So we got up this morning at 5:30am and went down to breakfast. We ate and took off for Petra. We got there right before 7am. Here’s the positive and negative—-off-season, early in the morning, we had the place to ourselves. Negative—-HOLY GUACAMOLE IT WAS BUTT COLD!!!!! I had a t shirt, penelton long sleeve over it, sweat shirt over that, super heavy coat over that, Bedouin scarf, hat, hood, hand warmers and STILL I felt like I was in Siberia. I swear that was THE coldest day of my life. Jordan is super cold. In Amman there is snow actually. Israel was cold, but not this bad. Blue skies, lovely, but butt cold!
Petra...it IS everything people say it is, and much more. Sensory overload to the nth degree. I will share photos but they PALE in comparison with the grandeur, the drama, the enormity, the awe of seeing it in real life. We were there 8 hours....still didn’t see it all.
With Petra everyone thinks of the famous “Treasury,” but in reality there is so much more to it—-tombs, temples, amphitheater, caves, market areas, dams, arches, on and on....
I was, sadly, quite distracted by one thing—-exploitation of animals. I detest animal cruelty, and the way these Arabs overwork these donkeys, camels, it’s sickening. I wanted to beat these guys within an inch of their lives, but tried to look the other way. Several times I was appalled and baffled. My wife, who has far more of a threshold for that stuff being from the Philippines, was disgusted and commented several times that it bugged her. Anyway, on a more positive note....
The Treasury of Petra
