Trip Number 3: Eilat and Petra (Jordan)

Short bus ride. Long bus ride. Chug chug chugging along. Chug chug chug...what? No more chugging along? SPUTTER. Dead bus.
Our bus died about 30 minutes into the journey. We were stranded on the side of the road in a desert-y area while the driver mopped his forehead and peered at the engine. Three Bedouin women with black face veils, shimmery black tops, baseball caps and Adidas sweatpants/sneakers rode by on donkeys and waved. "We'll get there faster if we take those," my neighbor said cynically. Another bus came to the rescue and we were on our way.
At the midway point of our five hour drive, the driver hopped back in to start the bus. He tried. And tried. And looked like he was about to cry. We were laughing hysterically at this point, sure that we would have to wait for another bus to come and rescue us. Finally, the driver, his face red with the effort, got the bus to start and we were on our way.

Eilat with a view of Petra

We drove through the desert, which never stops astonishing me with its incredible vastness. Mounds and mounds of yellow sand as far as the eye can see, sprinkled with rock but otherwise completely desolate. Such a different world than the over-developed one that I am so used to.
We reached Eilat, one of the southern-most cities in Israel. Now, I was invited on this trip and agreed to go because, well, why not. I really had no idea what Eilat was like or why Petra was exciting. Until I spent a few minutes reading up on both in the last half hour of our bus ride. Eilat is mainly a tourist town. It's attractions are its beach, where there are beautiful coral reefs (hence much scuba diving) and....well, yeah, that's pretty much it.

There is a mall in Eilat, which was a rather strange place to go after having gotten so used to the loud, chaotic, sensory-delight that are open air markets. So, we dipped our toes in the water, sat and people-watched on the beach, wandered around, took lots of pictures and collapsed in our hostel room.

After much debate, we decided to buy tickets to a tour that would take us to Petra. Figuring out taxis and crossing the border seemed pretty chaotic, especially when we would be waking up at 5:00AM for the second day in a row. Although pretty costly, the ease of this tour greatly outweighed the money that we parted with.

At 7:00AM, my traveling companions and I crossed the border into Jordan. Signs went from Hebrew/English/Arabic to Arabic/English to Arabic as the day went on. It is a novelty to be able to read and understand a full sign these days, although my Hebrew is improving, so sometimes I can understand 2/3 languages on a normal sign! Jordan is beeeeeeeooootifullll. It is still the desert, but early in the morning, all I could see was layers and layers of mountains in front of me that would, later in the day, reveal themselves to be reddish-yellowish-grayish. We took a quick tour of Aqaba, our adorable tour guide attempting to explain to us how modern it was. I was much more interested in the people. I have grown quite used to seeing women in hijabs and long dresses in Jerusalem, but they are often surrounded by Hasidic women in wigs and a head scarves. Here they were the majority. And they were in advertisements! How cool, I thought. But for them, probably just normal.

We drove and drove. I could not keep my eyes open. Just like a baby, the bus started moving and BAM, I was asleep. Through the desert we drove, it stretched out for miles and miles around us. It is very strange being such a desolate place when I am so used to every inch of land being covered, taken, claimed.








Eventually, we arrived at Petra. Petra is the site of the remnants of the Nabataean Empire, which was founded more than 2200 years ago. The Roman Empire eventually took over, adding things like a paved road to this beautiful city. (It took me so long to write this post because, despite being there and going through a lot to get there, I was/am not that interested in this history! I went to Petra purely for the adventure).
There were tons of kids at Petra when we got there. I laughed when I realized that that is probably a pretty standard school trip. Instead of going to the museum, we're going to Petra!

You enter the valley in which the city is situated by channel cut deep, deep into the rock by water. You walk down this natural river-water-channel thing and begin to see, cut into the rock, places where statues used to rest. There are Greek words carved into the rock. There is an aqueduct that runs the side of the chasm. Down and down you go.

The treasury. It was built from top down,
isn't that cool?

Our guide told us that the most beautiful thing in Petra was up high on a cliff. He made us step into a tiny alcove and then walk, one by one, out into the middle of the walkway. "Look there!" he said. "You see nothing? Turn around!" The nicely planned tour guide moment did not fail. We turned and there was the Treasury, the Al-Khazneh (can you tell I am writing this with the tourist brochure open on my lap?), which was STUNNING. It is a tribute to so many different religions, with Amazon women carved into it, Nabatean Gods, Roman Gods, mythical creatures....all carved out of this beautiful red stone. Amazing.

Our tour guide told us all about the history of the place. I found myself much more interested in the people trying to sell tourists trinkets and postcards. There were the little, skinny boys. "How old are you?" I asked. "12" little boy replied. As did the next. And the next. Maybe, one of my traveling companions pointed out, that was the legal age to work. 

There were the adolescent boys who would throw compliments your way: "Wow." "Beautiful lady, for you, great price!" "Such beauty, I have never seen it before." When I became tired, I started muttering sarcastic responses under my breath: "Thanks! I chose these looks myself." "Oh my god, will you marry me??!?!?!" "I'll marry you if you give me a soda!"

And the older men, who were actually very friendly and interested in talking to us and learning about us. We learned a bit about them as well (and my traveling companions somehow got gifts of necklaces and post cards. I was too uncomfortable to take anything from anyone, but I enjoyed the delight it gave my friends!)

 Because we had decided to pay for the tour in Israel, we didn't have any Jordan Dinar, which was a blessing. I am too often a sucker for people who are persistent in their sales.

We spent about 2 1/2 hours in Petra, not even going to the bottom of the valley. Then we began to ascend again, finally reaching the bus.

An entire city cut into these rocks. Amazing.

We cruised back through Jordan as the sun was setting. Gave me an even better view of the beauty of the desert. Our tour guide told me that that was his favorite part of Jordan. 

We arrived back in Eilat and were so excited about showers. After that, we weren't really sure what to do. A traveling companion and I went down to the boardwalk, which was bustling with activity and light s, and bought food. I bought some really old ice cream that was still pretty good!

We caught the bus back the next morning and were back in Jersualem!

So ended my Sukkot Break!

The Jordan hills as seen from Israel

Travel tips: If you go to Petra, stay for more than 2 1/2 hours.