Jordan Day 2: Petra

Whattup!!!

Day two of our trip to Jordan was Petra!!! It was awesome!!!

Because it is an Arab country, in the hotels in Jordan they put a sticker on the desk or ceiling to identify the Kiblah (the direction towards Mecca for Islamic prayer)

The sign posts in Petra were made by USAID, which is kinda cool... 

There is only one road in/out of Petra. It is cut out of the sandstone rock so that it forms a canyon. The wider part is lined with tombs that once were used as a burial place for rich kings and such...

The road leading to Petra 

This is our tour guide showing us some ancient pipe used as part of the city's drainage system (Petra was built by the Nabateans--a group from northern Syria who lived at the same time as the Hasmonean and Roman time periods in the Holy Land)

This rock looks like an elephant :-)

This picture is sideways, but you can see pretty clearly how the wind has eroded the sandstone walls--a lot of the statues and carvings in Petra have been eroded by the weather.

Our guide (Yusef) again. Behind him is an idol for the pagan Nabatean God Dushara.

At the End of the road into Petra is the Treasury. If you have seen Indiana Jones 3, you may recognize this building as the place where the Holy Grail was found. They filmed part of the movie in Petra :-)

The Treasury building is carved out of the sandstone rock there. It is all one connected piece and is literally just carved out of the mountainside, and it is HUGE!!!

jumping in front of the Treasury

Petra is kinda weird--the city remains are all built into the rock, so it feels like an area with a lot of hiking trails that lead to sweet ruins... Behind me is a camel and the holes in the rock are all tombs.

love it.

I just couldn't help myself...

camel love :-)

Kirstin going for it...

...and check out the sand on her chin--love that camel goop!!!

Beautiful Petra :-)

We started hiking up to see a Monastery, and Jane and I stopped to take some pictures...

Matt pretending to be Indian Jones... I have a rad video that goes along with this too :-)

Me hanging out in the doorway of a tomb :-)

Eden, Me, and Montana 

this hike had some INSANE views :-)

Chloe is a break-dance master ;-)

KC and me

And then we made it to the Monastery!!! Like the treasury, this building is carved into the sandstone rock. It is SO COOL. Unlike the Treasury, you can actually go inside this building, which is pretty tite.

Sitting in the Monastery: Tori, Jane, KC, Taylor, Ann, Chloe, Me, McCall, Mitchell, Nick

hanging out inside the Monastery (it is one big room that is pretty much all seen in this photo... They think that this building/room was used for pagan sacrifices by the Nabateans and then may have been used by the Byzantines as a place of worship for local monks)

Ann on the way back :-)

When we got down from the Monastery hike, we explored some of the other remains in Petra (but we aren't allowed to climb on any antiquities, so I have no photos to post on my blog of us climbing on pillars or anything...)

Alissa, Katie, and Myself

This ledge was right by the pillars, so I walked over to take a picture :-)

Lizzie rocking the head scarf :-)

We then started heading back to the Treasury because it was near the end of the day, but some camel guys were walking by and we bargained a good price, so we ended up taking camels back...

So as I was getting on the camel, it started to get up, so I was basically dangling with one foot over the camel while it was up and the camel dude had to push me up the rest of the way...awk...

Nick and I shared a camel, and Jaque and Meg shared a camel. Nick and Meg were on the back, and they were literally hanging on--they weren't in a saddle or anything... it was hilarious...

camel ride :-)

It was great :-)

Then we headed for the bus for the four hour drive back to Amman.

We stopped to see this crusader fortress and snap some pictures :-)

This is our whole group (both classes). I'm in the middle/back :-)

We also drove next to the King's Highway (which was a main road in Biblical times). The row of stones in the picture is some of the remains from the original road.

Our second day in Jordan was AWESOME!!! Petra is absolutely incredible.

-Erika