Free spirits among the ruins of Petra
admin October 7th, 2007
Nancy is a twenty year old student at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego with a double major in political science and philosophy/theology. As a part of her political science degree she has been studying in Amman in Jordan.
One of the perks of this posting, she says, has been the chance to escape the city and enjoy the country’s tourist sights on leisurely weekends. One such break recently found her en route to Wadi Rum and, later, a sojourn to Petra. Here she underlines the advantages of getting to Petra bright and early:
By some stroke of luck… we walked through the long rock corridor early in the morning which meant that we were able to see and take pictures of the Treasury, of Indiana Jones’ fame, before any other tour groups were allowed into the park. Most of the sights in Petra are ancient royal tombs of the trader civilization that lived in Petra predating Roman times. We climbed up nearly 1,000 steps to a site called the Monastery with an excellent view of the rugged terrain that lies between Petra and Israel (and quite a big selection of Bedouins selling camel bone jewelry). In some spare time I also chatted with quite a few genuinely friendly “free spirits” that are part of the Bedouin tribe that maintains the park (including a seven year old local who through American TV and movies had a perfect American accent, in addition to the knowledge of several Bob Marley songs).
