Petra!

We spent a full day in Petra, and it could have quite possibly been one of the greatest days. Ever. Petra has been voted one of the seven new wonders of the ancient world, as well it should be! I was devastated that I had forgotten my camera battery, but luckily my friends are great and took some for me. Imagine grand, Roman style buildings carved straight out of beautiful, red canyon walls. Or if your imagination is sleepy, watch Indiana Jones. Yep! I went there. We left our hotel early in the morning (yep…the one where we got serenaded and were served juice) to walk down to the opening in the canyon walls. We walked down the path that wound through the canyon until all of the sudden, it opened up to the iconic Treasury of Petra! It absolutely took my breath away. And Petra remained just as exciting for the rest of the day.

Before we came to Jordan, Brother Seely, our fantastic Ancient Near East professor, told us that we really needed to go to the Monastery, even though we’d have to book it to get there. So I power walked with Brooke, Brealynn, and Jane to get to the base of our climb. After a full 30 minutes or so of intense stairs, we finally made it to the half-way point. I wanted to DIE! But we pushed on, and oh was it worth it. For all of the treasury’s beauty, the monastery was even bigger and more spectacular. I can’t even wrap my head around how someone could have carved this out of the rock.

Check out this photosphere that CJ took in Petra of the Monastery  There are some other awesome ones here too: https://plus.google.com/photos/104141017599587335952/albums/5934643328339033937/5943596398304126194?pid=5943596398304126194&oid=104141017599587335952

Petra is full of people selling donkey and camel rides all over. After lunch, I went with some girls to go to the tombs, and a lot of my friends were taking camel rides. I was going to wait for the camel ride the center was paying for at the beginning, even though it was just a quick circle for a picture. My natural “Save all your money!” wouldn’t let me take their price. But we bargained down to 5 dinar and it hit me. I’m in Petra! So I got on a camel and rode to the tombs!! My camel, Rajah, was the crazy caboose who kept racing up front and sandwiching my legs. It was a blast! Camels are the weirdest looking creatures, but I understand now why God created them. The ride was pretty bumpy when my camel raced, but oh boy did we cover some ground. So worth 5 dinar!

At the top of the tombs, I joined up with Sam, Caralee, Stephanie, and James. We crossed the sketchy bridge and found some stairs in the back. We climbed up for another eternity up more stairs (remember my already shaky, dead legs) past the goat herd. I’ve never really rock climbed before, but I was glad that I tried it. It was a bit scary, especially when the stairs disappeared for a bit, but it was really fun. When we didn’t dare climb any more stairs, I turned around to a truly incredible view of Petra. I couldn’t have been happier with how we finished the day

book—Married to a Bedouin