Saturday, September 30, 2006

Petra - Friday September 29

Had an early wake up call on Friday and left the hotel around 7 am. Our Jordanian guide, Niam, explained our itinerary for the day, before we caught our horses which would take us from the visitors centre to the beginning of the Siq. (The long canyon that goes into the ancient city of Petra) The horses, which cost 7 JD one way ($14 CND!) are included in the price of the admission ticket but each person is expected to tip the horse handler 1 or 2 JD just for helping them on the horse. The horses only take you about 800 m so the whole thing is a bit of a scam but we did take them and paid our tips. (Our handlers were happy with their tips but some of the others were not so pleased when they only received their 1 JD!)
The walk through the Siq is 2 km with the walls reaching 200 m high in some points. Part of the road has old Roman cobblestone on it while the rest is concrete, which was poured in the 60's to help with the flash floods that would wash away all the sand. (And some of the tourists too!) You can take a horse drawn carriage through the Siq although the gov't has made the price quite high ($40 Cnd) to try and get people not to use them!
Petra is a huge site with over 500 tombs and many other ancient buildings carved into the rocks. It's hardly possible to see it all in one day but our guide did his best and left us with some free time at the end to do our own options. We were able to see the Treasury, Royal Tombs, Petra Church, museum and also climb to the monastery and one of the high places of sacrifice. Apparently only 5% of Petra has been excavated as this point and there was evidence of some archeological digs that were still in progress, mostly American and German.
We finished the main tour with our guide around 11 and then J and I decided to make the trek up to the monastery. There's over 800 steps up to the top and it took us almost an hour, with numerous breaks. You can take a donkey up to the top for 5 JD or so but I preferred to sweat it out instead of riding on one of those poor little beasts! There were many little stands set up along the way with the locals trying to sell their jewelry and ancient coins and lamps that had been found on the site. "1 JD, no charge for looking! Buy one and make my day!" (One of the young boys was trying to sell one of the Aussies a ordinary rock, claiming it was some ancient stone. The Aussie picked up another rock from the ground and asked why it wasn't for sale, seeing as it was the same as the one the kid was selling. "That rock is broken," was the reply!) Apparently they learn English at school and even the young children can be heard selling their wares to the tourists.
Upon reaching the top, we stopped for a break at the top, under a tent which was selling cold drinks. No refrigeration at the top so all the drinks were on blocks of ice. A pop was selling for $8 Cnd so we opted for a luke warm water instead! Further past the monastery there was a high place of sacrifice with a great view of the Jordan Valley, so I left J sitting at one of the tombs with some goats which were keeping him company, and continued on for another 10 minutes or so.
By 2 pm were were back down the trail in the main city of Petra and seated at the local buffet for lunch. We brought snacks with us as the buffet was about $14 Cnd each, but splurged on pop instead. (Jordan is so expensive that we're letting our frugal sides take over!) Some of the others opted to do a hike after lunch but they had taken the donkeys to the top and had a bit more energy than we did. We slowly made our way back to the Siq and walked out of the site by 4 pm. Upon reaching the horses, the handlers tried to tell us that it would cost us 5 JD to get the horses back before we reminded them that we'd already paid our 7 JD in the entrance price! We couldn't believe that we actually had to haggle with them over what sort of tip they would get! In the end, we dragged our weary feet out and didn't take the horses as J only had 1 JD on him plus some big bills and the guys didn't seem too anxious to take small change. (One of them told J that they did take Visa though!) I didn't think I was going to make it after being in the sun all day, but J prodded me on and we finally reached the entrance. (It was so hot that day that not only were we covered in sweat but we actually had salt stains on our shirts from sweating so much. I'm sure you all wanted to know that, right?) Since the bus back to the hotel wasn't going to arrive until 5:30 we opted to take a taxi back (2 JD) and catch some sleep before supper. Nine hours at the site had done it's toll and we both enjoyed a well deserted nap before supper at 7:30. After supper I enjoyed a Turkish bath which included a steam room, sauna, short massage and jacuzzi before heading back to the room and collapsing into bed!


The Treasury at the end of the Siq


The Treasury




Dwellings cut into the rocks


Funky limestone patterns!






J found a tomb with his name in it!


The trail up to the monastery - can you see the donkeys climbing the steps?


Still climbing! I'm in the foreground with my arms raised - I guess brown wasn't such a good colour to wear that day!


No safety ropes along these ledges!


The Monastery






Jonathan taking a break with the goats


Suicidal goats - they were hanging around the high place of sacrifice! =)


Girl selling necklaces


Nine hours later ... we're finally on our way out!


Dusty, pinkish shoes!

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