petra - part one

our first day in petra was a good one. we started off being pressured by our guide, a man who’s name escapes me – even after being quizzed: "what’s my name?” he asked. “adibi?” “no, _____” i was slightly annoyed after that for being put in such a position. anyway – he pressured us into buying hats; will purchased an indiana jones one, of course, and i bought a head scarf, which the shop-keeper kindly tied for me. adibi said it wasn’t normal, but i still liked it.

we headed into the siq and yep – it was just like indiana jones. the colors really are as beautiful as they say – not only the reds and pinks, but the yellows and beiges as well. we then came upon the treasury – which is pretty special.

we made our way quickly past the street of facades, royal tombs, the cardo and its great temple so that we could start the hike to the monastery before it got hot. it was like 900 steps up – i was winded. adibi ended up being a really nice guy and had great presentation upon revealing to us the monastery

then we went for another hike a lil further to check out the view of wadi araba, isreal and the rift valley (between the african and asian tectonic plates) – pretty amazing. we’ve now seen two of the planet’s rift valleys – the first in iceland where the north american and european plates collide and today the second.

after lunch we went on to check out everything else in closer detail and took more pictures. perhaps one of the more unappreciated parts of petra is the bedouin children. we were told by adibi not to buy any of their postcards or necklaces as it would encourage their begging when they need to learn to go to school and make a proper living. but it’s really hard as they all have huge, bright eyes and can speak key phrases in twenty different languages. one kid was trying to sell a woman a booklet of postcards - “perfect pictures of petra!” “no thank you, i don’t need postcards.” “yeah, but i need business!”

it was all fun and games until i saw a little girl eyeing will’s backpack. she ran right up to him and after refusing her necklaces, she asked him for his book (a little kodak photography book she would have no use for). she was angered when he again refused and with a dilerbate scowl, leaning her body forwards at him, took her two pointer fingers and stretched out her eyes! he laughed and she did it again. i walked straight up to her and pointed at her face saying”that is not nice – do not do that” so of course, she stretched her eyes out at me. “don’t do that – that’s why know one wants to buy anything from you.” i couldn’t believe it – i had just scolded a cute, little bedouin girl.

we finished off the day with dinner at Petra Kitchen, a cooking class where we learned to make various jordanian dishes. and by make i mean – chop vegetables and then drink a sprite while you wait for the assistant chefs to fix everything and bring it out to you finished, with the recipes for you to try at home. not too impressed. but we did get to sit next to the most excitable little english boy that looked like a harry potter. that was entertaining.