Arrival today is at 10am, and we are to meet our tour group (fortunately a different group of people) at 9:45 to disembark. The late arrival makes the morning easy – we can still hit the gym, have breakfast and get ready without rushing. A big bonus for me because my hair will be dry by the time we go outside – it is considered poor manners to go out with wet hair in Jordan.
We all gather, meet everyone, get our group stickers (the group leader Jeff is totally organized, our stickers even have the bus letter on them) then head off the ship as soon as we are cleared. It takes a couple of minutes to find our tour operator and guides, but once we connect, everything goes really smoothly. We are led to our Van B, and off we go on our 2 hour ride to Petra.
Our Guide, Adhib, launches into a broad overview of Jordan and Jordanian history as we drive up and out of the port. Development here is restricted to only a few stories and everything is built in a stair step manner so that most every home has a view of the water. We get glimpses of the bay as we head into the mountain area toward Petra.
We learn that what we mistook for Aqaba – which looked huge as sailed in – was actually Egypt on our left, Israel directly ahead and only a little sliver was the port city of Aqaba, Jordan. As the scenery changes (a theme that will continue throughout our entire drive), Adhib tells us that Jordan is the 4th driest country in the world. There are places where less than 3mm of water fall per year.
We happily sit and listen to him as we watch the mountain scenery roll by. Starting with craggy brownish mountains, striped with iron (green) and red (phosphate?) deposits.
As we continue on, the mountains change color and shape, reflecting more of a sandy brown color, like the desert below them.
We start seeing herds of goats and sheep, as well as their Bedouin herders walking across the Wadi (valley)….
…and low slung white towns springing up from the desert floor.
Climbing up, up, up into the mountains we go, passing Bedouin tents made of Black Goat’s hair that keeps the tents warm in the winter and cool in the summer, dotting the hillsides, all alone in the vast emptiness of the Wadi.
The views are amazing. They stretch forever – on and on across the undulating landscape, and far out into the distance – much farther than the eye can see.
And we thought Petra would be the only highlight of our tour today – the journey there is turning out to be well worth the price of admission.
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