Petra, Jordan

The highlight of the trip to Jordan was definitely Petra. This is one of those places that every one must see - and no the Indiana Jones movie doesn't count. We strapped Jaydon into his backpack and headed out for a day in the desert, rocks, and ruins of Petra. The first attraction for Jaydon was all the horses and donkeys. Since donkeys sound so much like doggies he was content to call everything a doggy. The weather ended up being perfect with just a little chill to make long sleeves comfortable to help protect tender skin from the intense sun. It's a fairly short and easy walk to the first ruin known as the treasury. You see all kinds of interesting people on this part of the walk from the back packers (like us) ready for a full day of hiking to the leisure tourists who just jumped out of their car and thought a quick hike in flip flops and sun dresses (and usually no water) was a good idea. This is the ruin used in the Indiana Jones movie. Every time I see it I expect big stone balls to come rolling out or big knives to come jutting out of the walls. I think Jaydon was impressed all same. From the Treasury the valley opens up and you can see ruins of an entire city that used to thrive here in the rocks. These are small houses carved into the rock. They even carved out an amphitheatre (it was later 'remodeled' by the Romans). The further you walk down the valley the more interesting ruins you see. All of them are perched up in the cliffs so the residents must have appreciated a good view. And with the beautiful patterns that the sandstone makes in the area they didn't even have to decorate the walls. It was about a 2 hour walk to the place where we had lunch. After getting refueled and rested we started the big climb up to the monastery. My goal for this trip was to make it to that ruin since the last time I went to Petra I was 7 months pregnant and was not able to make the climb. The hike was very interesting and a little tricky at times. Jaydon had spent all morning in the back pack without an issue and was content to watch the world go by from his perch. The climb was intense and I was happy it wasn't a step further then it was. When we reached the top we were rewarded with the magnificent ruin. It was well worth the climb! After all that hiking it was time for a break. Jaydon happily played with the rocks and sand for a good hour while we regained our strength for the hike back down. We also got a show from one of the local boys who had climbed the facade of the monastery and was standing on top of the main steeple (yep, that's a person up there). He was doing tricks and flipping off of it to the gasps of the tourists and cheers of his buddies down on the ground. Since we had accomplished our goal of hiking to the Monastery on the way back down we were a bit more relaxed and took the time to chat with a few of the locals. We met Ahmed, who was just a few months younger than Jaydon, and his mother and grandmother. We sat and had tea and let the little boys play. One of Ahmed's cousins came by on his donkey and gave Jaydon a ride. He wanted to trade me the donkey for Jaydon but I didn't think the donkey would fit in the plane very well. On the way back down we got to see all of the neat ruins again and enjoy them in the cool afternoon light. The camels were getting ready to call it a day and Jaydon had finally seen everything he could manage and fell fast asleep. Napping in a backpack is pretty tough, his poor head was flopping everywhere but he got in a good 20 minutes and was ready for more sight-seeing. We got one more good look at the Treasury and called it a day. Said good-bye to the doggies and hiked back to the hotel for a well deserved rest.