Day 20

TUESDAY 29th DECEMBER

Synopsis of day: I've been to Petra!

Highlight of the day: The Treasury. In spite of how busy the area was, I was still thrilled to see it, and to try to capture the colours and essence of the place in photography.

Lowlight of the day: Breakfast. By the time you discredit all the food you can't eat, then the foods you don't really want to eat (or are sick of – there are only so many times you can cope with boiled eggs), the offerings can be pretty spartan.

Toilet ratings: Really long queues, but one between the Treasury and lunch was cut into the rock and the most beautiful orange, red and pink swirls of rock were around it. Sadly the ceramics were pink and there was no paper which affected the prettiness of the place.
Favourite quote/word: “Let's not walk to the monastery” (It was a several hundred step climb and although it might have been good preparation for Sinai, we were pressured for time)
Favourite photo:


Cultural-shock moment: The children who had skipped school (or who were even too young for that) who were trying to sell items all along the way between the Treasury and the lunch stop. There was one who looked about three years old selling rocks.

New food consumed: A chocolate mousse which had been frozen, and some fabulous felafels.

Favourite purchase: A walking stick for Sinai.

The thing I lost today: My ability to pack all my luggage into the one bag. Needed to leave the postage stuff out because it no longer fit.

Random act of crazy: Walking out from the canyon into the area where the Treasury is located and seeing scores of people, a shop, camels and a Land Cruiser all mingling.

What Arthur did next: Was chastising some of the women for still eating their breakfast when there was only about fifteen minutes before departure (which was barely enough time to make it down to the rooms and back) when they all had their bags with them, but he didn't, and had to go down.

Something I want to remember: Petra really is a stunning place, but the canyon we walked though on the way was almost as awesome in its grandeur.




We woke to discover a beautiful morning as the sun kept rising above the mountains of Petra. On arrival at the visitors centre I was amused to see the Indiana Jones Gift Shop. We didn't look inside since our guides have been curiously reluctant to allow trinket shopping. We were warned in advance that it was going to be at least five miles of walking today, but it didn't seem that bad in spite of it taking a few hours.



For the first section of walking, before you made it to the canyon, there was the option of an inclusive horse ride instead. Obviously I declined and was very thankful for the antihistamines I've been permanently on with all this dust and the bonus horses, but I did end up masking myself with my scarf. That was a more troublesome activity than I'd anticipated, since my glasses would fog up dependent on where the scarf was positioned.
 From the canyon onwards, the horses attached to 'chariots' could continue up to the Treasury. They made such a rackety noise and they bounced a great deal on the stones, which meant it couldn't have been a comfortable ride. I was quite content to be walking, actually. I knew what the Treasury looked like but was pleasantly surprised by the canyon too as we walked through it. The colours and shapes of the rock which have been created over time, and the odd Nabotean carvings were interesting to view. Finally we came to another bend and beyond it was our first glimpse of the Treasury. I was pleased that we weren't overrun by people at that point, because there were an awful lot when we walked those final metres and ended up in the plaza area in front of it. It was impossible to take a full shot of the place without including people.



It was a crowded place but because it wasn't a religious site, and because it hadn't been ostentatiously decorated, I didn't mind. We walked further along through the Nabotean city and saw a theatre and other buildings, what was probably a temple or marketplace and many places that required taking a number of narrow steps. Disconcertingly, there were so many vendors along the pathways trying to interest us in different souvenirs and items, and there were so many children working as hawkers. We ignored the many people offering us donkey and camel rides too, and enjoyed a lunch outdoors with a nice view of the rocks and carvings around.
 While we were given free time to head up to the monastery or to see some of the other buildings around the place, we decided to slowly trek back where we had come from. It took a little longer than predicted, but when we did arrive, we still had about an hour to spare. We purchased some walking sticks (and Kerri's had the bonus sparkly on the handle so she had a sparkling hand that afternoon) and caught a taxi back to the hotel, arriving considerably before the others whose bus ended up arriving later, and it was a different one with less seats so some of the others used taxis too. They found us all relaxed with a cocktail and our computers in the lobby (we found an area that didn't seem too smoky thankfully) and we'd been doing some Egypt organising. We had a farewell dinner and debrief which was vastly amusing because Mary and some of the others had clearly been imbibing a little too much wine at dinner.



Many of the others had been preparing themselves for their departure home, but I was excited to be starting our next stage of the trip, especially since I expected I would enjoy it more than the Jordan component.