Jordan – Lucky Number 50?

I have officially confirmed that Egyptian time really does run at a different rate than everywhere else. But before I go on to explain what I mean by that, did I mention I virtually came face to face with a barracuda while snorkeling? I was following a puffer fish and some other fish down below me. A quick glance to the sides and I was going to continue onwards but ended up doing a double take as a meter to my left was the nice long, skinny body of a barracuda with the saw-like teeth glistening in the penetrating sunlight. As far as I knew barracudas wouldn’t attack unless provoked and it did seem to be minding its own business, but knowing my own ineptitude with fins, I immediately pictured myself trying to swim away from it, hitting it with my fin and having it gnaw on my ankles. Thankfully reality wasn’t as bad as my overactive imagination but it sure made for a highlight of that snorkeling excursion.

Now as to Egyptian time. Our plans were to make it from Dahab, Egypt to Petra, Jordan. The trip would have several segments. Firstly, we would have to take a bus from Dahab to Nuweiba at 10:30am (approximately 75km). Secondly, from Nuweiba a fast ferry was to leave at 3:30 and take us the approximate 80km to Aqaba, Jordan. From there a taxi would take us the remaining 120km to Petra. The ferry was to take 1 hour. Looking at those times and distances one would expect us to be in Petra by 7pm at the latest. Well, we arrived around 11:30pm.

The trip started with the original bus being about 40 minutes late. When we arrived in Nuweiba we were informed that the ferry (which cost and insane $80US) would be leaving at 2:30pm. 3:30pm rolled around and the ferry still had not arrived in the port. However, at 4pm we were told that it had arrived and we started going through the 3 or 4 border controls. By 4:30 we were on the ferry ready to leave but apparently the crew must have been wrapping up its siesta. The ferry finally started moving at 6:30pm – don’t even ask why. Next, the journey didn’t take 1 hour, but rather 2 hours. I truly don’t know what distinguished it from the “slow” ferry which according to our guide takes 2.5 hours to reach Aqaba. After all the customs we were ready to catch our taxi at 9:45pm (we managed to lose an hour to the time change). Thankfully the taxi driver was Jordanian and the Egyptian time schedule didn’t apply to him. He informed us that the drive to Petra would take us anywhere between 2 and 2.5 hours but managed to get us to our hotel in 1 hour 45 minutes. We were exhausted but had not done a single thing all day long.

Now on to Petra. Maybe I’m ignorant about the Middle East and its history, but I was until quite recently under the impression that the ruins at Petra are essentially that one temple carved into the cliff and that’s it. The last thing I was expecting was an entire city with hundreds of such tombs and churches. If you want a quick idea of how big the site is keep in mind that we spent nearly 12 hours wandering through it and still did not see everything.

Petra was established around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabateans and was a key trade center. Despite having been inhabited by the Nabateans and later the Romans, it somehow became forgotten by the Western world until in 1812 the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt accidentally stumbled across it after nearly a millennium. (He also accidentally stumbled across Abu Simbel a year later.) The city is primarily cut out of rock – at least the tombs and the monastery, meaning that most of the “buildings” are cut out of one solid piece of mountain. This rose-red city half as old as time is truly one of the must-sees.

We got up bright and early and headed to the site for 7am to beat the major tour groups. The entrance to the site is through a Siq – a canyon like fissure that continues for a kilometer or two (think Antelope Canyon in Arizona but much bigger). At the end of this Siq you emerge right in front of the Treasury (the building featured in Indiana Jones). To our surprise there was almost no one there. We snapped a bunch of photos and continued on along the Façade of Tombs towards the huge 7000 seat theater only to return back to the Treasury half an hour later to snap more photos (different light).

After that it was an up-down-up-down-up-down that went on all day. Another example of my ignorance: I had assumed most of this area would be relatively flat. Well , it isn’t!

After those first initial sights we proceeded on a 45 minute hike up countless stairs to the Holy Place of Sacrifice. (Did I mention that my leg muscles were completely locked up from the hike up Mount Sinai and that by this point I was hating stairs?). From the top the view was stunning with the Royal Tombs directly below us and the entire Petra valley at our feet. From the top it was down again past more tombs (some of which in Renaissance style despite having been built in the 1st century AD).

Back in the main valley we stopped for a short snack, some cold water and commenced yet another 45 minute hike up stairs to the top of another hill with a Crusader fort on it (did I say I hated stairs). Again, fantastic views from up top.

Next, after we had returned to the bottom, it was time to head up to El Deir, or as its referred to in English, the Monestary. This entailed yet another pleasant hike up in excess of 800 steps but it was well worth every single aching muscle. It is truly the most impressive building in Petra and the views when you hike up some more steps (did I say I was really hating stairs by now) were equally breathtaking. Although it was described as the “View of the End of the World” I felt like I had all of Jordan at my feet.

From there back down, then back up to see the Royal Tombs, then back down and then finally out. 11 hours and 30 minutes after having entered Petra, we finally excited and exhausted headed back to our hotel for a desperately needed shower and dinner.

From Petra it was off to Amman where we’re couch surfing with Jeff. Amman is a cleaner, friendlier and less chaotic La Paz. It’s a city of hills (apparently there’s 7 of them), very densely populated creating a vision of endless sea of multi-story apartment buildings.

Today we hired a taxi and first went to visit Jerash, one of the best preserved Roman cities, where we got to experience gladiator fights and a chariot race and then it was off to swim (or rather float) in the Dead Sea. It’s even difficult to lower your legs from a floating position and if you try to swim on your stomach, you first have to flip onto your back before you can set your feet down.

Tomorrow it’s off to Damascus and after that hopefully to Lebanon (luck permitting). With Jordan being my 50th, I hope the luck holds. We only have a single entry visa into Syria, and a side trip into Lebanon would require two entries into Syria. We’ll see how it goes, but our itinerary is most definitely in constant flux.