Petra

July 20, 2010
Did I ever mention that I have always wanted to go to Petra? Well today my almost lifelong dream came true. Petra is in Jordan so getting there could be more difficult than getting around Israel so we decided to take a tour there. They picked us up at 7 am and drove us to the border. There we had our passports processed and we walked across a no-man's land to the Jordan side where we were met by another rep. who took our passports to be processed on that side. Eventually we were all cleared and we were met by our Jordanian tour guide, bus driver and tourist policeman (armed, and he rode with us there and back.) We were in a large van (small bus?) and there were 13 of us on the tour. We drove through some impressive mountains, some weird moon landscape like mountains, some dessert and some Bedouin villages until we finally came to Petra. Was it everything I ever imagined? YES!!! It was incredible, amazing, indescribable. After the entrance gate we walked along a dusty road down to the entrance of the wadi or valley. When we came to the entrance, our tour guide showed us the dam system that the Nabeans had created to keep the water out of the valley. We then started going downhill through a narrow opening in the rock. The rock rose vertically in sheer cliffs high above us. We walked along, gazing in wonder at all the colours in the rock and at the weird rock formations. Some looked like melted wax had poured down the top of the mountains. We walked about 2 km and then our guide pulled us over to one side, he explained a little, then had us move over to the left side of the wadi. From there, we gasped in wonder at the sight of the massive treasury building, carved into the stone. It was amazing! We then walked along, looking at all the caves, carvings and buildings carved into the stone. We had an hour and half of free time so I dashed up hundreds of steps to see inside the monastery, dwellings, and caves. The ceilings of these upper buildings are amazing, vivid red, black, white and blue rock swirled together in incredible designs. I am constantly amazed by God's artistry. I then walked back through the city and up the wadi, stopping often to sit and take in the amazing sights. Many men with camels, horses and carts were going back and forth trying to get people to pay for rides, so I took pictures of them and of the amazing rock. I knew my camera was going to run out of batteries so I kept saying each picture was my last, but I couldn't stop myself.
Just a little aside, Petra means rock and this is the place that they believe Abraham hit the rock to open up the spring while the Israelites were wandering in the dessert. The landscape around there is very beautiful, with mountains and valleys on the one side, the way we came in which is the ancient spice road from Africa and Asia. When we left, we went on the silk road from China. It was more dessert like, with strips of wheat being grown into the rock. We saw many small groups of people harvesting and bagging the wheat by hand. There were a couple of small tractors but most of the work seemed to be done by hand.
We had a late (3 pm) lunch and headed back to the border where we did the passport, no man's land, passport thing in reverse. It was Dixie and Sheila's last night in Israel so we sat on the pier with our feet in the water until after sunset. There was a display of the temperature nearby and we were astounded by how long it took for the temperature to fall to 36 C. There is a constant hot wind blowing off the dessert, which is somewhat refreshing but very strange.
It was the best day here so far (although I say that almost every day!), a lifelong dream come true!