One of Salem's first comment was that she had us until 6:30. We promptly corrected her that the ship leaves at 6, we had to be onboard at 5:30. You could almost see her brain working trying to figure out how to fit everything in. It ended up being a very rushed day but we saw everything we were supposed to see and got back to the ship on time.
Our first stop was to "squeeze the orange". I had never heard that expression before. The place was a large store. We all ran in, straight to the restrooms then straight out, sad not to have time to shop. We arrived at the small town outside of Petra in about 2 hours. There was a lot of traffic headed to the site. One bus had stopped and parked in the middle of the road. It took a while for us to get moving again once the driver finally returned. In the parking lot Salem told us that was where the bus would be at the end. We had to find our way back there. We went down to the entrance plaza. Salem went in for our tickets. There were small stores all around, no time for shopping. She also told us that we had paid to ride a horse down to the canyon but no time, we were to say no when she offered it to us in front of the wranglers. She was thinking of any way to save minutes. She did not save time in her commentary though. She was very knowledgeable and stopped often to explain things to us. There was a walkway down to the canyon. There were carts passing by on a separate rode as well as horses. We saw our first ruin, a tomb, before entering the canyon.
The canyon was a slot canyon, formed by water millions of years ago. It was about 100 ft high on each side. All along it were remains of what had been water pipes leading into Petra. It was quite an elaborate system built in the second or third century BC. There were also other tombs as well as dams along the way. Most of the dams had been restored to keep water from destroying the canyon. At one point it was only about 15' wide. While walking down, there were dozens of people and every once in a while Salem would tell us to get to the right or left for a cart to go flying past. Each one held a driver and 2 passengers. The drivers were whipping the horses to go faster. I felt sorry for them. But if you were not out of the way, I don't think they would have stopped if they could! After a little over a mile the canyon opened up and there was the treasury looming in front of us. It was quite a sight after walking thru that canyon. It was a larger canyon and filled with people. There were vendors and even a shop.
The treasury was never actually a treasury. Those who discovered it after hundreds of years of it's being "lost", saw the urn at the top and assumed it stood for wealth rather then death. It is actually a huge tomb but the name stuck. They are excavating in front of it as an entire story has been covered with dirt and rocks thru the years. At that point Salem gave us the option to start the walk back, all uphill, or continue on another 1/3 mile or so to see more. Some who had difficulty walking chose to head back. A few took the carts back. I was tempted but figured it would not be good for my back. It was a vey rough ride. I did however, want to see more before I did that if I had chosen to do so.
We continued down to the right of the treasury. It again opened up to a large canyon filled with people. There were many tombs on one wall and a huge amphitheater at the end. This was as far as we had time to go. We missed a lot but we're happy with what we did get to see. There were several shops and vendors there. We left the group and headed back to have time to shop along the way. Thru the canyon was a very gradual slope so a very easy walk. Closer to the top it was steeper so not as easy. It had been cool when we arrived in the morning. I had wished I had a jacket. By the time we were at the top again, I was glad that I didn't. We shopped a bit then Mel went to the restroom. I bought one last item then went to the restroom and headed to the bus. I couldn't tell if there was anyone from our group behind me or not. At the bus Salem said there was one person missing, Mel. I told her he was probably looking for me but sorry, after that climb and the steps back up to the parking lot, she was going to have to look for him. He was standing in the plaza waiting for me, 10 min after we were supposed to be on the bus. Whoops! Now Salem had to readjust her timing. She said we should have arrived at the restaurant at 12:30, leave at 1. Now we would arrive at 12:40 and would have to leave at 1:05. She had everything timed to the minute. There was a lot of traffic going back thru town. The restaurant was almost on the other side. We arrived at about 12:40. It was set up with long tables and a buffet like a lot of tourist restaurants all over the world. We got our food, ate quickly and were out of there at the appointed time. Our astonished server asked if we were in a hurry as we raced out of there. It was pretty funny. The food was quite good with a lot of vegetables, chicken and beef. Since they don't eat beef in Jordan and the meat was very tough, we decided it must be camel. There were several desserts including one called Uum Ali. It was a runny bread pudding with lots of cinnamon and no raisins!
Our next stop was Wadi Rum. We had no idea what to expect. Most shore excursions in Aqaba go to Petra or Wadi Rum, not both. That was why we were so rushed. It was about an hour and a half drive once again thru mountains and sand. There were cultivated fields everywhere in the hills, full of rocks and sand. I guess they grow wheat there. There were also many flocks of fat sheep and shaggy goats with a hearder with each one. Our driver finally stopped so we could get a good picture. He probably thought we were crazy wanting to take pictures of sheep. We passed a guard shack where an officer talked to our driver. We could hear him say Americans. The officer came onto the bus anyway. We all said hello, he turned and left. That was funny too. Aqaba is a free port so they have the security checks on the way in and out of the district.
Salem decided to take is to Wadi Desi (no idea how to spell that or if that is the correct name) instead of Wadi Rum. She said there would be fewer people so less lines. The trucks would be waiting for us so there would be no wait there either. We arrived and got into the backs of 4 small pickup trucks. There were benches with pads on them on each side. There were 6 people in each truck. We took off across the sand, dust and wind flying around us. The rock formations were beautiful. One cliff looked like it had ice cream melting down the side of it, almost like the formations you see in caves. Very different than how they looked in Petra. This was sandstone. There were quite a few tent cities, set up for tourists. There were a lot of camels around each camp. Our first stop was to see some petroglyphs. They were carved into the wall of a mountain. They were from around 200 bc and very interesting. Salem translated them for us, showing the difference between the caravan camels and wild camels. There were also ostrich and oryx. They have reintroduced the oryx after they almost went extinct. There are still ostrich is a wildlife preserve that is not yet open to visitors. I really enjoy petroglyphs for some reason. At this sight there were also camels to ride on if you had the time. There were a few tourists riding. I was glad we went to this sight as there are only rocks and sand at Wadi Rum, no petroglyphs.
Our next and last stop was at a Bedouin camp. They served us a delicious tea made with black tea, cardamom and cinnamon. Salem told us how they made their coffee and the proper way of serving it. If you served it with your left hand it was an insult, etc. A lot of rules! She had told us on the bus earlier about the Bedouin people and how Jordan had gone about trying to change their nomadic lifestyle as they were crossing international borders in their travels and not adhering to any laws. It was hard to do a census or educate their children the way they were living. The government first set up schools and provided free food to the children if they attended. After a while it was getting hard to get their children to school for the food so the people started moving their camps closer to the schools. Then the government started providing houses and land to the Bedouins if they would register their family. Little by little all the nomadic people have moved to small settlements on their own rather than having the government tell them they had to, very clever. They have health clinics in each town as well as schools. Salem told us a lot about Jordan, it's King, who you could tell she thinks highly of. She said in the Middle East a degree from Jordan will get the best jobs and a Jordanian passport is good in more places than other nationalities. They have over a million refugees from war torn Syria. They are given medical assistance and in many cases free food. It has become a burden on Jordan but they continue to help them. She is very proud of her country and from the sounds of it, with good reason.
After the coffee demonstration we were supposed to have seen them making bread in a fire oven but no time. We got back in the trucks and headed back to the bus. Salem talked almost the entire hour back to the port. She answered every question we had. It was a wonderful day and an excellent tour. We were back at the ship at 5:25, five minutes ahead of schedule. Rather than eat in the dining room we ate in the Lido so we could watch sail away. It was interesting to see the small Jordanian coastline with Israel right there and Saudia Arabia not too far off in the other direction. We learned from the Capt that our slot to go thru the Suez Canal had been moved up so rather than a slow cruise back into the Red Sea and up to the canal he would be going fast to get there for our 10 am crossing. Our itinerary said we would cross the day after that. Things change when you are on the high seas!
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