Let me tell you about the best weekend I've had in a long time. I don't even know where to start off with, as has usually been the case when I've tried to share with friends experiences that were so incredible they seem unreal. But I'll try this time, instead of shutting off the way I did in the past about what I saw in France or India.
So it started out in a rented van (no no, not that - that was another car we saw on the way) with four friends and myself. We spent the whole weekend just making stupid jokes, no talking unless it was funny, and no analysis of any kind (except for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Andrew, but that doesn't count - I know, I know, counter-intuitive, but trust me, it's true). Exactly the brain break I needed after using all the brain juice I had to finish my MRP. Which has recently started haunting me again, but there's no need to talk about that right now. Back to the fun. So we're on the road, with a whole lot of salad, bread, cheese, McDonald's and ice cream, listening to music real loud, and a lot of stating the obvious - that we're in Jordan, that we're heading to Petra, and we're real excited about it. So we got to the hotel, ate at the buffet (included in the price of the room), changed and headed out to see Petra by night.
This is where it gets hard to describe, because it's no longer something I have words for. It's a long walk down past the entrance of Petra, to get to the ruins and the big sights - a long winding walkway between really high walls of rock. It was nice the next morning, but nowhere near as impressive as when you're walking by candlelight (along the path - the only source of light), and all you can see is a small band of stars up above. I walked most of it alone, away from the boys - that wasn't an experience I wanted to share with anyone. I felt like I hadn't been alone in so long, for even when I was, I had Chrétien, Harper, Axworthy, Nossal, etc keeping me company. But this time, I had all the space in the world to think about where I was, where I was going, what I was doing.. It was nice. And when I got to the end, to the front entrance of Petra, and they played traditional Jordanian instruments, served us tea, told us a story, all I could think of was how nothing I felt here measured to what I did when I was home in Algeria. When we danced for a wedding, or were just making lunch, or going to the beach. And so when I finished walking down the dark path, looking, just waiting for the end to come, I realized that my interest in Jordan, in the Middle East, was, is, more than anything, a way in, just a little closer to my family, to Algeria. So that was the soul-searching I did for the weekend - it remained in the back of my mind for the next couple of days (still is), but other observations were mostly in awe of the view. You'll understand once you see pictures.
The next morning, we were up at 5:15, to make it to Petra (to see it by day) by the time it opened at 6am. And we did, and it was worth it. Our whole way up, we saw two tourists, but left them behind early on. We raced through the first part fairly quickly, so we could make it up the walk to the Monastery early, before it got too hot, but mostly so we could see it in the good light. The only people we have in our pictures are one of the five of us, whoever we wanted in it. This is another part where I don't have words, and only a picture slideshow can clarify all we saw. The mountains, the rising sun on the red rock, the winding staircases (if you can really call them that) were just breathtaking. None of the tourist shops were even open. So we took pictures, stopped to drink water, took more pictures, walked some more. For one of the first times since arriving, I felt my leg muscles, and not only the ones I use to get in and out of cars. It was glorious - it just kept going and going. And my legs hurt, and I was out of breath, and I loved it so much - all I could think of (when I wasn't taken away by the view because I was staring at my feet to make sure I stepped on steady rocks) was how much I was looking forward to training when I get back in the fall. Frisbee here I come.
So climbing up in the neighbouring mountains, lots of great views and pictures later (I don't even want to try to describe, I could never do it justice - can't even put up enough pictures for you to see, will have to wait for my return!), we came back down to the Monastery and found a donkey that had escaped his guardian (which turned out to be a little boy).
I hadn't stopped talking about wanting to get on a donkey, so I took the opportunity that presented itself. Of course, easier said than done - I definitely did not balance appropriately the first time I tried, then was laughing too hard to either get fully on the donkey or off. But, I succeeded, and walked around a little bit before I could get caught. The boy came running down about five minutes later, so I was in the clear.
By the time we walked back down to the entrance of Petra, tourists were everywhere. We were pretty happy we had come as early as we did, because it did not seem fun at all to be surrounded by so many people in a such a beautiful place. Again, sorry I don't have better words for this, you'll have to wait for the pictures to really see its glory. Just as an indication though, I think what I found the most impressive were the mountains, and the size of it all. I could never have felt that, have had that experience with all the tourists all around. Not that feeling of being so small and insignificant when faced with the glory of the past - both man-made and naturally. Those mountains were incredible, and the light in which we saw them was the cherry on top. Truly phenomenal.
Wow, I never thought it would take this long for me to get through the weekend, but that was just the first day, and I need to go to bed. So I will stop there for now, and post again on Wadi Rum, dinner with a bedouin who had been to London and South Africa, our sleep underneath the stars, run up the sand dunes and drive with a goat. Completely different experience, but just as breathtaking. I wonder if I can tell my supervisor the reason I can't give him my revised MRP just yet is because I'm writing on my tourism instead.. ;)
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