Cue ridiculously long blog post round duos!
This last week we had our first overnight field trip. Where
you may ask? Jordan. Don’t worry… I wasn’t overly thrilled about going either.
I mean…cool, another Middle Eastern country, slightly different culture,
probably some cool piles of rocks. But do we really need to spend 4 days doing
just that? I could not have been more wrong!!
First of all, we left ridiculously early, on our giant tour
bus to make it to the border before anyone else did. When they said border
crossing, I’m thinking something similar to the U.S. –Canada border. In set up
I wasn’t that far off, they look very similar, except this border has mines in
the no man’s land and they actually take the passport checking very seriously
complete with scanning of our luggage and mirrors under the bus. We waited at
the border for about 3.5 hours. I’m not gonna lie… I got a wee bit cranky.
Finally the ordeal was done, we were all cleared and we were on our way to an
adventure!
First stop: Mount Nebo, where Moses looked and saw the
promise land and then was translated. I wish I would have realized that we were
going there so I could have studied about it a bit more. Unfortunanetly, I was
so cold and hungry that I don’t think I really got the full experience (plus it
was super hazy so I couldn’t really see anything off the top of the mountain).
But still, I got the same kind of feeling that I get when I go to the Manti
Temple. A prophet of old stood here! Walked here! Spoke to God here! Plus, my
mental picture of the Bible is coming together a lot smoother now. When I read
about places on my own now I can actually visualize them and picture what’s
going on. Awesome!
After Mt. Nebo, we went to see the Madaba Map. I was pretty
excited for this one! Not a day goes by here that I don’t think about what an
excellent teacher Mr. Oram was and I’m so grateful for his passion for art and
being able to transfer it to me. I can’t imagine what this trip would be like
without it. Soooo…. Mr. Oram had talked with us quite a bit about this map, in
reality, it was not as vivid as I expected. But that could not diminish how fascinating
wit was, how mind blowing the details, and the fact that thousands of footsteps
of old had brought pilgrims to that exact spot on their route to Jerusalem.
That same church also had the Madonna with the Blue Hand. I can’t remember
exactly why that icon was so important…but I remember learning about it and so
naturally I was excited to see it! After a quick stop at a local restaurant, we
drove down to Petra.
Side note, on the drive, Tanner Potter sat next to me. I haven’t
really talked to him at all that much, but that ride we got to know each other
pretty well. I found a kindred soul in regards to books!!! And fun fact: he is
a Davis Dart and part of the original Da Boys group… pre cursor to The Stoop…. Hmmmmmmmm….
Ok, we get to Petra and the welcoming committee is literally
in the drive waiting for us, in full uniform playing the bagpipes, drums, and
singing/chanting with swords drawn. What the heck!! I felt like royalty! After
they ushered us through the gauntlet there was mango juice and bread with oil
and thyme for us to snack on while we enjoyed the music. I’m pretty sure that
will never ever happen for me again! I just soaked it all up and couldn’t get
over the fact that it was happening to me!! After were checked in(and had an
incredible Bedouin dinner), most of our group headed down to Petra to do a
candlelight tour. There is something so incredibly magical about red rock at
night! The whole time we were there, I kept thinking about working down in Zion
and the nights when we’d all go rappelling Jolly’s by moonlight. That summer
was the best decision I’ve ever made… maybe that’s what I’ll do again this
summer… hmmmmm…
Anyways, we walked through the canyon following a little
trail of tea lights. The stars were breathtaking! I’ve missed seeing stars
regularly here. There is so much light pollution that only a few show up, but
out in small town Petra down in the canyon, they were almost as bright as at
the ranch! And I saw all of Orion for the first time, instead of just his belt!
Wahoo! Walking through the canyon with Brooke and Larson, (the guy who reminds
me of Landon), I honestly felt like I was right back in Southern Utah, except
every once and a while the trail changed into an ancient Roman road lit by
hundreds of little candles. We kept chatting and laughing, when all of a sudden
we turned a corner and we’re staring at the Treasury of Petra, one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. And do you know what, it’s even more
awe-inspiring than I ever imagined! I think all 3 of us stopped mid-sentence and
just stared in amazement as we approached this magnificent tomb. As the mouth
of the canyon opened up, there were hundreds of candles lighting up the Treasury.
We sat down to just appreciate the majesty infront of us, and some local men
started playing the flute and some Middle Eastern guitar/cello thing. It was…
eerie, and magical, and time-transcendent (is that even a word?). Even with the
freezing cold wind chilling my fingers one by one, I couldn’t get enough!
Finally, I dragged myself away…with the promise I could come back the next day.
We stared bright and early the next morning. Our tour guide,
Eeah, walked us through Petra by daylight. It was fascinating! He described the
aqueducts that they had carved out of the sandstone, pointed out the camels
carved into the walls, and explained the hundreds of caves/tombs that we would
be seeing that day. Finally, we rounded the corner and I knew we would be
seeing the incredible treasury tomb in a matter of seconds by daylight. Eeah
told us to make lines, hold hands, and keep our eyes down. When I finally
looked up again, the Treasury was in front of me, regal and imposing. After a
few minutes there, they cut us loose to go explore. Petra is huge! I could have
spent days and days there…probably even weeks! Everything was so ancient, and
some places we climbed into, I felt like I was the first person to be there in
centuries! Ok, I know that that’s ridiculous…
but it was so easy to imagine!
We took off with a small quick group to try and move quickly
to see as much as possible with our short time. Hannah led the way followed by
Brooke and I, then Larson, Andrew, and Mike tagging along. We booked it up the
tallest mountain to get to the High Place first. Over 800 stairs. Ouch! We climbed
them all in about 15 mins, and made it to the high place to enjoy the view for
a while. What I wasn’t expecting though, was at the top there was a full on
alter. Eeah had told us that they believe that Moses stayed some time there and
there is a tomb for Aaron, Moses’s brother at the top of a mountain a few
mountains away. Anyways, the high place alter was the first alter I’d seen
complete. And it was huge! Even if none of the Old Testament prophets used it, I
loved the visualization I got from that mountain top. We could see everything
around us for miles and were so close to the sky, it wasn’t easy to get there,
but worth the hike, and I could see perfectly how it would be laid out… I could
almost see the smoke rising from the alter.
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| I'm pretty sure I'm bringing the fanny pack back ;) |
Heading down, we saw a cool lookout
and of course had to check it out…. And discovered a back way down. A few other
groups saw us head down that way and followed us, but our pace was a bit to
quick for them. The way down was littered with tombs and caves. And about half
way down there was a Bedouin woman playing a haunting tune on a flute. She
pulled us to the edge of the cliff and pointed out sacred sights. Kinda cool! We
crawled into graves and explored the nooks and cranny’s of pitch black
caves(thanks for making me take a flashlight Dad!) and got to know a French couple
that was playing leapfrog with us down the trail. Once we got to the bottom,
there was a herd of donkey’s just chilling there, so we chased them around a
bit and all I could think of was that stupid mule Elmer that I learned to
barrel race on and how similar these dumb donkeys were too him. Right after the
donkeys, we stumbled across some adorable children who were racing their
homemade toys (a wheel from a stroller cut off and stuck onto a stick). They
were running back and forth with bare feet over sharp little rocks. It broke my
heart! When they saw us, they started yelling “Hello Mis-ter! Hello Mis-te-er!”
They tried to become our guides through the caves. We’d been told not to
indulge them because they should be in school, but we played with them a little
bit, they couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7! Andrew even got them to race
back and forth with him a few times. And
after we left, they followed us for about 15 mins chattering in broken English.
They were so adorable, I wish I could have taken every one of them with me!
When we came to the road to the Monastery, we parted ways
with the little kids and as we came around the corner, we spotted Nate Monson,
Freddy and Nicholette. And from yards away we heard Nate yell “Stop the
Donkey!!! Stop the Donkey!!!” we could not stop laughing! We had specifically
been told no donkey rides… so to hear him freak out over the donkey moving a
few steps was priceless!
We booked it up to the Monastery, about halfway up the steep
stairs I’m thinking… “There is no way that this is worth it! My legs are
killing me!” But guess what?! It was so worth it! We caught up to a couple
other groups on the way up, and by the time we all reached the top (a wicked
800ish stairs later), out of breath and sweaty, the view was unreal! A massive
tomb carved right out of the rock. Now, we’d been seeing quite a few of these
all day, but this one was the most imposing one I’d seen so far. We had 45 mins
to kill up there before lunch, so quite a few pictures were taken. About 30 of
us climbed inside of the tomb and before you knew it, Prince of Egypt was being
sung and we were dancing and forming circles… the little local boys were
sitting on the death bed laughing at us. They must have thought we were
completely crazy! We hiked around a little bit more, a few of the guys disappeared
and pretty soon they were yelling at us from the top of the tomb. They had
found a back way up and clambered up to it. Larson, Brooke, and I started to
follow in their footsteps but before we could go very far a ranger chased us
down and shooed us out. Turns out there is a no climbing sign that was facing
the complete wrong way so obviously we didn’t see it…
On the way down from the monastery, starving as we were… I
had to stop and look at jewelry. All morning long the necklaces had been
catching my eye. They weren’t the generic (I can’t believe I’m using that term
to describe anything here, but it’s the only word that is coming to mind right
now) one’s that I’ve been seeing in the old city. Some of them were genuinely
unique and somewhat specific to the area. About half way down, I spotted one I
hadn’t seen yet, picked it up, and well had to have it. I’m so proud of my
bartering skills lately. I paid exactly what I wanted for it, and I love it!
After lunch we decided to go try and find the museum that
held the Elephant capitals from the amphitheater columns. We got pointed to a
structure at the top of a mountain. Up we went… even more stairs… honestly, the
south stairs at BYU seem like a breeze after this trip! Turns out we were given
wrong directions, but there was a small trail around the back that we took, and
after we turned the corner, there was a sign telling us we were on our way to
see the crusader fortress. Awesome! We found it pretty easily, and for the
first time since early that morning we weren’t surrounded by tons of
shopkeepers and tourists… just us and a little man with a coffee shop. These
tombs had some wicked graves in them, that looked like people were actually
buried there instead of excavated. Obviously lots of pictures were taken, and
then we realized we were running out of time. We raced back down to see the
Roman Amphitheater and Palace Tombs. The amphitheater was cool, very similar to
other one’s we’d seen. But, possibly the funniest moment of the trip happened
here.
There was a little boy trying to sell us postcards, and he would
not leave us(and by us I mean mostly Elizabeth) alone. Every time we got rid of
him, he came back about 30 seconds later. Finally, Elizabeth ran out of excuses
so she told the little boy to try Mike, because he had all the money. The boy
ran over to Mike and started pestering him (what we didn’t know at the time,
was that Mike had been telling the little boy the exact same lie about
Elizabeth.) Mike tries to joke about us with the little boy, but he got right
in his face, so Mike started backing up. Right into a big hole that led to the
cisterns. I watched as Mike teetered on the edge of this hole, windmill arms
and everything, then fell (I swear the whole thing was in slow motion) right
into this hole, completely disappearing. My first thought was “Mike may have
just died!” Elizabeth and I ran over, followed closely by Larson and Brooke
from another direction. Mike was trying to stand up at the bottom of about an 8
foot drop with 2 good size ledges sticking out of the sides. We were really
worried at first when he said he wasn’t ok. But he climbed out of the hole just
fine and clarified that he had hit his tailbone pretty hard.
He started walking
around trying to walk it off and another group came up and asked what had
happened. As I started to describe it, it hit me just how hilarious the
situation was… honestly it was like something straight out of a movie, and the
fact that Mike genuinely was alright. I started giggling… I swear I tried to
hold it in. But then Mike said something about how it was karma cuz he’d been
sending little kids at us all day, and the whole situation was comical… and I
lost it. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw up! I had to leave
and pull myself together. Even today, a week later, I can’t think about it
without a smile. Mike is okay, he even started running with us again a few days
ago, and he thinks the best part of the story now is how hard I was laughing.
After Mike’s dive, we really had to hustle to get to the
Palace. We hiked up, poked our heads in stood in amazement, and I may have
recounted the falling story to Matt and Mckay who we ran into there. We split
up pretty fast though, Mike, Elizabeth, Brooke and I wanted to ride camels and
the others wanted to explore a bit more. We hadn’t even made it down the hill,
before a man offered us a camel ride. I put my bargaining skills to work again
and got us a ride back to the Treasury for 5 dinars each. (I’m actually
ridiculously proud of that one!) Brooke and I had to double up, but I didn’t
even mind! It was a truly unique experience, and terrifying when the camel
stood up and sat back down. Surprisingly we got a lot of comments as we were
riding back (“Oh, camels make the ladies sexy!” “Hey you two in the middle
there, you sexy!” “Middle two lesbians?”) Yikes!! I didn’t realize camels were
an attraction factor.
Mike thought it was hysterical and I can’t really blame
him for anything after my reaction to his fall. We made it back to the treasury
where a lot of our group were hiring camels for pictures. (Can I just add, they
paid more to take a picture on the camel, then we paid to ride and take a
picture… booyah!) A couple of the guys decided to put 4 on a camel… it ended
almost in disaster with Larson making a full 360 around the camel’s neck and
the camel nipping at him and snorting like crazy. It was a perfect way to end
our day in Petra!
Alrighty… this post is already way to long. Kudos to you if
you made it all the way through! Promise, the rest of this trip won’t be so
lengthy (hopefully!)
Ellie
