July 26, 2008

Today was a fun and exciting day that we've been anticipating for awhile. My friends Stephanie, Sophia, JJ, and I went to Petra!

Petra was built by the Nabateans, an ancient Arab tribe who settled in southern Jordan more than 2200 years ago. They became "the undisputed masters  of the region's trade routes, levying tolls, protecting caravans laden with Arabian frankincense and myrrh, Indian spices and silks, African ivory and animal hides." They established a powerful kingdom, ruling the greater part of Arabia until they were annexed to the Roman Empire in 106 A.D.

Petra displays both local and external cultural influences, with paved roads, agricultural terraces, water harvesting systems, artwork, temples, and theatres.

We only made it about half way through because it is so huge, tiring, and hot, but everything we did see was so beautiful and amazing! We woke up at 5:30 to catch a tourist bus at 7 AM, but when we got there we found out it was full, so we had to take a cab to a different bus station and took a public bus (which actually turned out to be better in a way because it was cheaper). Unfortunately, that meant we couldn't buy a round trip ticket and had to rush back in order to ensure that we could get seats on the bus coming back to Amman (or we would have had to get a cab for around 80 J.D.) But we went to Petra and back for less than 20 J.D. a person and had a great time! I'm really happy we got the chance to go and may get the chance to go again.