PETRA

And now I am on the road. Jane and I shared a ride with Minh, a friend from school, through the desert, to southern Jordan, with the goal of visiting Petra.

About half-way into our three-hour drive, we pulled over to buy some water, and saw several dozen people who were returning from the Haaj - their trip to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Ramadan is approaching, at the end of September, and thousands of people will come from all over the world, completing one of the seven pillars of Islam - to make a pilgrimmage to Mecca before they die.

Petra is an ancient city, carved into the clustered cliffs of southern Jordan, dating back to 7000 B.C. The exterior of the cliffs had rooms carved into them, like little caves, while the interior of the cliffs, which create a series of pathways and arches, features tombs, columned streets, monaesteries, treasury buildings, and spaces used by the hundreds of ancient inhabitants (FYI, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was filmed in Petra).

The most breathaking building was The Treasury, which stood several stories high (and several stories below the earth, still in excavation), carved in the most detailed Hellenic style, with columns, and (all of those other Greek architectural features that I've forgotten). It is unbelievable to see this, knowing that it was built, from relatively crude tools, nearly 9000 years ago. The most spectacular aspect was the color of the stone, which ranged from white, to pink, to rose, to deep red. Petra is referred to as the "Rose City."

Petra just goes on and on. At one point, Jane, suffering from jetlag, turned back, and Minh and I committed ourselves to hiking the 5+ miles to the monaestary ... a feat that was much more challenging than we expected. For hours, we climbed, shimmied and hiked up rocks and steps, arriving at the most spectacular view overlooking Jordan and Palestine, over the desert, as far as the eye could see. Being rather ambitious in our adventure, we hadn't fully considered how much time it would really take us to get to this summit... the sun was starting to set, and light was dwindling, with miles still in front of us...

So what does one do in such a situation? You ask for a camel ride of course. The remaining miles were spent up high in a camel saddle, tied to a Bedouin, who wound our way through the dark caves and stone pathways, singing strange, beautiful songs Arabic the entire way...

Today I am driving to Wadi Rum, further south, just north of the Saudi border, to explore the desert and sleep in a Bedouin camp.

I hope you're well...