HTEWF, k.

From Petra we headed out to the Wadi Rum. We made it there by 4:00 pm and the temperature was 39 degrees celsius. Consequently, Maha and Charles decided to have us wait an hour in the shade of the Wadi Rum Cafe so the heat would lessen to a tolerable level. The top picture is of a natural flie repellant we observed at the cafe. According to Maha, flies are attracted to the bag of water because it's shiney. However, when they get closer they see their reflection magnified and it terrifies them so much that they flee. Bedoines also use shiney metal platters to get the same affect. At 5:00 pm, 5 different jeeps arrived, each with cushioned benches in the back to seat 4-8 people. We loaded up. The 5 musketeers (Peter, Dave, John, Ben, and Brenden), plus Jafar (our tourist policeman who acted as a sort of body-guard/tour-guide assistant), Sarah (Maha's teenage daughter), and Solomie (Sarah's friend) got the fastest jeep (darn them). I went with Anne-Marie, Sharon, Diana, Rahji, Issa, Sonia, Skye, and Danielle. We think our driver didn't know where he was going because any time we started to get ahead he would suddenly slow down and start following the first jeep again, despite our horribly pronounced encouragements of "Asrah, asrah, asrah!" (arabic: "Ah-seh-rah": faster!). The middle photo is of Anne-Marie and Sharon in our jeep. The bottom photo shows Maha walking between jeeps to check out the status on a mechanical problem with one of the jeeps in our entourage.

HTEWF, j.

We walked from the grey-green area (which was actually our 5 star Petra Plaza hotel) on the right through the rough craggy looking stuff, up into the blackish coloured mountains. Anyways, Maha got us out of the bus to show us from above how far we'd traveled that morning. It was a sweet view- sweeter still to know that we'd traveled 20 miles.

HTEWF, i.

Lunch was a hot dog like no other I've ever tasted, from the Indiana Jones snack shop- yummy. It was a crusty bread sub-bun filled with mayo, tomato, cucumber, and spicy sausage. I sprinted back to the hotel for a 5 minute shower- just short enough that I could let the keyless Lauren into our room as soon as I got out. I had a mini-crisis before we left because I couldn't find my back-pack filled with diabetic supplies and desert stuff after searching the bus 3 times and the luggage compartment twice (yes, I even crawled through the luggage beneath the bus like so many of us always dreamed we could when we were young). I really wish people would stop and think before asking an upset person questions like, "Are you sure you didn't take it with you?" or "Where did you leave it?" Um, yes, I think I would have noticed if I had taken a 20 pound bag with me into the burning desert seik. If it was in the place where I left it, why would I still be looking for it? Apparently it was buried beneath several other bags on the bus luggage rack and I felt sheepish for my irritation towards all the people who were trying to be helpful by asking fairly logical questions. Top photo: I'm standing between two of many very large photos of Kings Hussein Sr. and Jr. Bottom photo: The Indiana Jones snack shop, where we stopped for lunch. Yes Melanie, I know it's inconcievable to you that I was taking 5 minute showers while I was there but it's much easier to be brief when the water is shockingly ice cold and there's almost none of it...anywhere.

HTEWF, h.

It was a very long and hot 2 hour walk back past the Treasury and out to the beginning of the seik. There, however, we found some very willing horse drivers who procured 3 horses for us to ride up to the gate, semi-Indiana Jones style. I felt a slight moment of regret that my floppy hat wasn't with me to enhance the Indiana Jonesness but it would have fallen off any way. And I wouldn't have seen stuff as well. It felt good to ride again, I suppose. I just wish I could have gone for a gallop, or even a lope. Turaq said his horse was an Arabian, so I'll bet he could have made the whole stretch in 2 minutes (the horse, not his driver Turaq). Wind blow over me. We had to fight, but eventually everyone but Skye was able to barter down to the 2 JD for the ride as Maha instructed. Skye evidently "didn't know" she wasn't allowed to kick her horse into a full out gallop and leave her aged driver in the dust behind her.

HTEWF, g.

We hiked down from the monastery together, trying to hurry both because Skye and Danielle needed a toilet (or 2) and because we had to have our luggage out of the Petra Plaza by 1:30 pm. We became very practised at saying, "No thank you" to camel and donkey drivers we encountered and we took lots of photos that won't come anywhere near capturing our feelings of awe and inspiration at the enormity of the carving projects and the rocks they're cut into.

HTEWF, f.

Top: "Way-hey, away she goes, donkey riding, donkey riding. Way-hey, away Lauren goes, riding on a donkey." Bottom: you guessed it; the Monastery. After waving good-bye and thanks to our donkeys and drivers, we hiked another 15 minutes up more steps before we reached the abandoned monastery. We found Racheal and Lauren and Lewis before we hiked so they came too. Lewis helped several of the girls up onto the Monastery foundation, which stood as high as my neck. My shoes are remarkable so I climbed up unaided. Once up, we took a few group photos of victory, then went into a corner so another tourist could get some uninhibited photos. We sang Amazing Grace together. So peaceful. Racheal is so good at alto harmony. Skye is so sweet at soprano. Danielle, Lauren, and I all fell in between. When we stepped out afterwards, we were surprised to find a crowd listening below. They were equally surprised to see us: "I thought you guys were a bunch of monks!" exclaimed one woman, eyes wide. Um, thanks.

HTEWF, e.

From the bottom of the steps we hired three bedoine donkey owners to take us up the monastery steps for 5 JD each. Not such a good deal according to Maha but that's what happens when you're a foreign female without an intimidating male escort. Whatever. So worth it. The guides promised it'd take 20 minutes on donkeys (as opposed to an hour on foot). It took 45, so I don't even want to know how long it would've taken on foot. I'm not sure which I was more amazed by: the poor donkeys who carry passengers 1/2 their weight or greater up 260 steps all day or their crazy masters who run up the steps beside them without water, making commands that sound remarkably similar to growling to their beasts and reassurances smoother than a car salesman's hair to the riders who feel concerned about falling off various overcrowded cliffs. Donkey riding is actually very similar to horseback riding, except donkeys are less responsive and shorter. My donkey's name was Jack. His owner's name was Abraham. Abraham told me he'd been working at this job since he was 15 (10 years ago). When we stopped 1/2 way up to wait for Skye on Jalzira, Abraham told me that he sleeps on a mat there during the night. I cannot imagine such a hot, thirsty, hard life. He seems to enjoy it. The closest rider in the photo is Abraham. The darkly dressed guy behind him started off as Skye's guide, but was replaced half-way up by an 8 year old boy. The man beside Abraham was Danielle's guide and she's convinced he was psychotic: he kept commanding her donkey to get ahead of all the others climbing the stairs, until at one point she was leaning over the edge of a cliff and her harrassed donkey started to slip and nearly fell over. I told you the East was fun.

HTEWF, d.

Third, Skye and I touched hand to hand while riding camels around the Treasury area. Then Maha had to rescue us from out touristicness by telling us the acceptable going rates for camel, donkey, and horse rides around Petra. So next, Danielle and Skye rode one camel and I rode another from the Treasury to the steps leading up to the Monastery for 10 denarii total (the highest acceptable price, according to Maha). So much fun. Camel riding was surprisingly less difficult than I expected. Most of the time I didn't need my hands so I'd just take pictures. Getting up and down is really the most thrilling part. I could swear camels have at least three knees per leg, those crazy things.

HTEWF, c.

Second, the Nabateans became genius sculpters and water engineers. In the bottom photo, note the cuts into the rock. Petra is in the middle of a very hot desert- it was 45 degrees celcius while we were there: a cold summer for them. Oddly, the Nabateans became uber rich there because of their water stores. They had enough water to regularly hydrate multiple 1000 camel caravans trying to get to any of the major cities along the Mediterranean or in Persia. How was this miracle accomplished without any fresh-water springs? Well, Petra has a short rainy season. During that rainy season, 100s of 1000s of gallons of rainwater flood the seik. The Nabateans slightly altered the natural ravines and made giant water reservoirs out of them, with holding capacities great enough to water themselves and the wealthy merchants' caravans who paid large royalties for the Nabateans' hospitality during the very long dry season. The photo on the top should look familiar to anyone who's ever watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That there is called The Treasury. It's actually an elaborate tomb.

HTEWF, b.

July 26, 2006 A magical day. Starting at 8:00 am, our tour guide Maha (arabic: 'gazelle') led us into Petra. I spent our time there with Danielle and Skye. Sooo FUN! First, the Seik cavern is such sweet twisted carved rock.

How the East Was Fun

In case you didn't catch it, the title is a play on Mary Kate and Ashley Olson's incredibly cheesy (albeit slightly less horrible than the rest) movie, How the West Was Fun. Yesterday I did my very first "official" presentation of my trip to my mom's church ladies group. I don't think I presented my thoughts very clearly. Sigh. Technology is the devil. The messed-up powerpoint and residual technological errors had me rather flustered (Note: those of you who have actually seen me present stuff before, REJOICE with me, for I was neither visibly shaking, nor loosing my ability to breathe, nor feeling as if I was about to go into cardiac arrest at any moment). Anyways, I decided afterwards that there are at least two blog posts about my Israel trip that I want to write: one called How the East Was Fun, to focus on the funnest day of my life, and one called Why the Palestinians Are Mad to concisely illustrate the reasons behind my pro-Palestinian stance. I can't find my c-d with the Palestinian-Israeli political maps to write the more serious of the two posts, so instead I'm going to celebrate the success of the Post-Israel party I cohosted with Michelle tonight by writing about happier times than school papers and midterms. Cheers. The picture you see above is me and Skye standing in front of one of the many idols carved into the Seike walls leading into the ancient crown city of the Nabateans, Petra (now a tourist attraction in Jordan).