Petra

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For anyone wondering how we managed to get pictures of Petra sans the teeming masses, the trick is a combination of a very early start, having longer legs than the average Japanese tourist, and skirting the obvious (and easily accessible) for the off-the-beaten track (i.e. the High Place of Sacrifice, the Monastery, and Wadi Araba) . The pictures, however, do not do justice to the experience of having a UNESCO World Heritage Site virtually to ourselves, and of getting through the Siq before the donkeys. The hikes were incredible, the views breathtaking, and the heat, well, the less said the better.
Other aspects of being back in the Middle East have long lost their charm- the experience of interacting with men is like sailing between Scylla and Charybdis (you either get too much attention or none at all- and come on, what sort of woman is swayed by a line like ‘Do you want to come back to my cave?’ ), the cocktails are toxic (when you can get them, you can be certain the bartender has no firsthand knowledge of the result he is trying to achieve), and after three days of seeing nothing on the TV but Aljazeera, we have started to lovingly refer to all of you back home as ‘the infidels’.
The ‘Indiana Jones’ theme is still going strong in Petra, although we also passed a ‘Titanic’ sandwich shop, so maybe the significance of the reference is lost on the locals. Tonight we had an amazing dinner at the Movënpick Hotel before heading to the Cave Bar, which is literally located in a cave dating from 1 BC. The images posted from said outing have been carefully selected to engender plausible deniability.
In a few hours we leave for Wadi Rum, so don’t expect another post for a few days. I am not sure what to expect, and even less sure what to pack. Suddenly, arranging (via the internet) to stay in Saleh’s mother’s tent doesn’t seem like such a great idea, not in the least because Amil has promised that if the authentic Bedouin experience requires him to milk a goat or clean a hut I will be walking back to Amman. Then again, given the state of our rental vehicle, he might find that he is walking back to Amman as well. At least I can always go by camel.

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Photos

The High Altar of Sacrifice
I found out after the fact that this was not the ancient bed that I had taken it for.

Comments

[Helen Hunter]

Petra
I loved the post and photos on Petra. I almost felt like I was there -- until I saw the pix of you climbing! Ah, youth!!

[frjg]

So honored!
I am puffed up with pride at your having taken a picture of a "gifts shop" featuring the name of Indiana Jones. I hope you were able to purchase something tacky there for yourself. The selection was undoubtedly vast. (I think I will now have to atone for being prideful earlier.)

[Suzanne]

WHAT!!!
are you smoking, Jennifer?? I think on your next trip back there, I'd better come with to make sure you stay out of trouble---