Wednesday, November 08, 2006
2-3 November 2006 Petra, Oh my...
The walk down the Suk to accesst he ancient valley city of Petra will stay with me as one of the 10 great experiences of my life. I don't know what the other 9 are right now but even the city itself did not strike my soul as that canyon gorge did. I walked the canyon 4 times - 2 down and 2 back - 4 different times of the day and every time was in a different light and very special. The narrow Chasm winds down about 1km before opeing up in front of The Treasury. It's sides have been huen by wind and water over centuries, towering at least 10 stories above me. In some places the path is just 2m wide, at others it opens out to about 5m. The rock colours constanly change and are almost impossible to capture on camera. The colours are those of the desert, polished and reflecting the sun. It struck me that although the walls could be in shade, or even the day quite cold, the rock still radiated warmth.
On Thursday afternoon the group hired a guide (Harvi) and spent a few hours with him getting a perspective, some history and a plan together for exploring alone the next day. They say it takes a week to explore the city properly, but I think we did well to spend 1 1/2 days. Bythe end of Friday I was knackered. I reckon I walked about 18km over the two days, exploring all sorts of excavations, dwellings, outlooks and gullies. The two best preserved facades (there is very little actually behind them in the mountain itself - no deeper than about 5m) are The Treasury at the beginning and The Monastary at the end - about 3km and a steep climb apart. There are all sorts of less preserved or more weathered tombs, homes, buildings, etc from various periods to explore. The location has been important throughout history. An early Christian church has been found with beautiful mosaic floors; there is a Roman/Greek 'town hall'; a crusaider castle ruin; etc. The Bedouin lived in the caves and ruins until very recently. The Jordanian Government built them a community a few km away in the early 1990's and no-one is allowed to love in the city now. The Bedouin come every day to trade and run businesses in the city for tourists.
We all met different and very interesting Bedouin people as we explored and collected tales that were shared over dinner. There was a young man wit ha strong Kiwi accent selling his mums autobiography "Married to a Bedouin". As a young Kiwi she visited Petra in 1976, met and fell in love with her Bedouin husband and lived in the caves of Petra with him, raising 3 children. He died in 2002 and so she wrote a book of their lives together. You may be able to get the book in Oz if you are interested.
I also met some great young kids and teenagers. All working in their family businesses either selling trinkets or donkey rides. Being Friday (the Muslim Sabbath) there were lots of kids. Two young ladies asked me to join them for Bedouim tea in their trinket stand. We shared tea and some fresh nuts I was carrying. They were both 18 - friends - each from big families helping keep food on the table. They said they often only took home JD5 for a days selling (about AUD10) but they said it was more important to be happy in your soul than to make a lot of money.
One old guy guided me up to the crusaider castle and made sure I got the right path down. Great views off the top of Petra and the surrounding countryside. And when I was wandering between two sites across some open scrubby country, a young girl of about 9 called out across a deep gully and with signs indicated a better path for me to cross the gully and guided me across and out. I wish I had thought to take her picture - she was a very cute kid and very kind, in a multicoloured long shift with a thick black curly plait down her back (reminded me of Joseph and his technicolour dream coat). All these people just wanted to share the company of other people. A thoroughly enjoyable day.
The walk down the Suk to accesst he ancient valley city of Petra will stay with me as one of the 10 great experiences of my life. I don't know what the other 9 are right now but even the city itself did not strike my soul as that canyon gorge did. I walked the canyon 4 times - 2 down and 2 back - 4 different times of the day and every time was in a different light and very special. The narrow Chasm winds down about 1km before opeing up in front of The Treasury. It's sides have been huen by wind and water over centuries, towering at least 10 stories above me. In some places the path is just 2m wide, at others it opens out to about 5m. The rock colours constanly change and are almost impossible to capture on camera. The colours are those of the desert, polished and reflecting the sun. It struck me that although the walls could be in shade, or even the day quite cold, the rock still radiated warmth.
On Thursday afternoon the group hired a guide (Harvi) and spent a few hours with him getting a perspective, some history and a plan together for exploring alone the next day. They say it takes a week to explore the city properly, but I think we did well to spend 1 1/2 days. Bythe end of Friday I was knackered. I reckon I walked about 18km over the two days, exploring all sorts of excavations, dwellings, outlooks and gullies. The two best preserved facades (there is very little actually behind them in the mountain itself - no deeper than about 5m) are The Treasury at the beginning and The Monastary at the end - about 3km and a steep climb apart. There are all sorts of less preserved or more weathered tombs, homes, buildings, etc from various periods to explore. The location has been important throughout history. An early Christian church has been found with beautiful mosaic floors; there is a Roman/Greek 'town hall'; a crusaider castle ruin; etc. The Bedouin lived in the caves and ruins until very recently. The Jordanian Government built them a community a few km away in the early 1990's and no-one is allowed to love in the city now. The Bedouin come every day to trade and run businesses in the city for tourists.
We all met different and very interesting Bedouin people as we explored and collected tales that were shared over dinner. There was a young man wit ha strong Kiwi accent selling his mums autobiography "Married to a Bedouin". As a young Kiwi she visited Petra in 1976, met and fell in love with her Bedouin husband and lived in the caves of Petra with him, raising 3 children. He died in 2002 and so she wrote a book of their lives together. You may be able to get the book in Oz if you are interested.
I also met some great young kids and teenagers. All working in their family businesses either selling trinkets or donkey rides. Being Friday (the Muslim Sabbath) there were lots of kids. Two young ladies asked me to join them for Bedouim tea in their trinket stand. We shared tea and some fresh nuts I was carrying. They were both 18 - friends - each from big families helping keep food on the table. They said they often only took home JD5 for a days selling (about AUD10) but they said it was more important to be happy in your soul than to make a lot of money.
One old guy guided me up to the crusaider castle and made sure I got the right path down. Great views off the top of Petra and the surrounding countryside. And when I was wandering between two sites across some open scrubby country, a young girl of about 9 called out across a deep gully and with signs indicated a better path for me to cross the gully and guided me across and out. I wish I had thought to take her picture - she was a very cute kid and very kind, in a multicoloured long shift with a thick black curly plait down her back (reminded me of Joseph and his technicolour dream coat). All these people just wanted to share the company of other people. A thoroughly enjoyable day.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 12:51 AM 
