Camels and Rocks

---

In the fancy tent, the beds were super comfy and nice bedding, which should have made for a restful evening. Ken took advantage and slept all night, which is amazing for him. Me, not so much. This was one of those rare nights where sleep just wasn’t happening. Oh well…I was snug in bed and got a bit of reading done, before just relaxing and hoping for some snoozing.

As we were doing a sunrise camel ride, it was up and at the reception area at 630a. Along with 10 others, we wandered in the barely dawn light down the path to our trusty camels. My camel, FouFou was quite chatty and wanted to talk to everyone, kind of between a horse whinnie and a cow moo that is quite comical. She was also enamored with Ken and insisted on getting right behind his head which was quite concerning for him. She never did anything but for a few minutes kept her head right behind his ear. All I could do was laugh.

Once we were all on, we started to plod, and I mean plod across the desert. There is no prancing or strutting, it is a measured plodding which obviously serves them well in this environment. After about 30 mins we stopped and got off to watch the sun come up over the mountains, with the camels taking a rest on the sand. Quite a spectacle and stunning.

After returning FouFou and the rest of the camels, we had time for a very quick breakfast and get packed up. We were taking a 4 hr jeep tour of Wadi Rum and once again, our luggage was in the truck, and we were on the benches in the truck bed. Sounds weird but gives great views of the mountains and scenery.

We weren’t sure what to expect with the 4 hours and it ended up to be a combo ride and hike, which was perfect. First up a sand hill that went quite a ways up and had great views of the area. You could do an additional hike up some rocks to the tippy top, but I am just not a fan of climbing up or down rocks, but Ken hasn’t met a rock he didn’t want to climb. And climb he did. This area was where they actually filmed The Martian (Matt Damon) and were filming the next episode of the Dune Movie (Zendaya) a couple of weeks ago, so gives you a good idea of the terrain.

That was the theme for the rest of the morning, amazing scenery, Ken climbing up rocks while I enjoyed tea in the Bedouin tent below and loving the scenery from a nice level. Khalid our driver took us all over the desert, we took in the vistas and at one point saw the old stone hut (only a stone wall remaining) where Lawrence of Arabia lived. We also saw the spring coming off one of the mountains that provides water for camels, mules, etc. 4 hours after the start, we were back at the car and thanking Khalid for a wonderful morning.

The next stop is Petra and our maps said 1.45 hr, not bad! We were back on the Desert Highway and at the turn off for Petra, we were thinking…oh great, another single lane road (and I mean single in that only one car can fit). For the most part it was the case and with only 40 miles left, we dealt. Luckily very few cars and the road was decent, albeit the ever present road humps in the villages.

In the exact time predicted, we pulled into the Petra Marriott at the top of a massive hilltop overlooking some very impressive mountains. We soon were exploring the hotel and quickly decided to do a spa afternoon…Turkish bath and massage! For those not experiencing the Turkish Bath, it is basically a massive body scrub with what first seems like sandpaper and then 2 more scrubs with less scratchy stuff. The scrubbers are quite happy to remove most of your skin in the process…. but it feels amazing. With a massage after, you come out clean and relaxed. Perfect!

We were supposed to do Petra by Night, which is walking through the main part of Petra with candles and a bit of a light show. Unfortunately, it started to rain with some pretty good thunder and lightning, so that was called off. Which mean a relaxing evening at the hotel and ready for Petra tomorrow.

---

Photos

Putting tea in bags to sell
Cardamom, cinnamon, mint and thyme...sooooo good!