Jordan: Petra & Wadi Rum

Almost every building in Amman is made of white stone, which is readily available and good at reflecting heat. 

I'll be honest. My sole interest in coming to Jordan was to see Petra, or more specifically the Treasury. I realize this is cliche, but I'm an American 80s kid. I grew up watching and rewatching Indiana Jones movies on VHS. I even went through a phase where I thought I could be a relic hunter/professor when I got older. Adventure and academia mixed in with a little combat--it sounded like the life to eight-year-old Dani. 

Somewhere along the line though, I became an editor instead of Indiana Jones (similar, I know). But to honor my childhood dream, my adult self was set on seeing the spot where Indie rides out of the canyon on horseback with his father after thwarting Nazi attempts to steal the Grail….bumba dundunnnn. Bumba dunnn. Well, I'm happy to report that I've now checked Petra off my bucket list, but even happier that in the process I discovered so much more than I was looking for in Jordan. 

Jordanian hospitality, for one thing, blew me away. In the seven days Thore and I were there, we were invited to dinner no less than three times. THREE TIMES! And one of those times was while we were getting a free lift from Wadi Rum all the way to Amman (a four-hour ride) from Samer, the host at our bedouin camp, who just happened to be driving back that day. 

Traditionally you eat mansaf standing & with your hands.

After chatting on the ride to Amman about everything from religion to politics, and Germany's surprisingly close relations with the country (I was shocked at how many people spoke German there!), we asked if he knew anywhere that we could try Jordan's national dish, mansaf, which is lamb cooked in a tangy fermented yogurt sauce and served with rice. Not five minutes later, Samer asked if we'd like to join his family for mansaf that night. He'd made a quick call to his mom and asked if she'd cook it. We could hardly say no, or believe our luck!

The food and the company were fantastic, and after dinner (and despite our protests that it wasn't at all necessary) Samer even drove us to our hostel in Amman's crazy traffic. The definition of going above and beyond. And the most shocking part was that this generosity was something we encountered again and again in the country.

The following day, I found myself going to cook dinner with one of our hostel owners' mothers in Amman--a dream come true for this foodie. On the way, I chatted with the hostel owner about the role of cotton and slavery in the Civil War, the abolishment of Jim Crow laws, and how my generation was the first in North Carolina to have schools experiment with desegregation busing to improve race relations. I think these exchanges are really what makes travel a wonderful thing. You learn and you share, and the world becomes smaller and bigger all at the same time. 

Itinerary  

Looking back, I'd spend three nights in Amman, and use it as a base to take a day trip to Wadi Mujib, which has a gorgeous canyon hike through water that we didn't get to do. I'd subtract one night from Wadi Musa. One full day is enough to explore Petra, and the town was unpleasantly touristic. Vendors frequently significantly overcharge tourists, which you definitely feel given how expensive everything is in Jordan (this read gave me insight as to why it's so pricey). Numerous supermarkets refused to scan items, preferring to just make up prices. One man even shouted at us to leave when we asked if he would use a scanner. Not especially pleasant. 

Petra: More Than The Treasury  

The walk to the Treasury is dotted with countless
other buildings carved into rock.

We rocked up at the Petra Visitors Center 6.30 am the day of our visit, with me dragging Thore along, and not in the cute Instagram “flow me, this is so fun” way. No, it was literal dragging. The doors opened at 6 am, we were late, the man wouldn’t move his feet fast enough, and I NEEDED to see the Treasury before the crowds arrived. How else could I pretend I was an early explorer discovering it for myself?!? (why yes, it is a miracle he puts up with me sometimes).

I was incredibly pleased to find very few people felt the same way. At most you saw the odd couple here or there, but hardly the hoards of visitors I’d expected. Apparently the tourist buses only start to pour in around 9.00 am, so for the first few hours the vast settlement carved into red sandstone by the Nabataean people back in 9,000 BC is spectacularly solitary.  

Walking through to the Siq, a long natural gorge with 80-meter-high rock walls on either side, and peering around the corner to see the Treasury reveal itself is an experience like none other. You are immediately humbled. The canyon's beauty alone is enough to make you marvel, but add the architectural talent and immense effort required to chiseling something so stunning into stone and it's immediately clear why Petra is considered a wonder of the world. There are a few spots around the Treasury that offer a view of it from above as well. Be sure not to miss those! 

I wanted to have the Treasury to myself, but someone beat me to it.

After this highlight, we took the rest of Petra at a more leisurely pace (translation: I chilled out enough to walk at a normal speed again). The layout of the park is such that you walk in one direction until reaching an endpoint, and then return on the same path. 

The entire loop, including a few side stops for this or that tomb or viewpoint, was about 10-12 kilometers. The majority of the trail is very easy, but it starts to go uphill as you reach the "end" of the loop, which is marked by the Monastery, a monument I found even more impressive than the Treasury. 

Before anyone gets upset, hear me out! It's bigger, you can get closer, and there are fewer people who made the trek to see it. Plus, there are a few pretty great vista points nearby, so it's definitely worth the hike!

Nestled in the corner of a mountain, the Monastery is lesser known,
but every bit as striking as the Treasury.

The Serenity of Wadi Rum 

To reach the bedouin camp where we were staying, we first had to drive about 10 minutes from the visitors center through the desert in a four-wheel drive. We bounced along the sizzling sand dunes and past gargantuan rock formations made up of layers upon layers of red rock that seemed to be melting on the edges, while breathing the hot, dry air into our nostrils. 

When the engine finally cut off and we arrived at camp, it felt like we'd landed on another planet. The landscape was so unique, the scale of everything so vast, and the silence so unfamiliar. The terrain looked like a mix between Mars and a Dali painting of stacks and stacks of pancakes covered in dripping syrup (at least to me). Otherworldly and mystical. I can definitely see why Hollywood comes here to film movies like the Martian and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Our host at the camp said he even managed to sneak into the filmset of a few movies, most recently Aladdin, and even got to meet Will Smith!

After resting up in the communal tent where meals are held and you can take shelter from the beating sun, we decided to venture out for a short hike of the surrounding area. To our surprise, the landscape, which on first glance seemed so inhospitable, was actually teeming with signs of life. The silence that at first felt almost uncomfortable started to take on a peacefulness. 

Every sand dune was covered in tracks of various animals. We learned that the desert is home to lizards, mice, snakes, foxes, Arabian sand cats, and wild dogs, among other animals. Here and there, we found bones of a deceased animal, and managed to get close to a few lizards. 

We sat at the campfire evenings to stargaze
 (photo credit to Stardust Camp).

At night, the camp cooled off considerably, giving us a welcome break from the heat. We were lucky enough to visit during a new moon, which made for some of the best stargazing I've ever had. The Milky Way was so clear that you could see the spots where it became more and less dense. A total treat for this city girl. 

On our last day in the desert, we did a jeep tour. I got to hike up some dunes, pet camels, see ancient artwork carved into stone, and climb to a hidden water source, which fills up in the winter months, but at this point was almost entirely dried up.

Weekly Spending

*Costs are my share of traveling as a couple.

Jordan is not a cheap country, as mentioned above, so expect to spend a fair amount. I think if you are at least two people renting a car would also be a really good option, because the buses all went very early in the morning and were not especially cheap! If you don't get your own car, be sure to use Uber for local transport rather than trying to hail a cab, because you're likely to get charged considerably more otherwise.

I'd also like to mention that our costs would have been higher if we had to pay for the three meals that we ate for free and the additional bus ride from Wadi Rum to Amman.