Petra Jodan

I have to confess that when I signed on for the Jordan extension to the trip, I didn't do my homework. I always wanted to see what Jordan was like, so I didn't really care what we saw, or so I thought. I didn't do any research into it either. And for Petra that was a mistake. Indiana Jones fans will recognize Petra. I am not an Indiana Jones fan. Or an expert on ancient cities or civilizations.

Right across the street from our hotel was the entrance to Petra, So, we walked across the street and went in. The priests advised another old woman and myself to pay for the ride to the bottom.

So, despite torture for the poor horses, that is what we did. And most of the rest of the party was jealous of us by the time they got to the bottom of the site.

It was an extremely cold day. Our driver who spoke only a little English welcomed us by saying "Welcome to Alaska.: I think it may have been about as cold as it gets down there. My app said it was 17 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, it was cold in those open carts and there were no shock absorbers. Bumpy, the ancient road to Petra was bumpy.

It was about 2 miles down and two miles up, so we got a 4 mile carriage ride.

At first it was hard to imagine what the big deal was about this Petra place.

It just looked like a hilly desert.

Then we started to notice carvings in the rocks.

There were cut outs in the sandstone.

Apparently this place was lost for a long time until some German explorer got the Bedouins to show him where it was. Even today we were told that about 70% of the site remains covered in sand.

The wind whipped through the sandstone canyon.

Parts of the road were smooth and parts were completely rough.

I felt sorry for the poor horses.

As we went lower the sandstone was red. Our priests who had been there some years before told us that the last time the day started cold and warmed up to about 70 degrees as the day wore on.

If anything, we just got colder.

The canyon was carved by water, like the Grand Canyon and then was dry and the Namibians built a civilization there in that canyon.

Considering that this was before the time of Christ, it is amazing to see the carved buildings.

Still traveling on the horse cart to the bottom.

And still.

There were carved niches and various carvings.

Sometimes the canyon got pretty dark and cold.

Then it would open out to sunlight.

When it got so narrow that it seemed like we were going to be no where, it opened out to a large plaza.

And here is the Treasury building. It was really a tomb with small rooms inside not a large hall as was I am told shown in the Indian Jones movie.

it looks rather impressive.

And there were Bedouins offering camel rides for 60 dollars.

The camels looked youngish and not as big as I expected them to be.

And there were wild dogs and cats roaming around.

They were throwing rocks at this poor dog who had puppies.

We sat at a little hop and took in the scene. Mind you this was a cold January morning and look how many people were already there.

Looking back at the last crevice we had come through on the horse cart.

And a larger view.

The guide told us not to patronize the Bedouins because they would trick and cheat you. So I didn't.

He said buying things encouraged them not to send their kids to school like this boy.

There was a little outdoor cafe that no one was eating at. We listened to a Bedouin man tell us his life story inside one of the buildings. Mainly to warm up.

And I didn't go any farther in. I decided that I was too cold and too tired and I wanted to go back to the hotel. Even though I was missing a once in a lifetime opportunity to see more of Petra.