Located in the Middle East and bordering Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, Jordan
is about the size of the US state of Indiana.
Jordan is known for its political stability, an excellent healthcare system, and a strong
focus on education.
When researching Jordan, we stumbled across an article written by National Geographic
about Adventure Jordan, a local company known for its route along Bedouin trails to Petra.
We were intrigued.
Our itinerary started in Amman, the capital.
We traveled south to the Dead Sea.
At 1,388 feet or 423 meters below sea level, the shore of the Dead Sea has the lowest land
elevation on earth.
We went swimming here to see firsthand the effect of the high salt content.
No life preserver needed here.
We left early the next morning to begin the four-day trek to Petra.
We hiked with our guy, Yaman, along ridges and down deep canyons.
The ancient Bedouin trails that we followed became narrow and faint.
At night, we camped near a spring.
As we walked, Yaman provided us with background of the area.
We headed out ancient buildings and other artifacts dating back to the Edomite period.
The continual elevation gain and loss made it some of the most difficult trekking of
our entire journey, but we found that the beauty of the area, combined with the remote
feeling, more than compensated for it.
We saw no other people during these two days as we traversed these mountains.
After three days of trekking, we reached Little Petra.
This area is believed to have been an ancient suburb of Petra, accommodating caravans and
route 2 nearby city.
We found buildings here carved into sandstone, similar to Petra, which likely functioned as
restaurants and hotels.
One of the buildings, the Painted Biclinium, contains some painted fresco remains dated
from the 1st century AD.
After our excursion to Little Petra, we were all the more excited about our visit to Petra
the next day.
Most people entered Petra from the east, but we took a route along the mountains that marked
the western boundary of Petra.
In the process, we passed the remains of a Neolithic village dating back to 6000 BC.
That's 8,000 years old.
We then continued to gain elevation as we got closer to our goal.
Our jaws dropped when we first gazed upon the rock façade of the monastery.
This is the largest building in Petra, at 167 feet or 51 meters tall, and 154 feet or
47 meters wide.
Dating back as far as the 4th century BC, Petra remained unknown to the western world
until 1812.
Within the city, the Nabataean people carved buildings into the sheer rock face.
More than 500 building façades still survive today, with many of them carved as tombs.
Most buildings date from between 200 BC and 200 AD.
The treasury is the structure that most people see first when they enter the site from the
main east entrance.
Because we hiked in from the west, we reached the treasury last in the late afternoon after
the crowds had left.
Viewing the 130 foot, 39.5 meter high façade in the late afternoon light was an amazing
experience.
After a morning hike and some shopping, we left Petra by car the next morning.
We drove about 90 minutes south to the desert of Wadi Rum, one of the largest valleys in
Jordan.
Wadi Rum is comprised of a series of mountain formations and canyons.
It is a protected area that is sparsely populated with Bedouin tribes.
The 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed on location here.
At the visitor's center, we transferred to a waiting pickup truck which drove us 30 minutes
on twisting sand tracks deep into the protected area.
We stopped at a Bedouin camp that night and enjoyed a traditional campfire meal.
We were alone with our guide in this remote camp.
We spent the next day exploring Wadi Rum in three different ways.
First, we took an early morning camel ride for about an hour.
As we moved slowly along, we could appreciate the vastness of this desert as well as the
petroglyphs that dotted the canyon walls.
Our camels were meant by a pickup truck and we continued on a drive through the most scenic
portions of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Here, great vistas opened up and we saw places where the sand changed from white to red.
Finally, we took a scenic one hour hike through a canyon before eating lunch at a viewpoint
and then returning back to camp.
Along the way, we saw very few people and came away with a feeling of the remoteness of this
place.
We felt privileged to experience both Petra and Wadi Rum on our journey and learn a little
bit more about them both.
