Petra!

The weekends here are different, they are Fridays on Saturdays. The normal work week is from Sunday-Thursday. Our school, Whitman Academy, does things a little differently. We have school from Monday-Thursday and on Saturdays. Giving the kids Fridays and Sundays off. Fridays because that's when everything is closed here (it's like a Sunday in the States), and Sunday because most of the students are children of M's and they go to church with their parents on Sunday mornings.

All that to say that we have a split weekend. So, Whitman kindly gives all the staff and students atleast one 3-day weekend a month. They call it a "family weekend," it gives families and M's here a long weekend to spend time together or to go sight-seeing.... which is exactly what we did this past weekend.... we went to Petra!

Petra is incredible! Where Petra sits, in a valley between two jagged peaks, there's only one way in and out, and that is through the modern town of Wadi Musa (wadi means valley, and Musa means Moses). The 1st significant mention of Petra is in the Old Testament, as the Israelistes approached Edom after their 40 years in the desert. People say that is was in the hills just above Petra that God allowed Moses to produce water for the Israelites from a rock. The spring that gushed out of the rock is today named Ain Musa (Spring of Moses).

The only way into the heart of Petra is through the Siq gorge. The mountains race up toward the sky on both sides of you in this gorge. When you think the gorge can't go on any longer, there comes a dark, narrow strip, showing through it a strip of extraordinary architecture. As you step out through the narrow opening you see one of the most dramatic and breathtaking visions in the whole of Jordan, the Treasury. The Treasury is also famous for being in the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. While Brittany and I were walking up to the gorge's narrow opening to the Treasury we were listening to her ipod that had the Indiana Jones soundtrack on it... it made the whole experience fun and memorable to listen to that as we walked up to the Treasury. Once out in the open in front of it we were surrounded by tourists and admiring the scenery and men selling rides on their camels. What strikes you first is how well preserved it is; it's been carved deep into the rockface and hidden in a high-walled ellipse of a valley, it has been protected from wind and rain since day one.

After taking in the scenery around the Treasury for a while we start the walk through the rest of Petra. Everywhere you look there are carvings in the rocks, and homes and tombs at every turn. The girls and I decided to take on the big task of walking to the Monastery. Petra's most awe-inspiring monument is also one of the most taxing to reach. It is almost an hours climb up a mountain to get to this great sight. As hard as this sounds, there are well-trodden steps the whole way as well as plenty of places to rest, catch your breath and drink your bottle of water. You can take a donkey ride up to the top of the mountain to see it, but we decided to brave it and take it by foot. It was tough, but well worth-it! On one of the many rests and stope we took up there we were approached by a young bedouin girl. She had a pen and paper with her and wanted to draw pictures of us, it was precious. Finally, we reached the Monastery, it was absolutely fascinating! At first the Monastery looks much like the Treasury but it's much less ornate. The doorway alone though is taller than a house.

After the Monastery we decided to hike a little further and go to the view point at the very top of the mountain. The view up there was fascinating as well...us 4 girls were tired though and only spent a little while up there, then hiked back down the mountain. On the way back through all of Petra I was able to ride a camel for the first time! After turning down several camel ride offers for being too expensive, I haggled with one camel owner and got a camel ride for only 5 JD, it was so exciting! The owner made my camel run for a bit...that was a lot of fun..and bumpy! Those suckers are so tall, if you fall off of one of those then you will definitely get hurt.

At the end of the day the girls and I were sooooo sore!...and ready to get some grub! The Joneses and us girls went out for pizza and icecream, and then walked around town for a bit and took in some of the souvenir shops before heading to our hotel and resting after a day of hard and exhilirating sight-seeing.