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| The Monastery - last glimpse |
“Are you afraid of heights?” We all answered
‘No…,’ as our guide planned the end of our tour. “In that case, we’ll hike out
the far side of Petra and through the mountains. Someone will pick us up on the
road at the other end and drive us back to the hotel.”
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| Scree covered ledge |
It’s hot and dry – don’t venture out
without water, we were told. So, I bought two bottles at the Petra site from the
Capt Jack Sparrow twins’ café – well, that’s what we called them – their young
swarthy faces capped with tight Arabic headscarves and their eyes traced top
and bottom with black khol (eyeliner). They looked the image of the Johnny Depp
pirate. So much so that I copied the look for Halloween (...as the good Captain’s
grandpa, Carol said)!
We left the Monastery* and headed away from
Petra along a mountain path, climbing at times steeply, at times along
precipitous narrow ledges, a sheer drop to one side. And, sometimes we
scrambled up loose, scree-covered hillsides. It was late afternoon; shafts of
sunlight cut through the ridges, throwing valleys into deep shadow. We came
upon the foundations of Neolithic buildings. Why would anyone live up here? To
safeguard themselves and their families; to be found was instant death.
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| Local Shop-Owner (silhouetted) |
From time to time, Abdullah would call out;
usually the response was an echo but once someone high on a mountaintop above us called back …and the two of them had a conversation. Oh, he’s a friend of
mine; he lives up there. What does he do? He runs a shop! You’d hike
miles from civilization, it seemed, and you’d struggle round a rock to find
someone offering tea and selling local trinkets. But today, other than this guy,
we came across no one.
Like all good guides, Abdullah made our
trip memorable; our favourite was when he lined us up on a mountain ridge with
the sun behind us for a photo; only when we saw the picture did we realize we’d
become the ‘evolution of man’ poster. Good job we didn’t know what he was doing
or we may have questioned the order of the line-up!
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| The March of Humanity? |
Disturbingly, two hours into our hike, he
got on his cell phone to arrange our lift home… And, as we climbed, we could
see for miles, but there was no sign of any road. As the sun disappeared behind
a peak, we started to question how far we’d have to walk. ‘Not far now,’ was
always his response.
Eventually, with the light fading quickly,
we clambered up to a dusty plateau. There was our vehicle – a battered Isuzu pick-up truck. All nine of us, four in the flatbed and five inside, squeezed
in. Then we drove off; this wasn’t a road in any traditional sense. The track
had deep holes and was strewn with rocks; at times it disappeared. As with our
hike, the truck edged along ledges, slid down slopes and occasionally seemed
to hang motionless for no reason. The driver and our guide talked, laughed and
answered their cell phones without a pause as the vehicle lurched from side to
side. We drove like this for more than 30 minutes, passing the occasional Bedouin
tent or lighted cave; reminding us that yes, people live here. It was dark
before we reached a real road and finally, the hotel. On the mountain
many of us had said: ‘Wow, when I get in that vehicle, I’ll be asleep in seconds’,
but, none of us were able to remain still long enough to doze.
That was Petra! Next day, we went back for
more…
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| Petra - Late afternoon mountain vista |
‘In UAE, with the placid Arabian Sea?’ I
asked. 
