Jordan - Petra, Rainbow Sand

After visiting Egypt I decided to head to Jordan to see Petra. I went from the Sinai to Eilat and then crossed the border into Jordan in May 2003. Given that the U.S. had recently started bombing Iraq, tensions were high in the Middle East. I do not recall anyone else crossing the border from Israel to Jordan. It was very quiet, as I am sure you can imagine.

Once I got across the border, I exchanged money and hopped on the bus to Petra. The bus ride was about 2 hours. As we approached Petra all I could see out the window of the bus were mountains of stone. There did not seem to be anything of interest there.

I got off the bus and went looking for a hotel for the night. I settled in. I remember having a conversation with the hotel owner. He mentioned that business was slow. He also complained that the Israelis did not help because they always took an early bus in, viewed Petra, and crossed the border back into Israel on the same day. I just listened. I did not want to ruffle any feathers.

First thing in the morning I headed right to the entrance to begin my viewing of Petra, the lost city of stone. I felt like an ant as I walked the first half mile through the narrow gorge, which has walls approximately 200 feet high. Because of the Iraq war the place was pretty deserted. It was very peaceful. I was fortunate to have this place mostly to myself. At most I saw 50 people there the entire day. Imagine going to your local zoo and only running into 50 people all day. Usually there are well over a thousand people that come through there on any given day.

What looked like big mountains of stone from the bus window was completely different from the other side. Built into the stone was one building after the next building. Based on my view from the bus, I can completely understand how this city could have been lost.

Not only is the existence of the buildings surprising, but the multicolor stones are a sight to be seen. As you get closer you can see the various colors in the stone. It goes from beige to pink to purple and various colors in between. This was not just one building but all the buildings there were made up of multicolor sandstone.

While I was walking up the many steps around the city, I came across a little boy and his donkey. The boy was trying to get his donkey to walk up the steps. The donkey would not move. The boy was pulling with all of his weight. At one point the boy started crying.

Probably the most famous building in Petra is the treasury. It became well known after appearing in one of the Indiana Jones movies. Since I have never seen an Indiana Jones movie, I did not know this until I visited and was told that the treasury was especially famous. In order to take the picture to the right, I had to hike up to the top of the gorge. I started to get nervous because I wasn't sure I could find my way down. I had been walking on top for a while and I got turned around. Remember, the city was basically deserted. Fortunately a small group of American men appeared. They were smart enough to go up top with a guide. I attached myself to their group and we climbed down together.

Since the amazing colored sandstone is what awed me about Petra, I bought a bottle full of colored sandstone before I left. I actually watched the man make bottles similar to the one I bought (pictured on the left). This man was very talented. I boxed my bottle of sand up and shipped it from Israel. It went via boat to the United States. About 4 months later my package arrived at my mother's home. When I returned to the United States I was pleasantly surprised to find that the sand did not get mixed up during its long journey across the ocean.