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5 March, Saturday Petra

3/9/2011

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I’ve seen many pictures over the years of Petra and never thought I will be able to see it with my own eyes. We join busloads of tourists and walk pass interesting rock formations with evidence everywhere of the ancient Nabatean civilization that has thrived at Petra more than 2000 years ago.  Considered a world wonder and Jordan’s most valuable tourist attraction we are excited, not knowing what to expect.

The Nabateans were an industrious Arab people who carved this unique city into sheer rock face and cliffs. We enter the Siq – a narrow gorge almost 1 km long with 80 metre sides towering over us as we walk downhill to the ancient city in the valley. Nothing can really prepare one for what follows when you round a corner close to the end of the Siq…what you see is almost a shock to the eyes – framed by the tall cliffs the slit of the gorge are filled by a massive rosy-pink façade. Willie and the boys immediately knew what they were looking at – The Treasury where Indiana Jones found the holy grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Words cannot capture this unique, vast, beauty – or rather I lack the words to describe this experience. Photos will do better. I need more time to convert Willie’s photos from raw format to JPEG and promise to post them in the next few days.

We meet up with the boys at 4pm and Will is already in the bus that will take him to Amman. It was wonderful to have him join us and share the last few days with him.  

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    Caren

    "There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne - bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive. One only feels really free when one can go in whatever direction one pleases over the plains, to get to the river at sundown and pitch one's camp, with the knowledge that one can fall asleep
    beneath other trees, with another view before one, the next night." -
     Karen Blixen - Out of Africa, Kenya
    'Of course as I am reading this, I know that you DO get your visas and the container DOES get released, but oh the internal struggle we face even though we should trust (as Hugo does) that God has His hands on all things and is constantly taking care of us.'


    From a Friend:
    :) Crazy to think that we are ALL made of blood, bone and water yet we speak in so many tongues that getting along together becomes a massive task within itself.

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