Day 6 of a 4 Day Jordan Visit

Holiday Inn Resort

Dead Sea, Jordan

May 6, 2010

Flexibility has been a constant theme of this journey, but now that we're on day 6 of our planned 4 day visit to Jordan I'm glad we have the ability to change our plans at the last minute. Our new friends the Mowafis convinced us that rushing through Jordan made no sense and we readily agreed to stay a couple more days!

PETRA
Our trip to Petra was amazing. We'd scheduled a single day (recommend two) so I knew we'd need to do some serious forced marching. We checked into the Marriott dropped our bags and headed to the entrance down in the valley below. A short horse ride from the ticket booth brought us to the famous Siq (narrow canyon) that leads to the Treasury. The treasury is the facade everyone knows from Petra (and the Indiana Jones movie). They've recently discovered another floor below the currently exposed Treasury and they now estimate that they've excavated only about thirty percent of the Nabatean city. Good reason to come back in another few years.

We walked the 6 km down the valley and although the day was getting late I decided to hire donkeys to take the family up the mountain to see the "Monastery". It was well worth it, but we knew we had to hustle so we basically ran down the eight hundred steps carved into the mountain so we could have a chance of seeing the sunset from above the valley. Thankfully the donkeys were at the bottom waiting for us and we happily mounted our trusted steeds for the return gallop (walk for Jackie and Amelia) back through the city to the Treasury. Ben was particularly thrilled by the ride on the galloping donkey and wants to get one when we get home.
I guess there is a donkey union and they have an agreement not to cut into the horse's turf, so we had to dismount at the Treasury and walk up the valley from there. The donkeys saved the day. If it were not for them, we'd probably still be in Petra slowly making our way back from the Monastery.

WADI RUM
I lived in Amman, Jordon when I was around 5 and 6. My brothers always speak so fondly of their time in Wadi Rum so I knew we wanted to spend some time in this desert reserve in southern Jordan. Thanks to Amer and Lisa we found a private guide that drove us around the wadi and delivered us to a Bedouin camp where we spent a glorious night under the stars. The landscape in Wadi Rum is incredible, we climbed up to Lawrence of Arabia spring, played around on huge sand dunes, climbed up to massive sandstone arches and had tea with Bedouins in various well placed camps.

Our night under the stars was just as I had hoped. The majesty of a desert sunset is only matched by the infinite glow of the heavens that follows. We were lucky to have a late moon rise and no clouds so the universe opened up unimpeded by city lights.

After a fine dinner of rice and marinated chicken we danced and made new friends around a camp fire that was right in the middle of the tent communal tent. Later we bedded down in traditional rectangular Bedouin tents made of black goat's wool. We were happy to have our travel sleeping bags AND the provided blankets to ward off the cold desert air.

DEAD SEA
While it is almost the size of Lake Champlain, this land locked Sea almost certainly gets its name from its high salt content. It is truly bizarre to be so buoyant. We floated, hands and feet out of the water and looked across the sea towards Israel. We're staying at the new Holiday Inn resort on the northern shore of the Sea and while its not as rustic as it might have been 40 years ago, I certainly appreciate the amenities that come along with staying in a swank new resort like this.

If you're interested in visiting the Dead Sea come soon. The lake is drying up from excessive use of water from the Jordan river.

--Paul