July 21, 2008
Dunt dunt dunt duh, dunt dunt dunt duh, dun dun dun duh! (Indiana Jones Theme Song)
Petra. The most amazing place ever. Remember, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade? Remember that ridiculously sweet sand stone temple that Harrison Ford finds the Holy Grail in? Well…been there done that. The only disappointing thing about the day is that there was no sweet booby traps to make it through, and that there was actually no Holy Grail. In fact inside of that building is just a big empty room. However, that was the only disappointing thing that I saw today! It was amazing! Petra is basically just a canyon full of the coolest rock cut out tombs and temples. We spent the whole day there and I could have spent like 3 more exploring the caves and climbing the rocks! I was seriously so stoked the whole day. Here is a quick list of the amazing:
The beautiful narrow canyon leading up to it
The first sight of it, you first see it almost like a crack because the canyon turns and just gives you a sliver of the Treasury (Place where Indy found the Holy Grail”). It was so cool! The thing is huge.
Taking pictures in front of it was sweet, especially when I saw a humongous cliff overlooking the Treasury that was really really high. I bypassed the sign at the bottom (No Climbing) and snuck up the side of the canyon and climbed that hill and got a sweet picture of the Treasury. Best part: no damage, no punishment.
From there we walked through the amazing canyon and saw all of the sites from a distant before they let us go free to explore. We got to the bottom where we were to eat lunch and then they cut us loose.
First matter of business: Donkey Ride up the sweet canyon. Have you ever saddled a donkey? (yes I will avoid all the lame donkey jokes that were brutally murdered today) It is the funniest thing in the world. You are like too big for it, which makes it hilarious! Then, negotiations were absolute chaos. We thought we had a group rate with five of us, but in the commotion we all lost each other and in consequence our deal that would have saved us each a dollar. I actually paid more at the end just because the ride was so funny. A couple hi ho silver yells and pop pop noises in an effort to push my donkey to the front of the small pack of people we were with. The thing would hardly move, Whitney’s saddle started to fall off and she almost died, the trail got really narrow, impending death awaited me on both sides, Liz’s little boy disappeared and she was riding the crazy trail alone, Tricia’s was speedy and she passed everyone and got first place, and I was a little p dot o dot that my donkey came in last. Nevertheless, the view was incredible. We ran all over the rocks everywhere and I was just in heaven. Ridiculous climbs, ridiculous heights, and absolutely amazing views. Of course we did our best at finding the highest and coolest places to climb and most of the time that included a whole bunch of places that no one else went. We spent the whole afternoon running around the ancient ruins and rocks and mountains and just wow. For once I think that I might not describe it, pictures will just have to suffice. Ahh! Life is good…Life is so Good!