Petra – better than Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Though the bus to Petra never showed up, we were lucky enough to hitch a ride from 2 Americans who drove by and decided to take pity on us. Needless to say, thanks to their hearts-of-gold, we finally made it to Petra which turned out to be even more fabulous than we expected.
So for those of you who have never heard of Petra or have never seen pictures BUT are movie buffs, think ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ and the lost city where Harrison Ford. Sean Connery and the Nazis go in search of the Holy Grail….that’s Petra. It’s no film set, its for real and it’s even more spectacular in person than on the big screen.
They call Petra the “Rose City” for a lot of the stone and rock in the city is a light rose color. The reality is they should have called it the “Rose, blueberry, curry, slate, and chocolate city” as there are many other natural colors there…all of which are equally beautiful. What makes this city so remarkable isn’t just it’s obscure location and that it is hidden in a network of siqs and canyons, nor the fact that the city is huge and has an incredible variety of different tombs and buildings, nor how well some of the tombs and monuments are preserved, nor their massiveness, nor the fact that the builders created a complex network of damns and water channels to bring water into the city – what really makes it so incredible is that almost the entire city was carved out of the canyon and siq walls by hand….now that fact combined with all previously mentioned should impress the pants off of anyone.
We spent two days hiking through Petra, climbing up and down the canyon walls, going into the tombs and buildings and exploring as much of the city that we could. Despite the tour groups that we encountered daily at the Treasury, Petra’s most well-known and famous structure (where Indy had to retrieve the Holy Grail at the end of the movie) and at the Monastary, Petra’s largest structure, we found ourselves alone most of the remaining time we were exploring. Another really interesting aspect of the city was that it had many different flavors to it – the Nabateans combined elements from Greek, Roman, Egyptian and their architectural and religious elements to the city.
Our stay at the Cleopetra Hotel, recommended to us by the Spanish couple we met in Wadi Rum, was the icing on the cake of our Petra experience. It was the perfect place to come home after a long day of exploring Petra. The guests and staff would congregate in the cozy living room complete with couches and satellite TV (ie. the BBC and a “American Straight-to-Asia” movie channel) to drink tea and talk about the day’s events or whatever else. The hotel also offered a home-cooked dinner everynight in the ajoining dining room which was always enjoyable sitting around the table together, eating family-style. If we were lucky, we’d end the night with some Arabic dancing 🙂 We were friendly with Mosleh, the manager, who was a cheerful and positive presence in the guesthouse and took great care of us, always going out of his way to make us feel at home or to help us out, if it be with travel arrangements or getting lunch. Mosleh’s motto is “come as a guest, leave as a friend” and true to his word, that was our experience.
One morning we became caught up in a long and deep conversation with Mosleh about the principles that he adheres to when treating his guests and how people treat each other in general, how there are differences between countries and people, but also many similarities. Frankly, this conversation left me with a odd feeling, something similar to the heebie-jeebies you get when you feel homesick, though it wasn’t homesickness. Frankly, it was was something along the lines of “humanity-sickness”….sounds nuts but let me explain…
Aside from my interactions with Anthony, this was the most non-superficial human interaction I had had in a long time. While traveling, it is easy to meet people- other travelers, the local a tour guide, the shop owner on the corner, or a local – but more often than not the interactions are with someone who is trying to sell you something or at best conversation on a somewhat simple level. Though sometimes you can have extensive conversations, rarely do these exceed past a “surface level”. That being said, its not that the conversations don’t get deep or profound, but its not often that you’ll get a chance to talk to someone about their families, their passions, things that they really care about, make them tick, and make them who they are….things more personal, more human if you will.
Being in the Middle East has made it even harder to interact with locals, as my being a woman makes it more difficult to even enter conversations. I never thought to be jealous of Anthony for being a man, but frankly, I envy him and the male travelers that we have been with. Locals (this pertains only to men, as I haven’t experienced women being the first to strike up conversation) are eager to start conversations with Anthony and other male travelers we’ve been with. This same eagerness is not extended to me as I know that it is not the cultural norm to openly and casually approach women here, in fact it can be more of a faux pas, if anything. Though this may result in lost opportunities to interact with locals here, I can’t deny that I welcome the opportunity to just sit and listent and still am able to live vicariously thru Anthony and the other guys 🙂
I apologize for the lack of pictures in this entry there isnt enough bandwidth for me to upload them. You can see more Petra pictures at:
Over and out,
-Shan
Tags: Jordan, Middle East, Petra, Travel
Shan
May 13th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Many times I came to my PC today waiting for “the news” and I am rewarded now. I can see you Shan, that you and Anthony are one saul now and for ever. Love you, Martha