I was expecting to see a couple buildings carved into the mountains, not a full extensive city that takes hours to traverse. Many of the paths have washed away, so you can see steps way up in the mountains with no beginning in sight. Luckily much of the city is left open to explore on your own. If I saw an interesting looking path, I followed, if I saw a bunch of houses and buildings above the main level, I tried to find a way to get there.
As the day went by, I hiked a trail that took me to a spot that allowed me to see one of Petra's main attractions from the top of a mountain. Up there, I met a local that spoke very little English. He invited me into his tent to join him for some tea. After I left him, I continued to try to find a way to get higher up the mountain. I followed washed away paths and did a little light climbing to reach the highest point on this side of the city. The wind was really strong and my fear of heights was peaking!
The whole city was covered with little shops with locals trying to sell you all the same things, rocks, necklaces, bracelets, and out of focus postcards. The food was also out of is world expensive, so I just stuck to my bottle of water. They were also offering donkey, horse, and camel rides around the city.
After about 5 hours of hiking and seeing the main parts of the city, I headed to the famous monastery in the back of the city. About this time, I was seriously low on energy, wishing I had packed some food. To put it in perspective, a small orange cost around $6. The hike up to the monastery was extremely long, around 900 stairs if I remember correctly. Most of the stairs are washing away. As I began my ascent, it started to rain; many of the locals were telling me not to go up there because of a possibility of a flash flood. This ancient city happens to be at the bottom of all the mountains and in a perfect valley. Do you think I was seriously going to fly half way around the world, just to start walking up to one of the most famous sights in the world and turn around because of some water? I don't think so.
As soon as I got to the top, a local told me that the government has shut down the city because of flooding. As I got down to the bottom, the rain really picked up and I had to take refuge in the bathroom with two people from Madrid and a couple locals. The road back to the entrance had turned into a river, and the only other road was flooded over, so the trucks couldn't make it to get us. Luckily, as I got to know the Spaniards, they shared the leftover bread, meat, and cheese that they had stowed away in their pack.
After the rain subsided, we hiked up a small mountain so that we could get around the flash flood that was blocking the secondary road out of the city. Some locals were waiting for us and gave us a ride back to the main entrance, around the city.
Tomorrow I am waking up early and riding three hours south of Petra to Aqaba, a small city that rests on the Red Sea. From there, I will be taking a ferry to Eastern Egypt. I have a friend of a good friend that I will be meeting and staying with. Very excited to see eastern and southern Egypt. My travels will not take me to Cairo, so I will be safe from the conflicts and I will be in good keepings of some locals. As of 4 days ago, I had absolutely no idea that I would be where I am now. Like I continue to say: only time will tell and anything is possible.
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