Water is like diamonds there. Precious moisture. I must have consumed a good gallon or more of water each day there and rarely had to need to relieve my self. If you splashed water on yourself it evaporated in seconds. Like magic. We got a ride back to the rest house outside the city in a jeep (It is nice to be on Heshbon dig – you get favors!) Believe it or not the Siq/entrance is just wide enough for a jeep. It as better than any amusement park ride! The driver didn’t slow down for one curve. Just took ‘em and fast! We had a good meal at the rest house and then around 9;30 several of us. Carol & Murray, Oscar & Tim S Ray B, Jim S and Marilyn and I went back down into the city with our flashlights and slept in a big cave near the Treasury. (In the morning a bedouin gently sent us on our way so that he could open up his Pepsi stand there!)
The view from the back of our cave.
The view toward the Siq from our "porch". Can you find the "exit"?
Another view from our porch looking farther down toward the center of Petra. Note the holes for scaffolding (that's the theory anyway) on the opposite wall!
Maybe this was the waterfall...look closely...hmmmmmm
On the way back we came face to face with a Bedouin woman and her children tending goats. They are very small. I wouldn’t have known she was old enough to be the mother except that she had a baby on her back and was making yarn 
[see sketch] We stared at them and they at us. Then Oscar asked if he could take her picture “La!” [No!] It probably would have been ok if one of us women had asked. We planned a 3 hour climb to Jebel Harun (Aaron’s Mountain). So we went back to Nazzal’s camp to rest up. We ended up not going which was too bad because the Bedouins would have given a a “mansef” had we gone up with enough people. So anyway we ate our supper there and chatted with Basim and Mamoud. Pam & I learned a Bedouin love song from Basim. 
We slept under the stars that night. Mamoud helped us into our sleeping bags and would have sat with us all night if we hadn’t kept saying “How do you say goodnight?” So we’re all bedded down and Carol got a little bug in her ear. After she had danced around a little we floated it out. The only other problem that night was the incredibly full moon. (This is a picture of the "moonrise" - note the campfires appearing in the mouths of the caves where the bedouins lived!)
I have never seen a moon so bright. It really was like a blind spot light. Once during the night I woke up to see a donkey standing over me [funny I remember it as a huge horse] We threw rocks at him and he went and got his friend. They were kinda cute. Big gray donkeys wandering around in the moonlight. Then it got cold! Wish I had a picture of those donkeys in the moonlight!!!!
This was the next morning! Next post will tell the adventures of that day and conclude the June 17th letter home. Note also the only freestanding building in Petra. Said to be a temple. And I think this was a Eucalyptus tree. I remember getting a kick out of that because in High School we made up a number "wisdom sayings" which we posted on the blackboard in our Algebra Class...one of them was "Don't sleep under the Eucalyptus Tree tonight." The 70's. What can I say!
The view from the back of our cave.The view toward the Siq from our "porch". Can you find the "exit"?Another view from our porch looking farther down toward the center of Petra. Note the holes for scaffolding (that's the theory anyway) on the opposite wall!We were only waked once in the night by a donkey or another animal scrabbling in the cobble below. We got up early and went into Nazzal’s camp where we waited for Bob C and the oothers to come down from the rest House. Then we went down a wadi to find the waterfall! This wadi is filled with oleander! Note the teensy trickle of water nourishing the oleander!
Maybe this was the waterfall...look closely...hmmmmmmBeautiful. We found the water and waterfall which if you follow it leads right into the Dead Sea! [I have no pictures of or memory of this waterfall!] There were goats running all around and every once in a while a Bedouin child would run by.
On the way back we came face to face with a Bedouin woman and her children tending goats. They are very small. I wouldn’t have known she was old enough to be the mother except that she had a baby on her back and was making yarn [see sketch] We stared at them and they at us. Then Oscar asked if he could take her picture “La!” [No!] It probably would have been ok if one of us women had asked. We planned a 3 hour climb to Jebel Harun (Aaron’s Mountain). So we went back to Nazzal’s camp to rest up. We ended up not going which was too bad because the Bedouins would have given a a “mansef” had we gone up with enough people. So anyway we ate our supper there and chatted with Basim and Mamoud. Pam & I learned a Bedouin love song from Basim. We slept under the stars that night. Mamoud helped us into our sleeping bags and would have sat with us all night if we hadn’t kept saying “How do you say goodnight?” So we’re all bedded down and Carol got a little bug in her ear. After she had danced around a little we floated it out. The only other problem that night was the incredibly full moon. (This is a picture of the "moonrise" - note the campfires appearing in the mouths of the caves where the bedouins lived!)I have never seen a moon so bright. It really was like a blind spot light. Once during the night I woke up to see a donkey standing over me [funny I remember it as a huge horse] We threw rocks at him and he went and got his friend. They were kinda cute. Big gray donkeys wandering around in the moonlight. Then it got cold! Wish I had a picture of those donkeys in the moonlight!!!!This was the next morning! Next post will tell the adventures of that day and conclude the June 17th letter home. Note also the only freestanding building in Petra. Said to be a temple. And I think this was a Eucalyptus tree. I remember getting a kick out of that because in High School we made up a number "wisdom sayings" which we posted on the blackboard in our Algebra Class...one of them was "Don't sleep under the Eucalyptus Tree tonight." The 70's. What can I say!
1 comment:
the more I see and read about your experience, the more I want to travel there! you are so blessed to have been able to do what you did...now I understand why you are so knowledgable about that area and why you are such a great photographer...you've had wonderful experience!!! love ya...j
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