Jordan was our favorite place on this trip so far and so I’m disappointed that I may not do this part of our trip justice since I’m writing this post over 3 months (and 5 countries) later. After 3 months of crappy internet in Thailand and Laos, we finally have good enough wifi to post some photos.
We had originally planned on traveling through Jordan with a driver and guide but since our funds were low, we opted to do it on our own. After a bit of a saga trying to pick up our rental car, we headed out of Amman on our great Jordan adventure.
There are two main route options to go from Amman to Wadi Musa (the town near Petra); the Desert Highway is the more modern and quicker route and the King’s Highway is the more scenic route. We weren’t sure which route we would take until we picked up our car. There was a French couple at the rental agency who seemed quite shaken up by their driving experience through Jordan. They said they were pulled over multiple times by police on the Desert HIghway demanding they pay fines (for what, they were not sure) in cash on the spot. We decided we would stick to the quieter more scenic King’s HIghway.
Our first stop along our drive was to Kerak castle, one of the largest and most important Crusader castles in the region. We enjoyed exploring the maze of arched hallways. I didn’t realize until later that this was the site of a terrorist attack 3 years ago. 14 people were killed; mostly Jordanian security and locals but also a Canadian tourist.
We had been warned that we should avoid driving after dark so we only had a couple of short stops along the way after Kerak before reaching Wadi Musa at about 5pm, just in time for sunset.
We dropped off our bags and went out scouting a restaurant. There were lots of interesting sites along our walk.
After a very difficult day with the kids, we were less than happy to find out that none of the restaurants in town serve alcohol (except for one or two right by the Petra visitor center, but much too far for us to get to). After our reconnaissance mission, we opted to eat at our hotel’s restaurant. It was fabulous. Mostly traditional Jordanian cuisine, it was a buffet with three types of meat/fish, rice, vegetables,salad and some traditional deserts. They only charged 10JD (14USD) each for Brett and I and the kids ate free. Thankfully everyone liked it.
We went to bed early and got up at 6am. At least I got up at 6am. Everyone else was still sleeping but I was too excited. Finally by 6:45 I couldn’t wait any longer and woke Brett up. Despite the early rise, we didn’t manage to get to Petra until 10am. For the first time on this trip, we decided to hire a guide. We both wanted to come here for so long and we didn’t have long here so we wanted to make sure we got the most out of it. We also thought it would be more interesting for the kids to have a guide explaining the history to us. We hired the guide at the visitor center. His name was Ahmad. He spoke English very well and was very proud of his culture and all that he would show us in Petra.
Shortly before we parted with Ahmad, he sang us a song in Arabic. He then described the story behind the song. It was about an old woman who refused to leave her cave when the Bedouin in Petra were relocated in the 1980s. Eventually the crown prince of Jordan came to visit and entered her home. He rudely explained to her that she absolutely had to leave and that the government had paid lots of money for her and her people to be relocated. As a dutiful host, she went away and brought him back a coffee. After he finished his coffee, she came out with a knife and told him to stab her through her heart or slit her neck. She would rather die with dignity in her ancestral home rather than living with no hope of dignity anymore. The crown prince was so moved by her that he told her she could stay and live there in her home for as long as she wants. He even arranged for a government pension to be paid to her.
Ahmad also spoke to us about his perspective on the divisiveness in the world. His message was basically this: he hoped that having more tourists come to experience his culture would help them realize that people are people. The negativity focused on the Arab world in the western media relates only to a small portion of the billions of muslims in the world. People everywhere are basically the same – they love their families, want to work to support their families, and are busy with the day-to-day of life. There is too much division between muslims and non-muslims, black and white, etc. We are all the same. It was such a lovely way to end the tour. He articulated exactly how we feel and one of our main motivations for exploring the world with our children.
After Ahmad’s tour was over, we continued on the trail to visit the Monastery. If I remember correctly it was about a trail of about 800 stairs up to the Monastery. The views along the way were stunning.
After the monastery, there were signs to take other trails. Each one billed itself as the path to the ‘greatest view in the world’. We couldn’t resist and followed one of the trails up higher in the hills. It did not disappoint.
On the way back down we stopped at a Bedouin stall to buy a small carpet. We were offered tea by the Bedouin man we purchased the carpet from. We had been told earlier by our guide that if we are offered tea in Jordan, we should accept or it will be seen as a sign of disrespect. I still could not bring myself to drink the tea. Brett very dutifully accepted. This was a strategic mistake and Brett’s stomach issues that ensued changed the course of the next few days of travel. He later told me that the man prepared the tea using water that he swished around in a dirty dog bowl (you can see it in the photo below).
Since we ended up following more trails than we planned, we were in a race against the clock to make it back to the entrance before the sun went down. One of the benefits of staying so late was that we were able to enjoy an almost deserted Petra on our way out.
Petra was an amazing experience for us. It was the place I most wanted to visit in the world and somehow despite the high expectations, it still managed to overwhelm me. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to not only learn about the history of the Nabataean people that built this amazing place but also about the current Jordanian culture through Ahmad and his stories. So much more happened here than I can write in this blog. There were highs and lows, beauty and sadness, and an incredible amount of individual moments that I will never forgot. We would go back in a heartbeat and highly recommend it to everyone.
