Exceeding Expectations

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Geo: 30.3266, 35.4453

We knew from the beginning that we were trying to pack a lot of activity into a 10-day trip. One could easily spend several days in Petra and still not see everything in the city. That said, we'd resigned to allow one full day, and this was that day. It was either the thin curtains in the room or the early-morning call to prayer, but we were all up, done with breakfast, and in the car by 08:00am for the short drive down hill to the brand-new Petra Visitors' Center. Acknowledging how much the town of Wadi Musa had changed since I was last here, I still didn't expect the sprawling visitors' center and multiple parking lots that now mark the entrance to Petra. I recall a lone and rickety ticket booth and not much else. It is now quite the operation, which only seems fitting considering the crowds that had already converged by the time we arrived. The center had opened up within the last year -- since our tour book had been published -- and the cost to visit was clearly a reflection of charging what the market can bear, as well as a desire to fund the new building -- parts of which are still under construction. Jordanian nationals pay a nominal fee to visit, but everyone else makes up the difference. Since the peace treaty, many people cross into Jordan at Aqaba -- which neighbors the Israeli city of Eilat on the Red Sea. They cross and take buses or taxis for the two-hour trip north to Petra. To encourage people to spend the night in Jordan, you pay "only" $75 for a day pass, whereas those coming only for the day pay twice that. The price was a bit shocking, but knowing that the money was being used to improve facilities and -- most importantly -- protect Petra, I couldn't really begrudge them. The flood of tourists enabled by the peace treaty has lead to serious deterioration within the ancient city. You can no longer ride horses into the city (too much vibration and dust was damaging the narrow canyon (Siq) leading into the city), and they have laid concrete through much of the Siq to further reduce damage. Still, despite these changes, UNESCO has placed Petra on the risk list, worrying that without further restrictions on tourist traffic, the city will be irreparably damaged in the next 10 years or so.

After buying our ticket, we paid an additional fee to secure a guide for our visit. The guides (of which there are more than 200) are all strictly managed by the government, and by pure luck we were assigned the "head guide," as elected by their union, for lack of a better term. We learned that he is allowed to work three days a week, which he said is infinitely better than the one-day previously allowed. He said tourism levels were down considerably given the problems in Egypt (he said many Westerns used to come on combination Egypt/Jordan/Israel trip), but not as bad as they had been a year earlier, at the height of the tension with Syria and threatened U.S. airstrikes.

K and Anna elected to ride horses from the visitors' center for the 1 km or so down to the Siq, if only for the experience. You used to be able to ride all the way on horseback through the Siq and into the city, but no more. Our guide was a passionate photographer, and throughout our many hours with him, he took elaborately staged pictures at "hidden" spots he know of from his years working in Petra. We walked the additional 1 km through the Siq, which abruptly ends and "spills" you out at the historic Treasury building. We were exceedingly fortunate, too, in that we arrived during the one-hour a day when sunlight hits the Treasury. The crowds of tourists was clearly evident at this spot, as both a natural choke point and extraordinary picture opportunity. At this point, our guide led us away from the valley floor (and the tourists), taking us on an optional leg, which comprised of us climbing up and over the eastern side of the city. We had picture-perfect views to the city below and went through a long succession of tombs carved into the multicolor rock, along the sheer cliff face. As an added bonus, this was a part of the city I had never visited before, and yet we still managed to see all of the major sites.

After several hours of walking, we stopped for a cold drink and mapped out the rest of our day. The weather was growing steadily warmer. There were no clouds in the sky whatsoever, but it was still comfortable. We had the option of continuing further in (and UP) through the city at this point, but we were all tired and already pretty worn from the climbing and scrambling. Plus, whereas the entire walk from the visitors' center to the Treasury had been downhill, we now faced a multi-mile walk back to our car, all uphill. We spent the majority of the next two hours making the slow walk back, though luckily past sights we had only glimpsed from above earlier. We were all spent by the time we emerged from the far end of the Siq, and facing that last 1 km uphill to the visitors' center was not the highlight of our trip. All in all, though, our spirits were revived by the time we got into the air conditioned car for the ride back to our hotel. By now it was late afternoon, and while Anna elected to shower and scrape the grime off of herself, K and I walked through part of Wadi Musa and found a fantastic Arabic sweet shop, from which we bought an assortment of baklava and cakes.

Before we dinner, we stumbled upon a tourist shop which had the most exquisite antiques and handiwork. The man explained he and his brother had inherited much of the stock when their father passed away. He had priceless pieces of antique mother-of-pearl wood work, carpets, and intricate metalwork. It was far better than anything I ever saw in Damascus, which had previously held the record for best Arabic handiwork.

Following dinner we realized that we were facing our last opportunity to smoke a "hubbly bubbly" pipe while in Jordan. This is the ornate water-pipe, in which people smoke non-tobacco in a variety of flavors. It is very much a cultural experience, as it is really only generating aromas and facilitating long chats over tea or coffee. We asked at the hotel for an "appropriate" place for us to try it, and the man walked us outside and pointed directly across the street. Convenient. It was a half Internet cafe, half tea house establishment, and the lone man working there opened up the tea house side when we came in, and we had it to ourselves. He brought in the pipe and gave us the basic directions, and left us to our own devices. All three of us tried it out, but we all realized we'd checked the box and could move on before we'd even finished our tea. Plus, all of us were physically exhausted from the day. Sleep came quickly for us all.

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