I think I've been putting off this post in the hope that I could find a way to describe our hours in Petra.... but I just can't! The day, the place, the magnitude of it all.... it really defies words. Hopefully you'll bear with me as I try.
On our second day in Jordan, we woke up in Amman and headed to the airport to rent a car. After orienting ourselves in the tiniest rental car known to woman-kind, we set out on the broad, empty freeway for one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World, the Lost City of Petra. Our expectations were sky-high, as vision of Indiana Jones danced in our heads.
The excitement turned to grogginess as the dry scrubby hills turned to a blinding expanse of desert. But soon rocks turned to foothills, and foothills to a broad plateau before we turned suddenly down into a deep valley. We rolled into town riding our brakes, and pulled into our hotel in the sweltering mid-afternoon heat. We ate a light meal - mixed BBQ! - while we waited for temps to cool from the triple-digits, but ultimately our excitement got the best of us. We'd booked the hotel nearest to the entrance, so we headed out on foot in the late afternoon sun.
Once on the trail, it's a dusty one-mile walk to the first stop: the iconic Treasury building. The first half of the walk holds tantalizing clues of what's in store, with carved stone artifacts dotting the dusty hillsides. Upon reaching a dry river bed, the trail takes a turn through the ancient city gate, and the trail weaves its way through a deep slot canyon. The afternoon sun light up the canyon with colorful light and shadow, and we took in all as the horses and buggies bearing exhausted tourists proceeded at a steady clip-clop from our nearing destination.
Suddenly the canyon narrowed, the walls close enough to touch with each arm, and then... a sliver of the Treasury building. Mysterious, foreign, and yet instantaneously recognizable - it actually took my breath away. The facade is iconic, but the process of "discovering" it yourself, after a long walk on a blistering hot afternoon, was so much more than I expected. With the throng of tourists already limping their way to the exits, it only took me a few minutes to get the shot of my dreams: the one with no tourist in sight!
Nick asked me what the plan was, and I told him the only thing I really wanted to do is get a shot of the Treasury from the top. I'd read on a few blogs about the different ways to get up there. I pulled up screen shots on my phone, and for the next few hours we tried and failed to find a route up the steep canyon walls. We clambered from structure to structure, creeping into and around the ancient stone vaults. Above us loomed enormous carved rock monoliths, unbelievable in their size and intricacy. Our minds ran wild. You could imagine being a part of this ancient city, the hills alive with families and merchants.
With some direction, we took a longer approach and eventually found our way to a very organized set of stairs carved into the rock. we climbed and climbed and climbed, our weary bodies relieved that the canyon shielded us from the rays of the setting sun. We made it to the top of the canyon with about an hour before sunset, and sat all alone at the top of the ancient world. After an afternoon of non-stop action, my camera battery finally quit. We sat on the rugged red rock, and together watched in silence as the sun set on an empty Petra.... as it has every day for over 2,000 years.
It was evening as we clambered down, and little of the dusky light reached the bottom of the canyon. The last tourists in the city, we watched as the local Bedouin men swept the stone walkways clean, and herded the last of the tired donkeys to their stalls.
