the dan & carrie show

The first day, we explored Petra with Melinda, who's visited there once before and knew the "must see's" of the place. We arrived late, starting down the Siq (that crack in the rock) at 8am, and walked the 1.2km down hill until we arrived at the Treasury, that great monument made famous in Indy's movie "The Last Crusade". We snapped some shots and continued on.

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We climbed then to the "High Place" where the Nabatean's had set up a place of sacrifice. We sat for a while and enjoyed the views over the valley below and ate our lunch. From the High Place we took the back way down, towards the museum, enjoying more fantastic sights, and loving the protection offered by the surrounding rocks from the sun and wind.

Then off to the Monastery up another mountain, and more fantastic veiws. The facade of the Monastery is similar to that of the Treasury, and though less intricate it is much bigger and more impressive as it's so out of the way and you can get back far enough to take it all in. There were some locals playing the lute and a fife (similar to a guitar and a flute) inside and the sound: WOW! Such beauty. We left just before sundown to truck it back to the entrance for our shuttle back to the hotel, and we barely made it in time. It is 8 km from the Monastery to the entrance of the site, and we figure we logged approximately 24 kilometers that day - that's 15 MILES!!!

On the second day we merged with Paul's group and explored the "super secret back entrance" to Petra, which would be cool even if it did not lead into this ancient city.

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We climed to the top of the mountian oposite the High Place where we were the first day, and were rewarded with a view that the camera cannot convey. Looking down on the theater, and the size comparison of the people to the monuments was amazing. On our way down we passed the "Corinthian" so named because of the Corinthian columns. This monument is unique in that it is the only one in Petra which is both carved in, and build. It seems that the mountian was not big enough for their idea, so they added to the top left hand corner in order to complete the facade.

We also made our first attempt at Geocaching while in Petra. Something that we have wanted to try, but never really got around to until now. It was fun, even if Paul, Neal and Melinda actually take the credit for the actuall find. Definately going to do that again. If you have a GPS reciever, or even if you don't check it out, it is a cool game. http://www.geocaching.com

On the way out we stoped at the theater to get a look at it from up close instead of up high, and took one last look at the Treasury before going back up through the Siq.

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The Valentine put on a scrumptuous buffet for dinner every night that we were with them, including a special in-the-ground BBQ on the last night in celebration of Eid, and then it was on to Wadi Rum.

***Special thanks to our good friend Melinda for leting us steal her photos. All Photos named "Jordan from Melinda ##" are courtesy of Melinda.