Back from Desert Trek
Well, just got back to Amman last night from my four day excursion...spent two days in Petra exploring the ancient city which is in the works of being declared the 8th wonder of the ancient world, and then spent two days on a desert trek through Wadi Rum, which is a desert valley that contains many desert mountains, open areas and sand dunes.
Petra is city built over 2000 years ago by the Nabataeans, who were one of the most gifted people in history. They were ancient Arab tribes who originally came form the Arabian Peninsula and settled in southern Jordan. In its peak, Petra was throbbing with life, crisscrossed by paved roads, agricultural terraces, water harvesting systems, artwork, temples and theatres. It was a thriving caravanning city (it was right on the main trading route through the Middle East) that prospered for many years until a change in trade routes and a lesser demand for frankincense caused it to gradually be abandoned and then fall to ruins. After the 14th century it was completely lost to the West (its whereabouts unknown) until it was rediscovered by a Swiss traveler in 1812. This ancient site is filled with numerous, still in tact, beautifully carved stone structures, as well as countless burial tombs carved right into the mountain-sides. It was an incredible experience to walk (and climb!) through this ancient city.
To enter Petra, one must walk through a 1200m long Siq, which is a long, deep and narrow gorge through the mountain/rock. It was a fascinating experience just to do this, with rock walls of up to 80m in height towering above you, and with beautiful natural rock formations and colors all along the passage. As you come to the end of the Siq, you catch a glimpse of Al-Khazeh, the Treasury, which is carved completely out of the mountain-side and stands at 43m high and 30m wide. I am certain that neither words nor photos can put this site into the first-hand experience of seeing it (nor any of the other many sites within Petra or the surrounding desert).
After seeing the Treasury, I then went on to view the Street of Facades which are rows of Nabataean tombs with intricate carvings, the Theatre which looks Roman but is actually Nabataean and could hold up to 7000 people, the Colonnaded Street which lead through the city centre and was once lined with temples and public buildings and shops, and then finally made my way up the 800 stone stairs cut right into the rock that lead to Ad-Deir (the Monastery). The Monastery was originally used as either a temple or tomb, or perhaps both. I picked up a Bedouin guide, Sabri, who lives in the nearby Bedouin Petra Village, to join me on my trip up to the Monastery. He told me lots of historical facts about the area, including information about the Bedouins who used to live right on the site of Petra in the caves and Wadis (valleys) in the area. Sabri was actually born in one of the caves and then in 1984, all of the Bedouin had to move out of this area and begin to live in the Petra Village which was built by the government in order to move the people out of the historical site to open it up for tourism. Along the way up to the Monastery, we stopped at several of the "tourist shops" to have tea with some of his family and friends. The Monastery was another stunning site and sits atop a Jebal (mountain) from which one had an awesome view of the surrounding Wadis and Jabals and out across the desert as far east as the West Bank. It was breath-taking.
We then make our way back down the 800 stairs and I then met up with Ahmud, another Bedouin who works at the Petra site, who I had hired to take me on a camel ride back through the ruins to the gate. He instead invited me to come back up to his village to have dinner with his wife at his house, of which I graciously accepted. We rode on the camels from the ruins of Petra to the nearby Village, about 1/2 an hour ride. We then left the camels to for the night and then took a pickup through the village to his house. I met his wife, Shadia,who then started to prepare dinner and I was taken into the "male " where we of course had tea, and then had a number of family and drop in to chat and meet me. I offered to help prepare dinner and helped Shadie prepare the vegetables for our meal. We had a traditional Bedouin meal consisting of boiled chicken with rice and a variety of vegetables including cauliflower, some variation of , and peas, as well as salad of diced cucumber and tomato and parsley (I think). The main dish was served in the male on the floor from a large platter with the salad on the side. We sat around the platter and ate in the typical way...using only your right hand to roll up a portion of rice and vegetables and meat...no utensils! Although I attempted to also eat in this fashion, they ended up giving me a spoon as the food was quite hot. After eating we then cleaned up the area and had more tea, and also tried another dish of rice, minced meat and some vegetables rolled in grape leaves...this was sent over by Shadie's mother. I stayed at their place for about 3 hours or so, and I would have to say that this was one of the greatest highlights of my trip to Jordan. Their hospitality was great (as is the way here, especially from the Bedouins)...they asked for and expected nothing in return, were kind, and even me to stay the night (which I declined as I had already booked a hotel), and was told that I must stay with them on my next visit to the area. Wow, what an experience this was!
My 2nd day at Petra was just as exciting. I walked through the Siq, and on to visit the Royal Tombs (carved to house the tombs of Nabetaean dignitaries), then ventured up the side of Jebal Madaba (and more countless stone stairs!) to see the High Place of Sacrifice. This site was used for religious ceremonies Nabetaean gods and may also have been used for funerals. It also gave a spectacular view of Petra from above. Here I met Sabah, a 21 year old Bedouin girl who was selling . She invited to take me to see the Treasury "from above" of which I eagerly agreed. We trekked (and did some mountain / rock climbing!) down the Jebal and then back up the other side to stand atop the opening of the main Siq into Petra and looked back upon the great Treasury from about 80 metres above. We then trekked back along the top of the Jebal to the town. involved rock/mountain climbing, some of which was quite technical and of course particularly to me because of my love (or lack thereof!) of heights...I am sure that the photos do not possibly show what this experience was truly like. Along the way back, we stopped to visit her mother, who was camping with the goats, and here killed a poisonous snake that Sabah spotted in a rock crevice...another unique experience for me! She 1st tried to poke it out with a long stick and then her mother was going to club it with a large rock to kill it, but the snake did not come out and so they instead built a fire just outside the crevice and smoked / heated the snake to death. This had to be done to stop the snake from killing their goats, and of course, from biting and killing themselves or tourists venturing by.
We then returned to the town, and I to my hotel to freshen up and I then went out to a small restaurant for dinner of mixed grill (bbq meat pieces, chicken, beef, lamb) and pita with hummus, and then on to The Cave to have a drink and watch the locals dance. The Cave is a bar that is located inside a stone room / cave that was made during the time of Petra...it was pretty neat inside.
My next two days consisted of a desert trek in Wadi Rum, located about an hour southeast of Petra. I hooked up with Attayak, my tour guide, as well as s Taiwanese-American couple (Christine and Lester) and an Australian woman (Mrs Brown, who was in her mid-seventies!) to do tour around the Wadi. Wadi Rum is a desert valley containing numerous mountains and cliffs, as well as desert floors covered with sand dunes in some areas. We first walked from the resthouse in the village of Rum to the close by remains of a Nabataean Temple. We then drove to the edge of Jabal Um Ishrin (a rock mountain located across from the village) where we then went "scampering" which consisted of ome basic hiking and what I would call rock climbing...yes I actually climbed up and over about 350m of rock! We kept stopping every once in a while and Chris and I would say " I can't believe I am actually doing this!". Again, I am sure that the photos will not actually show the true account of what we did.
We then met back up with Mrs Brown on the other side of the Jabal and had lunch and a short siesta. The five of us, along with two guides, then took a three hour camel ride across the Wadi floor, stopping at Khaz'ali Canyon to walk into the narrow rock fissure to see some ancient rock inscriptions. We then settled at the base of a Jabal at a Bedouin tent for the rest of the evening, where we stayed overnight. We joined up with Omar from Ottawa here, and sat out on the rock to view a beautiful desert sunset and then cooked dinner on the fire (chicken, potatos, , onion, , a few other vegetables, and rice, and of course some pita/ bread. It was an early night after a great deal of physical activity (and a developing sore rump from the camel ride!).
We were up early the 2nd day (6:30am) for breakfast of yoghurt, hummus, cheese, jam, pita, bananas, and tea. We then headed out for a jeep ride across the desert rock and sand dunes to the edge of the Wadi to trek yet another mountain, one of the highest in the Wadi and in Jordan. we had a spectacular view of Wadi Rum and could see out to Saudi Arabia as well. Had lunch at the base of the Jabal and then Omar and I headed back across the dunes to the Rum Village, stopped at Attayak's house for tea and to say goodbye and then took a taxi to Aqaba and then caught the bus back up to Amman.
Today, Fred and I hired Mahar to drive us to Madaba (about 40 minutes south of Amman) where we visited a church that was built atop an ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land, and walked around the village and did a bit of shopping, Then drove on to Mount Nebo, the site where Moses trekked to see the Promised Land before he died and where he was buried, although the exact burial location is unknown. You can see across the Jordan Valley to Jericho from here, as well as see the rooftops of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Mount Nebo is one of the most revered holy sites of Jordan.
We then drove to Bethany to see the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus (located directly beside the boarder to the West Bank), but found out that this site would take 3 hours to tour and Fred did not have the time to do this as he had to do some deadline work this afternoon at the office, so we drove on directly alongside the boarder / Jordan River for a bit then turned to go through the town of Salt on our drive back to Amman. We actually ended up taking a wrong turn and ended up at the boarder crossing to the West Bank, of which we turned around and headed on to Salt. The drive out of the valley was spectacular, we passed along by many farms of bananas, olive and lemon trees, corn, grain, and other fruits and veggies, climbing and weaving our way up from 400m below sea level to 800m above sea level.
Tomorrow I head out on a two day trek to the north of Jordan to visit several key villages and sites there via public bus and minibuses, and will then return to Amman for one more day before departing for Dubai on Tuesday evening, where I will spend 3 full days, and then head back home on Saturday evening.
Posted by Paula
at 9:56 PM EEST
