KOJ pt 3. CAMELS.

~June 27~

Petra! Today was Petra day. I missed the shuttle from my hotel to the gate, so I walked to Nicki's hotel, then went to the gate with her group. I bought my ticket -- 55 JOD for 2 days. Again, NOTHING is cheap in Jordan, but most especially not Petra.

The road to Petra begins as a wide open gravelly sandy path with horses on one side, and walkers on the other. There are a lot of men trying to sell you horse rides. They tell you it's free, it's included in the ticket, but it's not actually free. They'll make you tip them 20 JOD by the end of it.

It's a good thing I don't really like horses and the thought of riding one terrified me anyway, so we just walked. It's about a 10-15 minute walk on gravelly roads, then you get to the Siq, which is the famous canyony part. That goes on for about 20 awesome minutes. Nicki and I felt like Indiana Jones.

Then the Siq opens up to the Treasury, the carving that's famous from Indiana Jones. There are lots of camels and donkeys here, and people trying to sell you an "air conditioned taxi." An air conditioned taxi is a ride on a horse or donkey. I just ignored them. Nicki was on a hunt for a necklace one of her friends wanted, so we stopped in a lot of shops, which were sprinkled along the main road. We'd gotten separated from her group at the point, but eventually found them sitting on some stairs farther down the main road. They had a Penn State archaeologist there explaining how many years they'd dug in that area and that it had once been a pool and garden.

Then her group went off to lunch and I ate a pickle and drank a coke. After lunch they went back to their house, so I was on my own and began my solo exploration. I thought I might climb up to the monastery but someone in her group said it was a long trek and I was already pretty tired, so I just went back in the direction

I'd come from and climbed various stairs. I really like exploring outdoor areas so I had a lot of fun, but it was super hot and I was tired and had all day the next day to explore, so I headed back to my hostel about 2:30.

Good thing I did, because the trek back up the Siq is LONG and arduous because it's up hill, and then I had to trek up to my hostel, which was also uphill. I could barely move by the time I got back, but I eventually met up with Nicki for a yummy dinner.

~June 28~

So begins my first day of solo travel. After having explored Petra halfway by myself the day before, I thought I'd be fine today. Except for some reason people would NOT leave me alone Saturday. No matter how many times I said la shukran (no thank you), they men selling horse rides wouldn't stop asking me. La shukran and two men still followed me on donkeys, hoping if they stuck with me for 15 minutes I'd pay for a ride. No, no, no. I want to explore alone, leave me alone. One even lectured me about chatting with locals, how helpful it is. Sure, maybe, if the locals aren't trying to SELL ME SOMETHING.

I hightailed it for the monastery first thing Saturday morning because I knew it'd be a long trek and I wanted to get up there before it got to hot. It was definitely a trek. I was super worn-out by the time I got to the top. The views were amazing, though, and pictures don't do them justice. You could see Israel from there, or so a random goat herd told me. For some reason I let this little old man guide me to random places. He led me to some cliff with a nook and took my picture. While I was sitting there with him and he was smoking, I was thinking, "Wow, this is really dumb of me. He could legitimately push me off the ledge and kill me." But he

did not. He led me out. It's just he kept trying to show me other views and I had to insist no, no thank you, I really need to get back down the mountain, but thank you for your tour!

And then I scampered off, thinking it was the only time I'd be dumb enough to be led to a cliff with a strange man.

Oh, I was wrong.

After I got down from the monastery I took a breather and drank a coke, trying to get up enough energy to make it up to the Highest Place of Sacrifice. The paths in Petra are not easy. There's so much sand, or so many rough stones and gravel, or so many stairs. Nowhere you walk is easy and I honestly don't know how I'd have done it if I was in worse shape.

After my breather I decide hey, I need to try to get up to the

Highest Place of Sacrifice because when else would I have the chance? So I begin my trek with my big bottle of water, and of course a man tries to offer me a donkey ride. I say no, and let him pass me. Well, at one point I freak out that the steps are not steppy enough and I might get stuck up there and I decide I'll go back down, but donkey man is still watching me and he yells at me that I'm almost there, so I decided to suck it up and at this point I let him lead me where I'm going.

Except I don't think he led me to the Highest Place of Sacrifice. Instead he leads me to some cliff and takes my picture and tries to convince me to take a horse ride out to the entrance another way. I say no, not because I figure he'll charge me a huge sum of money, but because this path had already freaked me out enough and I didn't want to take a scarier path. Like it was steep and rocky and I slipped at one point and got thorns in my hand. I was not about to go another mysterious way, even if it was on a horse. What if I fell off the horse?!

So I finally convince the guy to let me go my own way and he leads me to the path we'd taken and I run into the first donkey man who'd lectured me about not talking to locals. I'm just like, is this for real. Really.

Well, thank goodness there's an American family there, so I decide to attach  myself to this family and chat with the woman who's from Michigan. Turns out they'd run into the horsemen at the entrance to Petra and had taken the long "scenic" route in. It was 2:30. They hadn't even seen anything, and the woman said the path had been terrifying and she obviously wanted to just leeeave. Her husband ended up paying 170 JOD for the ride for her, her son, and himself. That's $240.

Yeeeesh.

There was also an Asian guy up there asking for directions to the Highest Place of Sacrifice, but the lady (Jude) and I began the trek down. They hadn't come up this way, so she was happy to have me leading her, and I was happy to have company so many the horsemen would stop bugging me.

At one point there's this scuffle and the horsemen are chasing the Chinese dude and yelling and me and Jude are like ahhh what is happening so we're trying to book it down the path, but like I said, the stairs aren't really stairs...more rocks with a slash drawn in them. So it's not the fastest route to take down.

We saw the Chinese dude later and he said they'd tried to take his money but he got away. I expect he let them lead him to the place he was looking for and expected money and he'd said no. I'm honesty surprised none of my donkey followers demanded money from me for leading me places.

Once we're down, I separate from the family and head back. I decided to take a taxi this time because I was super tired, then I just sat in my hotel room the rest of the night eating chips and drinking Coke because I couldn't move.

My legs hurt sooo bad. I did the trek in barefoot shoes, which worked OK but they really use your calve muscles, so my calves were super angry with me.

~June 29~

The first day of Ramadan. Knowing there'd be no food during the day, I get up for breakfast. I had no real plans to leave the hostel after how much I'd been bugged the day before, except maybe meeting up with Nicki for dinner.

So that's what I did. I read all day, then met up with Nicki once the sun went down and restaurants opened. I ate chicken and fries and it was good.

~June 30~

I had nothing to do Monday but wait for my bus ride back to Amman, which wasn't till 4:30. The bus was only 9.50 JOD, not bad at all, and there were only 6 people on it. Once I got to Amman, 3 hours later, I tried to find a taxi. At this point I literally only had 25 JOD on me, so I had to find a taxi ride for that much. I had a 20 and 5 singles.

The first taxi guy I ask says it's 50 JOD to the airport. I was like uh, no, how about 20, and he says 25. So I say OK, but that's all I have, so that has to be enough. I don't know if he understands me, but I just want to get to the airport at that point, so I hope on in.

He's telling me how no one is on the streets because it's Ramadan, but then is quiet for the rest of the ride.

That's when I notice he doesn't have a taxi meter, which sends off red flags in my brain. Hmmm...all taxis are required to have a meter... I also don't see a certificate saying he's a taxi driver...but the taxi said taxi on the outside.

So I just plot in my head. I notice we're definitely going to the airport, so I figure worst case scenario, when we get there, I open the door and get out before paying him, then the most he can do is take my bag. Oh well, bye bye camera, clothes, souvenir. The bag on me has my passport and everything I needed to get home, so that was all that mattered to me.

We get there, I open the door, hand him the money, get out, and am about to grab my suitcase from the trunk when he's like, "Excuse me, excuse me" and waves my money at me. He's like "This is only 6." So I take it and examine it, like, no, there's a 20, I gave you a 20, I only had a 20 and 5 singles!!! But he handed me 6 singles. So I'm like, what the HECK, check my wallet for my 20, then realize he's actually trying to scam me by replacing my 20 with a 1. Really. REALLY? So I say, NO, I GAVE you 25, then I shut the door, grab my bag, and go inside. He'd obviously realized he couldn't scam me at the point, and shrugged and left, but I was so mad I was shaking.

Lucky for me I legitimately only had 25 JOD on me, so I knew he was wrong.

So here's where I stop before I get into the part where I was so mad about all of that and I'll just write down some general notes.

1. The men were very nice, but very pushy. They wouldn't take no for an answer. I don't think I was ever in any real danger, but it was really frustrating for my no's not to be taken seriously. When I say no, I MEAN it.
2. Petra is wonderful and I'd totally recommend it, but it's superrrr exhausting.
3. Jordan is NOT a cheap place to travel. Everything is very expensive.
4. Everyone seemed to love America, so there was no anti-American sentiment.