Saturday April 22, 2005 – Our Day In Petra

In lieu of galloping through the Siq (canyon leading to the Treasury) Indiana Jones style, we settled for a 15 minute horseback stroll to the beginning of the canyon. Although it was a little difficult waking up at 6:15 in the morning, the metaphorical worm, was arriving at the Treasury without another tourist in sight. After strolling for about 20 minutes though this very narrow canyon, you round one last corner and there is the breathtaking Treasury.

There was however a cleaning guy who was doing his best to get in our photos (actually just working comically unaware of us tourists not wanting his bucket in the photo).

After soaking in the beauty of the carved temple, we settled on our plan of attack for all of the major sites in Petra (there are something like 800 tombs and buildings). We mounted some trusty steeds to do most of the work on the steep hike up to the High Place of Sacrifice. “C” and I were bestowed donkeys while “I,” being a pretty big guy was told, “you get this mule” – always good for the ego. C’s overzealous mounting attempt, left us all laughing, as she somehow managed to fling herself over the saddle and on to the donkey’s neck/shoulders. You could tell that the donkey was thinking… “hmm, this is a new one,” but seemed ready to go. This put the Jordanian donkey/mule wrangler in an awkward position, trying to help without touching a non-cloaked, nape of the neck showing Westerner. After determining this method wasn’t working he shared in the laughs and helped Cathy down. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a donkey before, well at least in my adult life, and those little guys are workhorses. It was quite a balancing act for both donkeys and humans while they skittered up countless steps and slippery rock on cruise control. “I” had to make a few stops along the journey because upon inquiry to the donkey/mule wrangler, “mule bad.” Upon reaching the top, we were awarded amazing views all over Petra.

We visited several tombs, buildings, and the Roman amphitheater before stopping for our lunch break. We then all boarded donkey #2 for the very long uphill trek to view the Monastery, which was followed by Bedouin tea in an old Petra tomb.

Our day was topped off with a third beast of burden (fourth for “I”) and an early evening last look at the Treasury. Camels, while we’re on the subject, are such an odd creature - big wavy lips, skinny long legs, weird faces, getting up in stages (back legs up, front legs up), and making horrible moans and camel growls during the entire up and down process.