Turns out there is a bakery downstairs where we got some zatar (I think it is fennel or parsley or something with garlic coating a fresh round of bread) and one with cheese (but the Arabic, slightly sour cheese).
We were very fortunate today. We got our free ride into Petra, and starting heading down the Siq to the Treasury around 7:30. We were thinking about waiting for a tour to start at 8:30, but decided against it. That was our first bit of luck.
The treasury was awe-inspiring; everything Indiana Jones made it out to be. (In fact, we found our very own "friend" who looked like Indy: hat, uber-hiking gear, though no whip. "Friend" because all we did was take a picture for him.) It was a tomb, and it is very intense to think about... but then you compare the tombs to the pyramids at Giza, and you really get a grasp of how much people honored the dead.
We had already walked about two kilometers at this point. "Downtown" Petra isn't an easy place to get to. As we continued on, Abdalla kept making fun of me and how I liked to climb (as in stairs, mountains, etc.) I had just spotted a tomb I wanted to peak inside when Abdalla distracted me with an intriguing staircase that led up right before the Street of Facades.
I started up, then he stopped and waited for me. As I continued up, and up, and up, I realized that this was a trail all the way to a lookout point at the top of one of the surrounding mountains. I was debating what to do when I see Abdalla come walking up behind. My second bit of luck.
He had been walking to talk with a Beduoin man (there were people of residents around) and decided to find me. We continued up until we started getting passed by a German tour group. Abdalla asked the tour guide in Arabic where they were going, and the tour guide invited us to walk along behind so we wouldn't get lost. The third bit of luck.
So we walked and walked, and got to see a ritualistic sarifice site carved in the top of the mountain, in addition to some other caves and little facades. There was a garden monument, with a drainage hole for their complex water system. We were walking down the mountain (still following the tour group) and passing along the processional route. However, we were still passing facades that were mostly for tombs.
We got to the bottom, and had ended up at the end of the typical main drag. I was very excited that we had done this cool, huge circle. Abdalla, while sharing some of the same sentiments, was also sure I was out to kill him.
Well, I almost succeeded when we went to the Monastry. Any literature you read warns that it is at least 45 minutes to the top, with over 900 steps on the way. We bought a big bottle of water for the rip-off price of 2 JD (that's, ashamed to say it, $3, when usually it is $.75) but I don't want to think about the water.
I just want to think about how the Monastry was my favorite facade. It was the biggest carved facade, and had been turned into a church for a time after its re-discovery (which is why it is called the Monastry, despite the lack of monks).
A "few" more steps led up to some lookouts. There was the "Spring Lookout" and "The End of the World." It was mountains and scrub for as far as the eye could see.
We walked back down, had some more crackers and bread and water (what we'd been living on all day), then continued to the Siq and walking back up, admiring the monuments on the main drag.
The colonaded street was pretty, but the Great Temple really gave a sense of scale to the whole place. It had this puny, round theater that could hold 626 people! Inside the Temple!
We were just getting silly by the time we went by the Royal Tombs. Abdalla had pushed his hat off to the side, and we took the first in the series "Too Cool for Petra." I think my picture is much more evocative though. (Will attempt to post these when we have more than 5 minute access to the internet).
A giant Roman theater carved (in one piece) out of the side of a mountain, and we were headed back up to the visitor's center. We finished up the last of the bread, just made it back to the top, and, because Abdalla spoke Arabic, got a cab to take us back to town for just 2 JD (instead of 5).
This blog is posted late because we showered, then napped, then I ventured out for 15 minutes to see the sunset and get water, then fell asleep again. Didn't really have time for Internet with all that sleeping. Wadi Rum is going to be out in the middle of the desert, so not thinking there is going to be much blog posting there. We'll see if we have time to hit an internet cafe before getting on the boat to Egypt in Aqaba. Jordan time is almost up!
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