Jordan!: Day 3

On Saturday, we woke up at an ungodly hour in order to eat and depart for Petra, 3 hours outside Amman, by 7 AM. Most people spent the bus ride down sleeping; as on most of the trip, I found myself unable to do so, partially because of the discomfort of sleeping on a bus, but also because I didn't want to miss a minute of the amazing scenery. Jordan is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and the mountains south of Amman are particularly amazing; all red stone, dotted with mountain scrub and small towns every now and again, absolutely breathtaking.

We began our visit to Petra by passing through - what else? - the corridor of vendors who set up shop outside the visitor's center and ticket office. Nearly all were selling scarves, sunglasses, and of course, fedoras; Indiana Jones was referenced in nearly every sign, although one shop was, strangely, calling itself "Titanic Souvenirs" and advertised with a large placard painted with an ocean liner of some sort. After a quick bathroom stop (and hat stop, for some of our group), we started down the Siq, the mountain passage leading to the ruins themselves. Having shelled out for admission, the majority of our group opted for the included horseback ride, covering the sunniest portion of the trail fairly quickly. Yes, that's right - this makes two times that I've voluntarily gotten on a horse since coming to the Middle East, and let me tell you, having a horse that's actually willing to move of its own accord? Fantastic.

Our guide in Petra was awful; even when I kept up with him, I picked up neither interesting nor useful information about the site or its history. Maybe he would have been better at the ruins, instead of on the trail to the ruins? I don't know. In any case, I spent most of the walk (approximately one mile) chatting with my friends and fellow travelers and taking tons of photos of the scenery.

The arrival at the Treasury is an abrupt one; one minute you're walking along with only the layered red rock to distract your eye, and suddenly there it is, peeking through the narrow gorge, and two steps later you're there. It was...awesome. Really, the film doesn't do the structure justice; the most interesting parts are at the top, far from all of the Jones' action. Our guide did point out one aspect of the facade that was worthy of note; if you look along the edges of the carvings near the top, you see a series of spaced square holes. This is the remains of the scaffolding erected by Nabataeans to carve the topmost section of the Treasury. How amazing to think about something like this being done over two thousand years ago!

Caprill and I enjoyed tea and conversation with a Bedouin guide at a snack tent in the Treasury canyon, then moved on to explore the rest of the site. She wasn't feeling too well, so I left her sitting on a crop of rocks with water and our bags while I wandered a bit with my camera, snapping photos and attempting to scale some of the low cliffs with my non-existent upper body strength. After about an hour of exploring as far as the amphitheater, it became apparent that Caprill wasn't getting any better, and that being out in the sun probably wasn't helping. We started back to the bus with about 90 minutes to spare, and ended up in the parking lot smack on time - but of course, as Jordan still runs on Middle Eastern time, we beat our guide and chaperone back by nearly half an hour.

The next stop on our whirlwind tour was Aqaba, a resort town on the Red Sea. Stephanie and I left Caprill in our room to sleep off her nausea, and hit the town with Molly and Jessamyn for dinner, sweets, and mouz bilaban (blended bananas with milk and sugar) at some local establishments. I had stuffed grape leaves - one of my favorite dishes at Woody's Mediterranean Oasis in East Lansing - for the first time since my arrival in the region, and they were delicious, though nothing compared to the sweets and nuts we stocked up on during our walk back to the hotel.

After an amazing night of sleep, we took breakfast at our hotel followed by a glass-bottomed boat ride in the Red Sea. Some of our group members took advantage of this opportunity to swim and snorkel; lacking a bathing suit, I was not one of them, and wasn't sorry when the girls came out in their bikinis and all the Arab men on the boat aimed their cameras and cameraphones at them. (Gross.) After lunch at our choice of American medium-speed food establishments (I had Quizno's, and they gave us free Icees), we boarded the bus for the drive to Wadi Rum, and what would ultimately be my favorite part of the trip...