Petra is Overrated

Then we went to Petra.  We took a "bus"--normal in this part of the world, it's a minibus sort of deal that holds ten people, and which stops at any time to pick up more locals, who invariably pay less than you do for a ride.  We got to Petra (John left so it was Mary Ann and me only), got a room at the Valentine Hotel (never go there--they overcharge for everything, lock you out at night, are unfriendly, the rooms are tiny, the toilets broken).  Then we headed down to Petra.

Petra has been through four civilizations but it reached its height under the Nebeteans.  It was a crossroads for silk and spice routes--a thousand camels a day would travel through a crack no more than ten feet wide at points but a mile long, rent from the high cliffs in a moment of platectonic anger, opening into a valley of tombs.  People lived outside of Petra--it was a place to collect taxes and bury your dead only.  The Romans conquered it eventually.  Then something else happened.  A lot happened but it was hot and there were lots of dates and our guide talked ridiculously quickly.  Wikipedia likely has an arresting account of the details.

Burritos make for a better wonder of the world.

Petra was voted one of the new seven wonders of the world.  Let me try to tell you why.

To carve tombs the people worked directly in the sandstone, carving from top to bottom.  A rich person's tomb and the rich tombs are three stories high, replete with Greek and Egyptian influences, in red sandstone whose color shifts with the light.  Over time water has seeped into the stone and now it is rippled in reds, yellows, and greys, bright as a fresco in places, but completely natural.  We saw many of these tombs; we rode donkeys to the top of a treacherous hill and saw more tombs--tombs everywhere.  We saw ancient piping--thousands of years old, that carried water to the place.  The ancient Nabateans were masters and daming and piping, notable in a place where flash floods still kill people.  Curiously no bodies have been found in any of Petra's tombs.

Sounds good, huh?  Well, it was, but it came at a price.  The day cost us each about $60; my camera broke (i've bought two pentax digital cameras and they've both broken--I'll never get one again) and an old fashioned film disposable camera was $15...after negotiation; there were floods of tourists and gimmicks.  Jordan has the tourist thing down, in a sense, but it's exactly what will drive a tourist like me away.  If you like sanitary travel and have some money, Jordan's good.  If you like to roll up your sleeves and play in hustle bustle, Egypt's the place to go.

In my experience, Jordan's also significantly more misogynistic than Egypt.  It was in Petra I began to have serious misgivings about Arab societies that separate men from women until they get married.  You let a bunch of men roam the streets in the evenings and all sorts of perverse trouble brews.  Most uncomfortable was when Mary Ann and I got dinner--she's sixty mind you--and because I was not her son, I was assumed to be her prostitute.  That feeling was demeaning and uncomfortable--probably what women feel more often than we male toursits do in these countries.