my friends from Wadi Rum. I wasn't sure if that was because they didn't speak English, or they just didn't want to talk to me. Anyway, I sat through it, quietly of course,
because what could I say? After the number of young guys in the apartment exceeded the 10, someone showed up with dinner. They spread out a few plastic bags on the ground, threw rice and chicken on it, and we all sat down to eat. On the ground, with our hands. I try to join any cultural experience, but seeing a bunch of guys sticking their undwashed hands into that mountain of rice and chicken is maybe a little too much for me. I spooned a few untouched rice corns into my bread and fondled with the chicken, trying to avoid anyone elses hand germs. It was pretty delicious though.
Thankfully, I got my own room and I went to sleep early to be up ready to visit Petra. My friends from Rum accompanied me. As Jordanian residents, they got in for free, I had to pay the 50 JD entrance fee. I can't really say that its worth it, since we really rushed through and I didn't see everything, but at the end of the day it is just another archeological site. I didn't get a tour or anything, so I guess I missed out on
the magic of the place, which is probably to be found in its history. Because it turns out, that Bedouin guys are giant babies. I had a big complainer on my back the whole time. For people who drive literally everywhere, that walk through Petra must have been torture. For me it was torture, because I had to listen to someone complaining all the way.
We did make it up to the monestary, which was quite a hike, walked back and were out of Petra around 3pm. We had another chicken and rice on the floor lunch and before I could even get up, it was „Yallah!! Back to Wadi Rum!“. As always, I had no idea what was going on, nobody ever really translates for me, I really just have to go with the flow. The taxi was there waiting for us to take us back to the beloved Wadi Rum. After 2 weeks in Wadi Rum, I realized that Bedouins never plan ahead more than about an hour, rarely one day. You never know what's going to happen next. There might just be nothing happening at all...
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