Petra - A World Wonder

This last weekend I spent two days in Petra, one of the 7 wonders of the world (the list of New 7 Wonders). The selection of Petra as one of the wonders is well deserved. The place is beautiful. Petra consists of a series of desert canyons, valleys, and mountains that once contained the ancient Nabatean civilization. As far as canyons, valleys, and desert mountains go, Petra isn't very different from many parts of Southern Utah or Northern Arizona, that is until you take in all of the buildings, temples, houses, tombs, and the ancient water collecting and distribution systems and realize everything is carved into and out of rock. The tombs and houses are not just practical in their designs but they are intricately carved, especially the Treasury and the Monastery. These people took pride in their work and wanted to make their city beautiful and because everything is made from rock all of the structures remain. I was amazed by the size of many of the rooms, the heights of the external facade, and the realization that all of this was done without power-tools, without cranes, without modern advances and yet these people not only survived in the desert, but they thrived in the desert in physical sustenance, trade, and culture. I am still blown away by the beauty of the place. I climbed up many rocks and tombs to examine the simplicity and the complexity of the various buildings that remain. I still sit in amazement as I think of what I saw and observed here. It is incredible.
During the first day I managed to spend time in all 4 corners of Petra, as shown in the guidebooks, and spent most of that time outside of the major tourist attractions. I like seeing the main attractions but I love getting out and seeing what else exists outside of the center. We found beautiful caves and houses, Bedouin who still utilize the Nabatean buildings in their lives, vast landscapes, steep ravines, goat herds, and the preciousness of water and how plants thrive in the desert with even the slightest source. Initially we wanted to get up to the Monastery before the crowds, since we arrived at 6:30 am. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and ended up hiking up a trail that is typically not visited by tourists. We stayed along the trail and found ourselves above a wadi with a small stream running through it that enables a small jungle to grow about 30 feet on either side of it. We assumed we were in a different wadi than we were and so as a result we decided to climb a gulch to the saddle of the surrounding mountain in hopes of coming up behind the Monastery. After a somewhat treacherous climb we reached the peak and realized that we weren't where we thought we would be, but also saw before us more Nabatean houses, and a Bedouin camp. We made our way down to the camp and as soon as our presence was known we were flocked by 4 Bedouin children all shouting in their accented English, “Where you go? Where you go?” The children and their parents were very surprised to find 6 American tourists come out of that part of the mountain rather than from the main trail and were even more surprised when we spoke to them in Arabic. The man was very good at English and used his short time with us to practice and helped us discover where we were and which directions would take us back towards the Monastery. By this point we realized there was no way we were going to beat all of the tourists so we started to explore the surrounding hills and found some amazing sandstone coloring near the Nabatean buildings. What amazed me most was the fact that I could, from the top of one of the buildings on a small hill, look in every direction and see Nabatean buildings carved out of the rocks as far as I could see in all directions. Every cliff wall and every valley had signs of carvings, of houses, and of the ancient (and sometimes modern) signs of its inhabitants.
In the end I could spend another two or three days in Petra exploring. There is so much to see and although much of it is similar, it is fascinating to explore the ruins, to walk through slot canyons, to climb ancient stair cases carved directly out of the rock, to search through the thousands of shards of pottery, and to hope to come across ancient Roman coins. The experience is not one to be missed if traveling through Jordan and I left wishing I had more time so that I didn't have to try to do it all in two days. Our first day I was in the park walking for 13 hours, with a couple hours of break for lunch. By the end of the evening I was exhausted, thirsty, sunburned, but satisfied by my experiences. Day two resulted in less climbing and more enjoyment of the scenery and although i didn't do everything I wanted it left me with something to look forward to the next time I'm passing through Petra.