Dispatches from Amman: Petra, Aqaba, and the Dead Sea

Day 31

All I can say was that was a weekend.

33 of us students plus a few administrator types (usually cooler than their title might imply) piled into a semi-air conditioned Yarmouk U bus Thrusday afteroon for the ~4 hr. trip south past Amman down to the ancient Nabitean city of Petra. The locals in the small surrounding modern city, and really all Jordanians, are pretty proud that Petra was just voted on of the new 7 wonders of the world in an international electronic poll (yay democracy!) and will stop at nothing to mention it to you every time you drop the P word. We spent that first night relaxing in the swanky Crown Plaza hotel--Amstel never tasted so good--and its terrace pool overlooking the rocky mountain range from which the stone city was carved.

Setting out at 630am the next day sounded like a terrible idea wilst lying peacefully in my cushy hotel bed (our Yarmouk beds are pretty much petrified foam mattresses), but the logic of it all became readily apparent having hiked out of Petra 4 hours later just as the heat of the day was bearing down on the throngs of less fortunate arriving tourists and Jordanians. The approach to the city weaves through a narow canyon pass, a river bed dried long before even the Nabitean people happened upon the site. It provides a kind of surreal difference in scale between you and the high canyon walls, as well as a building anticipation for whether the city lies around the next bend.

The siq, as it were, finally opens up into a canyon, with the magnificent facade of the Nabitean treasury carved back into the rock face dead ahead. The interior chamber o the treasury is actually pretty small (maybe they shunned materialism), but its face is likely the image voters saw when tagging Petra a world wonder. The whole structure is maybe 70/80 ft. tall yet intricately detailed, and honestly very impressive.

The main structures--tombs for the rich, amphitheatres, city hall, etc.--aren't the only buildings carved out of the rock face, however. The cityscape is also dotted with crude homes and a network of stairs that wind up the sides of the canyon to access the mountaintop monastery and sacrificial altar and whatnot. It was quite a workout climbing up to see them (the monastery for example is 850+ steps up) but definitely worth it not only for the architecture but for the fantastic views of the valley below.

Somtimes, we didn't even know where to go or exactly which stairs led to the summits. A good rule of thumb was to just follow the odd Bedouin Arabs here and there selling their handycraft (some of whom actually live in the smaller, simpler Nabitean houses further away from the main city center), or the droppings from the donkeys/camels that locals try to goad Westerners into riding for the climbs up the canyon.

It was a tiring but rewarding trek. My kuffiyeh scarf managed to keep the sun of my neck, but our legs were pretty dogged by noon when we headed back for more four-star hotel pampering and ice cream. Oh the life of a foreign tourist ain't easy in Jordan...

But alas, there was more relaxing to be done at the Red Sea resort city of Aqaba, at the Southern tip of Jordan. Clearly designed to be as tourist friendly as possible, the clothing conventions and levels of spoken English are a clear departure from sleepy insular Irbid. What's more we were shacked up at the swanky MovenPick (Swiss chain), which had three pools, three restaurants, four bars, and most importantly, a strip of well manicured beachfront. It's clear take-away selling point though was a massive Western European style brunch. It was a welcome departure from the standard fare, and breakfast food happens to be among my favorite eats anyway. I ate six pastries with my meal for example.

The Red Sea is on the saltier side and not crystal clear by any means, but let me assure you it felt amazing after walking around in the stuffy humid coastal weather. A lot of laying around on beach chairs was also done. Being 22 going on 40, I brought one of the Jordanian national papers to read (picture below about sums up my serenity in the moment...).

The 2-day trip was capped off with a stop at the Dead Sea at sunset en route back to Irbid. It was perfect timing and the sky was a nice soft pink. Didn't get to dip into the water because of time constraints but we did check out the pillar of rock that Lot's wife is said to have been transformed into. Ok, so Jordan is just East of the Holy Land, but so many Biblical references on our weekend outings here is enough to guilt trip you about so many inattentive Sunday mornings throughout childhood. Still, a fittingly-picturesque ending to the weekend.