I don't think I'm nearly up to writing about the last two days.  They've been overwhelming.  The original plan, years ago, was to see Petra.  The original plan this Spring was to drive the King's Highway and see Petra.  Those were the two things we wanted to and those two day were yesterday and today. 

The King's Highway was mentioned in the Bible as the road Moses wanted to use to lead the people up to the promised land.  It was an ancient trading route.  Most of the Jordanians told us not to take it because it's slow.  But the slowness was part of the reason we wanted to take it.  It winds through endless small towns and across severe desert and even down and up what is called the little grand canyon.  Khaled, our trusted cabby, picked us up to take us to the airport to fetch our car.  It was relatively easy to get the car and after getting lost right out of the airport, we headed to the town of Madaba.  There is an old church called St. George's church with an old mosaic of a map of the ancient world.

After that, we drove 20 minutes up the road to Mr. Nebo is where Moses was said to have gone to once more look at the promised land and it is the place where he died.

There is a church at the top that contains some amazing mosaics from the 2nd century.  The ones on the wall were over the ones on the floor which is why they are so well preserved.

This is the symbolic tomb of Moses.  I don't know why I took a picture of it.  It could be the symbolic tomb of any dead person I suppose.

Then it was time for the big drive.  Here are some images of what we saw.

These pictures don't do justice to the vastness and barrenness of the desert here.

At some point, we got hungry enough to be brave enough to pull over and find some food.  We got a lot of stares in town but we found a place that made a cross between a gyro (shwarma) and a burrito and they also made falafel sandwiches.  I tried to explain what we wanted but it wasn't working.  All of a sudden, a man who was waiting for his food stepped up and asked us what we wanted and ordered for us.  It turns out, he was the English teacher at the school in town. He took us outside to sit and a random person brought us some chairs and we waited after he left.  Another man, dressed like a sheik, came up and asked where we were from.  He welcomed us to Jordan and invited us to his house.  I misunderstood and said, we're going to Petra.  It's just as well, I might have accepted and Rebecca informed me there was no way we were going.

I should say that on the drive, 100% of the women wore at least head scarves if not more and a lot more of the men wore traditional robes and head scarves. 

Our next stop was at Kerak Castle.  This was the only hard driving as it was a very steep town with tiny streets. Fortunately, it wasn't very busy.  We found a parking space and headed for the castle.  When we walked in, there was a man who began giving us a tour.  He never asked, he just started walking and talking.  Fortunately, I had put in our itinerary to find a guide since there are no explanations of anything. He was very nice, of course, and explained things quickly and well.  I will say, every room was one of three things; a bedroom, a place for hanging people, or a place to shoot camels.  Oh, there was one dining room.  Every ruin we saw on this trip was better than the last, and this one was even better than the ones we had seen.  

This hole was the opening to the cistern. 

Yassif pulled some toilet paper out of his pocket and dropped two flaming charmins down the hole so we could see how deep it was.  Of course, you can't tell from this picture but I like it because it looks like a Jawa fell in.

He asked me to pick up this big rock which I thought was an ancient cannonball and then told me to throw it.  I don't know why.  If it makes the expression on my face any less sad, the thing weighed 48.5 pounds.

In a scene Rebecca was expecting at some point but not looking forward to, Yassif took her scarf and tied it in a traditional bedouin manner.  And here she is - Rebecca of Sheeba!

We were really tired by this point.  We had been on the road for 8 hours but we still had 2 to go.  These were some of the things we saw pulling into Petra. The first pictures are of "little petra".  It's just one facade but we thought it would be a good appetizer!

Our hotel is spectacular but intimidating to get into. I've never dealt with so much security at an airport. But they upgraded us and invited us to a happy hour for special people so that was good.

I bought the breakfast/dinner package since Wadi Masa, where Petra is, is not much of a town.  After dinner and freshening up, we headed to "Petra at night."  They do it three times a week.  The part of Petra you might know from Raiders Of The Lost Ark is the first carved building in the area.  It is a 30-minute walk downhill to get to.  About half of which is through beautiful slot canyons.  They line the pathway with candles on both sides.

Once you're there, the ground is covered with candles and you can see the Treasury faintly lit.  They laid down rugs for everyone to sit on, there were about 1000 people, and they brought tea around.  It was magical.

It was magical for about 15 minutes but we sat for almost 40 minutes with nothing happening.  At one point a local dog came over to drink the last bit of my tea and I got to pet him for 10 minutes or so.  That was nice but he felt like he had all the dog things you shouldn't be touching!  Just when I wanted something to happen, the show started.  Then I immediately regretted wanting something to happen.  A "flute player" played nonsense for 10 minutes.  I was praying for him to stop.  Then the next "act" started; a "cellist" played poorly for another 10 minutes.  I began to miss the flute player!  He played the same thing over and over and sometimes sang along.  Rebecca said it was a famous musical form - A A A A A A A A A A A!!!  At some point, there was a B.  It was a bit thrilling.  But then...A A A A A. Finally, it was over and a man came out to talk for 10 minutes.  I almost missed the cellist.  We don't know what he said but we heard enough to know that it was racist and misogynistic.  Mostly it was nothing with a lot of microphone feedback.  That was the best music we heard all night!

But then, finally, over an hour and a case of fleas later...

Remember how I said the walk there was half an hour downhill?  Well...

I was certainly exhausted but really excited about the next day.  It really didn't disappoint.

Jordan Day 3 It's a nice town but it could use some dusting and a few throw pillows

 There was one superhost "experience" guide listed on Airbnb and, not having any luck looking elsewhere on the internets to find guides, I booked him to take us to the city of Jerash which is about an hour north of Amman.  Originally we wanted to also go to the town of Um Qais (pronounced "case") but he told us it would be a long day and in fact, eventually admitted he had never been there.  Of course, what we've learned is that everyone in Jordan is a tour guide.  I asked our cab driver Khaled to come pick us up this morning to take us to our guide Raid and when I told him that I realized everyone was a tour guide in Amman he said, "No.  Every guy in the middle east is a tour guide and every guy knows everything."  Turns out - except Raid!  Raid drove a beautiful black Mercedes and spoke beautiful English.  We thought we had booked a tour guide but we really just booked a driver and lunch companion.  He was a fascinating guy though and we got to spend 4 hours with him asking all about the culture here in Jordan.  I won't go into his whole story but one of them involved over a dozen surgeries in Israel to have a tumor removed from his spine.  Anyway, it was involved.  We also got to talk a lot about Keto.  More on that later. 

The drive to Jerash gave us an opportunity to see more of Amman which, once you get over one of the hills, turns more modern and eventually more, for lack of a better word, dessert pastoral.  It also gave me a bit of insight as to what driving is going to be like.  Let's just say that driving seems to be an endless game of chicken and there don't seem to be lanes but cars move like flocks of birds without hitting each other. 

Here are some pictures of the ruins in Jerash.  

Of course I didn't back up far enough to get the entire entrance gate but here it is.

This is the hippodrome where they raced hippos.  No, wait, they rode bicycles, no, again, they had chariot races and gladiator fights apparently.

This is behind the hippodrome and I assume was sort of a paddock but the information signs don't give a lot of information and Riad gave even less.  At one point, he patted a piece of a column and said, "It's really really old."  Thanks, Riad!

There was no way to get a picture to show just how massive this place was.  We never saw anything like this in Greece in terms of the sheer scale and outlay of the town.  Of course, it would have been even more impressive if the Parthenon was here.

We did read that this was a fountain and at every hole there was a stone lion's head whose mouth the water came out of.

Right outside the walls - goats.

That's Riad on my right.

The following pictures were taken by a guy selling trinkets. We didn't buy any trinkets but we gave him 2 dinar (about $2.50) for the photo shoot. To be honest, I tried to give him 1 dinar but he demanded 2.

We didn't know what he was doing with this picture but apparently, I was supposed to be holding a camera and taking a picture of ourselves.  

Hippodrome video

Too fast panorama

Take me out to the ballgame

Our little skit

Rebecca's fantastic quote

We had a much-needed nap in the afternoon before walking down the hill for our nightly...

Trying to get Turkish Ice Cream

I asked Rebecca how long we would have to be here before we tried their other things...

Alas, twas not to be.

It was 6:45 and we didn't know what else to do with our evening, still being full from lunch and our Kanafeh.  Rebecca had the idea to go up to the Citadel to watch the sunset.  Traffic was getting nutty and it took us a while to get a cab but finally an older guy picked us up.  He didn't speak English or know the name Citadel so he pulled over and asked some guys if they spoke English.  One came and interpreted and took my phone with Google maps and gave it to the driver who used it to get us up the hill.  We made it with 5 minutes to spare before they stopped letting people in.

We walked around a different way from yesterday when we came to a sort of dead end. Rebecca decided to find a way down.

Parcourt!

This is what we were rewarded with.

Watching Amman sunset

Meanwhile, the wind blew my hat off and it landed on a wall behind us.  Fortunately, I'm all "billygoaty" so I retrieved it without breaking my hip!

The call to prayer started as we were leaving which seemed pretty appropriate.  Taxis were waiting outside and all wanted to barter for a price.  I think cab rides are cheap but they never turn their meters on so they either ask me to pay what I want or quote me some fantastical price. They also want to take us other places to show us on the way home.  I wanted to pay 5 dinar but ultimately paid 10 which was still better than the 20 they wanted.  I'm not a barterer.

We went to a rooftop bar down the street before heading back to the apartment.  Rebecca had a glass of wine and I had a glass of Arak which is their version of ouzo.  It was a beautiful scene.

And that's day three.  The real adventure starts tomorrow as we drive south along the King's Highway to Petra.  Cross all your fingers!