Several hours later, we were bouncing around in the back of a pickup truck as we crossed the sandy route to a remote Bedouin camp (see photo above). When we arrived in the dark, the desert air was cool, the stars were unusually bright, and the desert was eerily quiet, with dim silhouettes of jagged rock formations breaking up the flat desert landscape. We were ushered into Bedouin tent, probably 20’ x 40’, with every inch of ground covered by Persian carpets. Guided to seats by a fire, we were given a cup of Jordanian tea (very sweet, with a spearmint flavor) as we met the 3 Jordanian brothers who would be our hosts. After they dug up our dinner (meat cooked in a pot surrounded by hot coals in the ground) we feasted on chicken, rice, salad, hummus, and pita bread. After a long day of traveling, we went to our beds on the ground made with several layers of blankets and pillows piled about 8 inches high. It was one of the most comfortable beds I’ve slept on in my travels.
In the morning, I rose before sunrise to see a faint orange glow behind the towering rock formations. The desert was peacefully quiet with the sand and mountains stretching to the horizon without a trace of civilization in sight. We were truly off the grid. I climbed one of the rock formations and enjoyed the serenity of the desert until sunrise.
After hiking back to camp, we had breakfast, spent a few minutes being harassed by a camel, and then went on our way to Petra. It was an unexpected and memorable side trip in our travels… and perhaps the source of some trouble.
Within an hour of leaving the Bedouin camp, Jeffrey began to feel sick. Either from brotherly sympathy or from Bedouin chicken roulette, David quickly followed suit. For the next 2 days, the Conway boys enjoyed the inside of a Petra hotel room as they battled an intestinal bug. I’m not sure how I dodged the bullet, but they soon recovered and we were ready to see Petra.
A big part of the mystique of Petra begins long before you see the work of human hands. To get to the ancient city, you walk 1.2 kilometers through a narrow gorge that in places is only 3-4 meters wide. Beside you, rose-colored sandstone walls tower up to 80 meters (260 feet) above you. It is one of the most beautiful rock formations I’ve ever seen. To walk between the towering rock walls is an awe-inspiring experience. As you round a corner at the end of the narrow gorge, you see Petra's most elaborate structure, Al Khazneh (popularly known as "the Treasury"), carved into a sandstone cliff. It is absolutely stunning.
You may have seen this impressive façade when it was featured in the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. Al Khazneh is the best-preserved and most famous of dozens of temples and tombs built by the Nabateans in their capital city around 100 BC. Since they controlled trade routes that linked China, India, and Arabia with Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the Nabateans became very wealthy collecting tolls from traveling merchants. They built a large city which is surrounded by hundreds of stone-carved tombs in the sides of mountains. Petra was probably abandoned around 551 AD when an earthquake destroyed many buildings and crippled the water aqueducts. Petra was unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced to the West by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who paid a Bedouin shepherd to guide him to a rumored lost city
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If you visit Israel or Jordan, it’s definitely worth a side trip to see Petra. Often cited as one of the wonders of the world, the natural gorge and stone-carved structures are unforgettable.
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