On to Suez Canal

Petra, Jordan


The tap on the door woke and room service was delivered with a smile. As I looked out the balcony doors, you could still see lights on the shore in the distance. We gobbled down our breakfast, got ready, and went down to the Cabaret Lounge a few minutes early. Since we were on bus number 8, it tells you a lot about the enthusiasm of the other passengers for tours. Since we all leave and travel in caravan, there was little incentive to rush except to get one’s preferred seats.
Our Guide
Soli (Sol-ee) is one of those ageless young Arabic men. He’s not married and happy that way. He was born in and lives in the little town of Petra, and has degrees in tourism and archeology. He was fun. Just before the front of the Treasury appears as you emerge from the groove in the high walls, he tricked us into turning opposite the site (we hadn’t seen it yet---long story—and didn’t suspect it was right around the next curve), closing our eyes, and then eventually, pulling up the theme music from Raiders of the Lost Ark and having us open our eyes to see the front of the Treasury peeking out at us. His English was good compared to many of the guides we’ve had along the way, and he learned it all from tourists. His pronunciations are sometimes British, sometimes American. And he uses slang expressions in many dialects and languages. We had fun with him. He sometimes takes two full tours into Petra for a total of about 15 miles a day. He’s a skinny little guy.
Their eyes
I have been struck by the piercing eyes of the peoples in these countries. They are a rich, golden brown, with very white sclera and with the dark lashes, it’s quite mesmerizing. Think of Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. And speaking of that movie, Lawrence’s headquarters was in this area so you can imagine the rough life. And we even saw the train tracks as we travelled both ways today.
Going out and returning
We traveled by caravan through an ever changing topography. The mountains are craggy and sharp peaked in most places, and then others they are rounded at the tops. There is basalt and granite for the most part, but limestone prevails nearer to Petra. It was over a two hour drive and toward the approach to Petra, we began to steeply climb the mountain range. Along the way, there were some adjustments to the air conditioning which either froze most folks out, or was nonexistent. Ed thinks the driver didn’t know how to work the controls.
Along the way, we saw Bedouin encampments with their vehicles parked outside. Sheep were seen periodically, often right at the side of the road and you could always find the shepherd nearby if you looked long enough. We saw camels here and there and there were signs to watch for camels crossing the road; I gather they can be wild in some of these areas.
We saw men and women in various versions of native dress, but Western attire was common particularly for the men and the young women. Overall, however, the landscape seems pretty barren of human life. One wonders how they survive. Tourism is the main industry. Aqaba has some minerals to export and there’s potential oil reserves underground, but other than a patch of green here and there were someone had eked out a patch of wheat or barley, and a few scattered very spindly looking trees, there’s nothing out there. I believe they essentially get their water from Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The Bedouin tents are made out of skins and tapestries created from the hair of animals. They look pretty sturdy and I assume they must be cool inside. The flooring is all carpets.
Petra
Spectacular. Amazing. Stupendous. Remarkable. Eye popping. Well you could go on and on. It is a five mile walk to see the small part of this whole complex that we saw. You walk down to the Treasury, the most well known of the structures, so that means you must walk UP to get back out. There are horses and donkeys nearby that you can use for a tip of about $5 USD (what an interesting way to say it rather than the fee is $5 USD). The little horse traps (carriages) hold two normal sized people very snugly for a spine jarring trek down, or up, to the Treasury. The cost is $35 USD one way if I heard accurately. There are only 10 available and while they said they wanted to save them for disabled, clearly lots of folks weren’t what we’d call physically disabled.
The weather was mild for this area but it was still hot and we still sweated our share. We each had carried a bottle of water from our room and had consumed it on the way down. Many folks were upset that there was no water given to us on the bus; this is almost always the case in these hot climates. On our bus, our guide found 14 bottles but we were 34 passengers. At the Treasury Ed got another bottle and a Diet Coke (a little puny, skinny can that looked like they had slapped a diet Coke label onto a miniature Red Bull can). Later at lunch, he and I split a 1.5 liter bottle of water plus more. I went to the restroom before the trip back (remember: never miss an opportunity to go to the restroom on these tours) and when I tried, there was only a drop or two there. When I was back in the cabin, maybe half a cup. Clearly we were dehydrated by the heat.
4000 visitors a DAY visit Petra so you can imagine the crowds at this point. Our 10 busses were but a small part of the fleet in the parking lot there. There are several souvenir shops but nothing extravagant and the aggressiveness of the vendors is tolerable.
The land is a combination of similarities to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion all rolled into one. But it’s not any of these places. The geological formations could sometimes be mistaken for each other but Petra’s surroundings are not those of SW USA. The heights of the walls around you as you enter are impressive. These walls also have carvings into the walls which have been eroded away by the flash floods through this wadi through the years, but they are still recognizable with the help of a skilled guide. One area had a camel caravan carved into the sides of the walls. This was a stopping point on caravans and so that it was very appropriate for the times. I’m amazed folks could find all this but clearly the locals never “lost” it.
As we drove away, you could look back on the mountains behind us and see where Petra is hiding amid all these colorful rock formations. When shown what to look for, you could identify where you had just left at least in a conceptual fashion.
A decent visit to the area around Petra requires a minimum of three days to do it justice. We only had a few hours but that’s better than nothing.
Recommend going to Petra?
Without exception I would highly recommend everyone go see this incredible place while you can. By that I mean not only that it will still be open to visitors, but also that you’ll have the physical stamina to do it. I am so glad we went, but I wouldn’t do it again. The heat is something I cannot deal with comfortably and it absolutely drains both of us.
Lunch
Near the visitor’s center for Petra, there is a Movenpick hotel. Locally it’s called the “move and pick” and there is a shop near the front gate of Petra titled: Pick and Move. Those of you who know this chain know how nice it is. Probably 5 star. We had to go through a scanner before entering and lunch was buffet style. It had a mix of offerings with basic Middle Eastern dishes. The hummus was so good. There was a chicken dish that was great: the chicken wasn’t special but the sauce and veggies with it were scrumptious. There was a strawberry and cherry dessert that was indescribable. And I’ve told you about the bottles of water they made available to us.
But there was another side: If you ordered anything not included in the voucher we were given, it could cost you dearly. Our guide had cautioned us to ask the price before ordering. A man at the end of the table ordered a beer: Amstel is all they had and a small can at that. I asked how much the hotel was charging and the wife said she had no idea but it wouldn’t be cheap. The waiter delivered the beer and later another, older man came along to tell the man that the beer would be “seven and a half US dollars”. When Ed joined me, I passed this along as he had requested one too. In the interim, the older man came back to collect for the beer and it was now $8 USD. No explanation. At the movie tonite, we heard that some folks ordered three beers and it cost them $27 USD. Highway robbery is alive and well.
Welcome home!
When we came back to the pier at 6 pm, we were welcomed (all of us, not just Ed and I) by the Commendatore and the Maitre D’. We were given cold wash cloths to wipe down with and a cup of lemonade. Very good PR!
Dinner and a movie
Because I didn’t want to change out of my grungy clothes from today, I told Ed I didn’t want to go to the Dining Room for supper. We were late anyway for our usual time. So I checked out the back deck of the ship at the Panorama Buffet and it was still too hot for my still too warm body, so we sat inside and watched the sun go down over the mountains behind Eliat (which is easily seen directly across the Gulf of Aqaba). In it’s own way, it was pretty and very interesting. No rainbow of colors, but pretty nonetheless.
Up in the Air:
Well this was a strange movie. It had some amusing moments but the whole idea is pretty unsavory. One fellow said as we were leaving the Lounge: I can’t believe I didn’t walk out of this crap. It wasn’t as bad as Sunshine Cleaning but it isn’t worth the effort to film it. Just a heads up.
Athens
We all got a letter in our mailboxes today telling us that Athens is still on. The State Department hasn’t issued any extraordinary precautions about it. So, none of the other exciting ports we had contemplated. Sigh.
Eeeek! Only a week left!
And it will be busy. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and the Sunday brunch they do so well. We have to appear at 9 am for a health check as Ed wanted to do the Chef’s deluxe dinner….again. So that is tomorrow night. Nothing like two tempting meals to bust a good intentioned diet.
Then I’ve got an idea for an entry into the photo contest but I need access to Adobe Photoshop and that’s a stretch. We’ll see if I can get access somewhere to play with it.
We transit the Suez Canal on Monday and that is the luncheon the Captain is giving for those of us on board for whom this is our second (or more) world cruise. Can’t miss that one! And I think it’s also the Egyptian themed night The 12th is Athens and the 13th is our last formal night. We also need to decide on our photographs before then as well. The 14th is Sorrento and then waaayyyy too early on the 15th, we are off to fly home from Rome.