1000 Camels

We’re back from Petra.  We actually visited Petra /betra/, Wadi Rum and Kerak.  Petra was by far the coolest part.  We walked for 8 hours straight, constantly re-applying sunblock and drinking water.  Most of the stuff there is from the Nabateans, but there’s also a Byzantine (I think) church there that was recently excavated and presented for viewing.  The church has lots of mosaics including this Camel-Giraffe.  I guess they had only heard of giraffes but had never seen them, so their best guess was a camel with spots.

My friend Piotrek told me that, when he was in the region, someone offered him 100 camels for his girlfriend, Asia.  Well, when my friends Mark, Margaret and I took donkeys up to see the ancient Nabatean monastery, my guide asked me how many camels I wanted in exchange for Margaret.  I said that it would probably take 1000 (roughly a million dollars).  You’d think he would laugh, but he quietly continued guiding us.  Perhaps that was why we thought our donkeys might take us off the edge later!  We originally bargained for them to take us up and down the thousand steps, but we gave him his money at the top and said “ma-selaama”.

Here’s the Indiana Jones gift shop.  Others capitalized on the movie theme and later added the Titanic theme shop.  Hmm…

Sinking in the waters of the Dead Sea…er…

Wadi Rum is basically desert.  That’s where they filmed Lawrence of Arabia as well as movies about Mars like “Red Planet” and “Mission to Mars”.  We slept in tents and had live music and catering.  Here’s a rock that I think was in the movies: