October break fell on the same weekend as Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day, so the embassy had a long weekend. The CLO organized a trip that went to Petra and Wadi Rum, two of the top things to see in Jordan, and I thought it would be a great way to get to know the sights. There were also lots of other kids going, which I thought would be particularly good for keeping Elena entertained, although, as always, we had a lot of fun just the four of us too.
It takes about three hours to drive from Amman to Petra, so we got on a bus early in the morning and headed out. Before we got to Petra, we stopped at Ain Musa or the Moses Spring. In the Bible, Moses struck his staff on the ground to bring forth water. The water is still going strong and runs through the town. Elena was particularly interested in it. She's in full mythology mode, and always wants to know more about religious stories.
We had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't fall in.
By the time we got to Petra it was quite hot, and it's about a mile from the entrance to the main part of Petra. You can walk or hire horses or an electric golf cart. We have had a special place in our hearts for golf carts since our time in Thailand, so we went that route, even though the horses looked pretty.
The Nabataeans, who lived in this area before being absorbed into the Roman empire, carved incredible dwellings and other structures into the sandstone. They were also known for having excellent water management techniques enabling them to create a thriving civilization in this part of the desert. Jeff had fun taking pictures as we golf carted along.
As we got farther down, the road began to narrow. There was even a part with cobblestones, but the best part was looking up at the beautifully patterned rock walls around us.
On the final tight curve, we weren't sure if the golf cart would fit. This is the narrow entrance to the area in front of the Treasury, which is famously used in Indian Jones as the site of the Holy Grail.
Jeff took many pictures of the treasury emerging from around the curved walls.
The carving is truly impressive, and even more so because it's 2,000 years old.
We took lots of pictures, although it was difficult to get ones without other people in it. This is a popular site.
Elena, of course, wanted her picture with the camel.
Jeff got some really fun ones with another camel who was hanging out in the shade.
This was as far as the golf cart went, so we kept exploring on foot. You can explore the whole city, but we had limited time before we had to get back to our bus, so we took a quick pass around the closest things, and had fun sticking the girls in little alcoves for pictures.
It's good that we left time at the end, because we had to wait quite a while for our turn to get a golf cart back out. Apparently a lot of people walked down, but then wanted to cart back up, which I understand, but, as we have learned, in Jordan, lines are not respected, and so we had to get a little aggressive in order to get our turn. Elena made good use of her time playing with the pink sand.
It was worth the wait though. The first part up was still shady and cool,
but when we got out to the main open road and saw the people walking along the side uphill in the sun, we felt very grateful for our golf cart.
We had some time before we had to leave, so we retreated to the air conditioned museum, which actually turned out to be really cool in the figurative as well as literal sense.
Even though it was a quick stop, we really enjoyed our time in Petra.
