Jordan: A Final Memory

These memories are just a small part of the 18 days we spent in Egypt and Jordan. However, I wanted to share a few thoughts I had of the trip.

One thing I learned traveling with a tour is that you really become very good friends with strangers for that brief time you are together. Although we thought we'd keep those connections forever, we ended up not doing so except for a very few special people.

Egypt and Jordan were quite different from each other. For one thing, Jordanians actually think the traffic lights mean something. In Egypt, the red light on a traffic signal is NOT even a suggestion. You cross the city streets at your own peril. We ended up waiting until we found an Egyptian about to cross and followed them. Egyptians do not run over their own countrymen. Just kidding... I'm sure they'd run over anybody.

In Jordan, Matt took us to see Petra of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade fame. We had to walk about a half a mile through a siq in order to reach this hidden site.

And then we were there! We could see the pinkish carvings coming into view. Petra is the Greek word for rock, but the Arabic term, al-madina al-wardah (rose colored city) is probably a better name for this place. It was built in the first century BC by an Arab tribe, the Nabateans.

Here's Al-Khazna (Pharoah's Treasury) which is where Indiana Jones has to go into to get the Holy Grail. Ummmm... nope! The inside was just a room, no tunnels or trap doors. Ah well...


Iron oxide creates the pinkish color rock. The black is magnesium and the yellow is lemonite.


We saw these mountain goats everywhere watching our every move.


We learned that this colonnaded Roman street at Petra's city center was built about 106 A.D.


I was able to get up close and personal with a camel. To this experience I say, "Once was enough." I now know why they call camels Ships of the Desert. I did get seasick!