Little Petra not Big Petra

The days are already starting to blur. Paul and I keep asking each other - what day is it? That is the sign of a great trip. Today we hired a driver to take us to the city of Petra which was about a three hour drive South. Our driver was an older gentleman who had a nice little cough and didn’t wear a mask. It’s not uncommon for the police to stop drivers on the road and check their documents, which happened on this route. While stopped we listened as the two started arguing and I kept thinking that his documents must not be in order. Finally, the police let him proceed. The driver then informed us that he just got a 100 dinar fine for not wearing a mask, which is about $140. You would think this would motivate him to put on a mask, but it didn’t. He complained and complained about the fine and having to go to court, yet no mask except when he had to drive near another check point. Sigh……

After checking into our nice hotel in Petra, we walked the town and went to little Petra, which was very nice as a big Petra appetizer. We thought we’d hire a guide which was entertaining in itself and sometimes irritating. He had a habit or grabbing my camera and wanting to take all my photos. Yes, I let him take some of me, but I really should not have let him take the camera so freely.

While walking the town the children loved to engage and say hello – we seemed to be the only tourists in town at the time. They helped us feel very welcomed in Petra and they obviously missed seeing all the tourists in town. COVID has been very rough for all of them.

The highlight of the day was big Petra by candlelight at night. We started walking down the mile long canyon passage to the Al Khazheh (The Treasury ruin) which is lined with luminaries and hundreds of Italian tourists. It was very dark and hard to see the path, so stumbling was a real risk, especially for me. But Paul and I eventually got to the open area of the Treasury where we found hundreds of luminaries in front of the Al-Khazheh. There was live Bedouin music with flute and some traditional instrument (not sure of the name) to help us absorb the moment and get the full impact of the event. It was distracting having other tourists there, and difficult to see and figure out where to sit comfortably, but it was fantastic all the same. I especially liked looking up at the night sky surrounded by tall canyon like rock formations, only getting a small hint of what they must look like. The air was very cold so I wore three layers to include a puffy winter jacket. After about 40 minutes we headed back the same way we came, which was a slow incline up. By now my hips were screaming at me so I broke out two little bottles of whisky for the walk back out. Nice! Great evening with much more to come the following day when we get to see Petra in daylight.

Photos from the city of Petra and another great dinner with fresh pita that I help make.

Little Petra

Petra by night