Trip to Wadi Rum and Petra 9/13 - 14

Qasid, (like Q-aah -sid) planned a trip for the weekend to Wadi Rum and Petra. Wadi Rum is a protected desert natural area with amazing rock formations. The bus ride was about 5 hours to the very south of Jordan, not far from the Saudi border. Several of the Qasid staff went along, but there was one new face - a former professor at the school, Amer who came back for the trip. This guy was a real character - I'm sure in school he was constantly getting in trouble for talking in class and being the class clown. There was a microphone on the bus, and he was constantly using it to relay some fact, play a game, or harass one of the other staff members, Ayman. Every time Ayman would try to respond, Amer would hush him. Amer made everyone come to the front of the bus and introduce themselves in Arabic. Later on, he gave everyone a slip of paper and told half of us to write a question in Arabic, and the other half to write an answer in Arabic. Then he would draw a question and then a random answer and read it aloud. We got to Wadi Rum around 4:30 and then took a ride in the back of pickup trucks to different rock formations in the area. We took our shoes off and climbed the rocks and sand dune to the top of one formation, and then went to another spot where we watched the sun set over the desert. After that, the Bedouins took us back to their campsite. I was expecting to really be roughing it, but there were tents with electricity and beds, and a nice bathroom area. They showed us how they buried food under the sand on a special tiered container in the morning to cook it, and in the evening they would come back to have their dinner ready. One of the men played music on an electric Oud (guitar-like instrument) while we ate the chicken and (I think?) lamb cooked in that method along with different salads and hummus. At around 10:30 we went on a desert walk. Along the way, we gathered brush to make a fire. The plan was to look at the stars away from the lights, but the moon was over half full and was so bright that you couldn't see as many stars, but it was still really cool! There had been a scorpion earlier at the camp site, and everyone was a bit wary to sit down in the sand in the dark. Again Amer was the star of the show as we sat under the stars. They asked for everyone to be quiet for ten minutes, and amazingly, he (mostly) complied. But after that he was telling jokes and stories and trying to get others in the group to do the same. Walking back to the campsite through the sand, even at a small incline, was a workout. I couldn't imagine living in the desert and always having to walk through the sand. The next morning there was breakfast and a camel ride, and then we headed back north to go to Petra. We had a tour guide for the walk through Petra. A bit of the history of Petra: It was from Petra that the Nabataeans, a community of master builders whose skills included hydraulic engineering, iron production and copper refining, commanded the trade routes from Damascus to Arabia, profiting by the taxes paid on the caravans that passed through Nabataean territory. An earthquake in AD 555 is the most likely cause of the city's demise, but thankfully many of Petra's most impressive structures remain intact, making it a treasure trove of architectural surprises, hidden along hiking trails of various lengths and difficulties. The Ancient City is approached through the 1.2km-long, high-walled Siq – a crack in the rock, torn apart by tectonic forces. Just as you start to think there’s no end to the Siq, you catch breathtaking glimpses ahead of the most impressive of Petra’s sights, the Treasury, known locally as Al Khazneh. Carved out of iron-laden sandstone to serve as a tomb, the Treasury gets its name from the misguided local belief that an Egyptian pharaoh hid his treasure in the top urn. The Greek-style pillars, alcoves and plinths are truly masterpieces of masonry work. From the Treasury, the way broadens into the Outer Siq, riddled by more than 40 tombs known collectively as the Street of Facades. Just before you reach the weather-worn 7000-seat Theatre, notice a set of steps on the left. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/jordan/petra/attractions/petra/a/poi-sig/1457302/1001785 We walked through the bottom of a narrow canyon between high stone walls. Along the way we saw the remains of the channels built to bring water to Petra. We also saw carvings for their ancient gods and goddesses. Finally, there is a narrow crack, and you can just see the top of the Treasury, the best-known part of Petra. You've seen in in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As you continue walking, the canyon opens up, and you are surprised by facade of the Treasury, cut out of the rock face. The guide told us that although it is called the Treasury, it was actually built as a tomb. And because of this, the room is very shallow, and you cannot go inside. As we left the treasury, we could see the paved roads that the Romans built after they took over Petra from the Nabateans. Our guide told us that anything carved into the rock was Nabatean, while anything built into or out of the rock was Roman. As we left, we passed through ruins of ancient temples and an amphitheater. And there was still more to Petra; Ayman told us it takes three days to fully see everything there. We left Petra and Ayman was concerned that we wouldn't make it to the restaurant for lunch before it closed at 4! Thankfully, we made it there around 3:30, and we were all very hungry after walking in the sun. There was a big buffet with many different salads - a cauliflower salad was especially good. Then there was pasta with caramelized onions, a stew with meatballs, and a big spread with desserts. There were several types of small cookies, squares of gelatin-y/pudding-y dessert colored pink and yellow. My favorite was in a big, fancy gold dish with a lid. It tasted better than it looked as it was a runny pudding of milk, sugar, and bread. On the trip home, we could here Ayman and Amer in front of us singing songs for Mawlid, the Prophet's birthday which was the next day. Later on, Amer passed out a balloon to everyone on the bus and asked trivia questions about Petra and Wadi Rum. In the beginning, you had to pop your balloon, but later on, he began to ask other questions in Arabic, and then if you got them wrong you had to pop the balloon. I'm sure the bus driver wasn't happy with this game! Finally, we arrived home around 9:30. We were exhausted after the weekend, and we still had to go to class the next day!

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