“Wanna’ come to my cave with me?” haha! The story I remember most from my trip to Petra was riding on a horse with a Bedouin twenty-something. The Bedouin people have lived in the caves of Petra for years; recently, the government provided a camp for them outside of ancient Petra and forbade anyone to live within the ancient caves. Apparently, this rule is not followed, as my Bedouin admirer offered to pick me up at the border of Israel and Jordan, to carry me back to his cave – on either his horse or camel! I politely declined, of course, as flattered as I was by the offer. But it truly did make my trip to Petra an amusing one.
Petra is an ancient city that you see often in the movies – think the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones or the desert palace where the Transformers hid the key in the second Transformers film. It is definitely more awe-inspiring than even Steven Spielberg portrays it.
The elaborate facades seem to come out of nowhere. The ancient aqueducts lead you from one crevice path to another, bringing you to a sandcastle complete with pillars and window seats. The sun peaks through the openings in the crevices, and the bright blue skies seem to glow, illuminating the splendor before you. The wind blows, whipping your hair and assaulting your eyes with sand. As you open them again, fighting the grit, a camel lowers to the ground before your eyes. The sight is like none I’d ever seen. It is a graceful lowering of a mighty creature, first on the forelegs and then on the back. The ride is a bumpy one, from heights I’d never experienced.
Bedouins sell their handcrafted wares as tour guides, who grew up with Petra as a playground, lead groups from one rainbow stone to another, showing them just a sliver of the glory of Petra.
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