Travels in the Levant

I have been so busy that I have had no time for anything but studying, travel, and some sleep. We finished our school week on Thursday with a difficult quiz and then jumped into taxis to get to the Amman bus station. 11 of our group went and two language partners, Marwan and Abdullah. At the bus station these two negotiated rides in two cars for the trip to Petra for 4JD a person, around $6 for a 3.5 hour ride. Here’s a picture of our hearse.

We stayed at the Musa Springs Hotel, near Petra, where we weer supposed to sleep on the roof for 2JD a night but got rooms for only JD a night. That night we found a bar that had been carved out of a cave and had a few beers. Later, we had the amazing experience of walking through Petra by candle light, with luminaries set every few feet all the way to the huge treasury in Petra. The next day we got up at 6 and caught cabs to the entrence of Petra. Here is a picture of our group in front of the very famous Treasury. Apparently, Petra was recently added to the list of the 7 wonders of the world.

Here are some of the dwellings carved out by the Nabateans over 2500 years ago. We climbed up to some of the higher ones to investigate and they would actually have been quite spacious, cool places to live in the roasting desert weather.

The most amazing part of Petra we saw was the view from the monastary at the top of some mountains. We climbed for over an hour up more than 900 steps to reach the view point but it was definitely worth it. Tyler, one of the UNC guys, said it was more amazing than the grand canion with its huge rock mountains jutting up from the ground. Some of us got tired part way up so we hired donkeys for 3JD. I talked to a number of the donkey guides and they are all Beduin who still live inside Petra (a 40km square area.) It was actually kind of scarry to be on a donkey climbing ancient, slippery, steep stairs.

We also found a tour in Wadi Rum where we were taken out in 4WD vehicles to exlpore the desert. Arabic drivers are already crazy but when combined with desert sand, high speeds, and a Land Rover without breaks, the experience is truly terrifying. Not only that, but Wadi Rum is a true desert with no roads.
We spent the night in a desert camp and ate Beduin food and learned Arabic dancing. We also smoking argila (shisha) and went for a midnight truck ride throught the desert where we raced another car. Another terrifying car ride. Here’s a picture of the Wadi. Apparently the temperature rise over 40C during the summer, a truly painful and debilitation experience.

Here’s a picture of the sunset at Wadi Rum.

More tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 18th, 2005 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Amman, Jordan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.