Petra

For our last day in Eilat, we decided to travel into Jordan, (which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 allowing tourists and citizens to cross over this border) and visit Petra, an ancient city carved by the Nabataeans in the canyons of the Jordanian mountains. The Nabataeans thrived from 600 BCE until the birth of Christ because of the overland trade routes through the Middle East (the most popular commodities were spices due to the Greco-Roman emphasis on incense and other spices for religious ceremonies). The Nabataeans were later conquered by the Romans and the civilization eventually vanished because of the rise of sea trade. Petra was rediscovered by the West in 1812. The claim to fame of this place for Americans is the fact that Indiana Jones visited this place on his last crusade with his father in what turned out to be, unfortunately, the penultimate movie of that series. You will recognize it in some of the pictures. The sight is no less breathtaking now that it was when I saw that film nearly 20 years ago. From the border, four of us took a cab, which turned out to be several cabs, because we were forced to switch drivers and cars for no easily discernible reason. We finally ended up with a man named Jamil whose English was proficient and showed us pictures of his daughter on his cellular phone. The cab ride took two hours on King's Highway, a winding two-lane affair that rose through the Jordanian plateau and stretched into the mountains. He left us at the gate only providing us with his number and said he would wait for us. The hike into the sight is a lovely one--a winding gravel path that leads down a rocky hillside with several carved tombs in the side of the hills. Arabs rode donkeys, camels and horses, proffering rides for wealthy tourists who didn't want to walk the mile down into the canyon. The tourists are almost exclusively from Europe, the US, Canada, or Australia, most of which are in large tour groups arranged from Israel. The canyon that leads to the ancient city was carved from rivers long gone and reminds me of pictures I have seen of the grand canyon, though much smaller. It is only 5 meters across at some points and usually no wider than 10. As you near the end of the canyon, it opens up onto a square of sorts that is faced by the "Treasury" one of the largest carved tombs. The square bustled with people and camels. I made sure to steer clear of the camels because I heard from the Genie in Aladdin that they spit. We made our way to the amphitheatre, then walked along a promenade with Roman columns before climbing up a mountain to see the biggest of the attractions, the "Monastery" which is more than twice as big as the "Treasury" and from which you can see much of the Jordanian plateau below. We stayed a little too long on top of the mountain speaking with some of the Bedouins who have shops there and descended the mountain as the sun was going down. On the way back, the place was left to us, alone. No little souvenir stands, no donkeys, no Arab children yelling at each other, or loud tourists. The four of us walked back and enjoyed the oddity of such a magnificent place in the quiet. When we entered the canyon, night had fallen and candles had been placed in bags to light the path. It was as if they were expecting us but in reality the candles were for the night crowd, which had not yet arrived. I'm not big on tourist attractions but this one ranks up there as most enjoyable.

Jamil was waiting for us when we reached the gate. We headed back along the King’s Highway, only this time at around 150 kilometers per hour (roughly 90mph) so that we could reach the border by 8 o’clock, otherwise we would have to spend the night in Jordan. Jamil was not pleased with us and was driving altogether too fast on the winding highway, making our stomachs lurch at every turn. As we headed down a mountain side, all of a sudden an animal flashed in the headlights (I could see very well from the front seat that it was a large dog), and the impact reverberated throughout the cabin as I yelled, “ohhh sh@!*&%$#t!” Jamil slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. Enraged, he stepped from the car, slamming his door. He moved around to the front of the car to look at the damage. Tucker, seated in the back and the eternal pragmatist, said very level-headedly, “Well, we’ll probably have to give him a tip now.” Colette, also seated in the back, was in a different place entirely, “Did we hit a person?” I explained that, no, in fact it was a large dog. Meanwhile, Jamil headed back up the highway to see if the dog was dead and probably finish the job if his bumper had not. Whether we all like to admit it or not, we were all thinking what this Arab man was going to do, and this is where our socialization comes into play. Talking afterward, we all shared what we thought Jamil was going to do: I thought he would turn us out of his cab and make us walk, Tucker thought similarly that he might try to extract more money from us, Miriam said she was afraid that he wouldn’t go any further without compensation, and Colette, unabashedly, told us that she was contemplating texting her mother for possibly last time. I think all of us would admit that Colette’s thought passed through all of our minds, however briefly, merely because this man was an Arab. Jamil, however, although transparently angry, got us to the border on time and asked us for no extra payment. Such is the accuracy of prejudice and stereotype. As was only right, we gave him a large tip.

-N

The end of the canyon opening up on the Treasury

In the canyon

Bedouin man's walk to work

Canyon walls

Westerners taking a ride through the canyon

Multi-colored sides of the canyon wall

Smiling camel

Treasury from Indiana Jones fame (the door opens onto only one small room)

Monastery (over 60 feet tall)

View from the top of the mountain

Placing a rock on the pile

Top of the mountain with the Jordanian flag