Nov 27-29, 2010
Wadi Musa – Wadi Araba
Petra, an ancient city build by the Nabataeans yet in my imagination, it is the final hiding place of the Holy Grail in Indian Jones, the Last Crusade.
We wind through the narrow canyon of The Siq in the early hours of the morning. The Siq is longer than you anticipate and as I walked through, images of Indian Jones riding through the canyon flickers through my mind. At first I was eager to get to the Treasury, the temple craved into the sand stone mountains. But the further I walked into The Siq, the more I am taken by its majesty. The eventual arrival at the Treasury was nearly anti-climatic as the journey there was far more interesting.
I sit down at the bench and wait for the sun. Ellie (my awesome Aussi travel mate) sits down beside me and we take it all in. A handsome Bedouin man arrives with 2 camels and parks them down in front of the Treasury. He comes over and chats us up. He tells us about Petra, about the route he thinks we should take, about random bits of this and that. I remark on his excellent English and he says he has an excellent school, he learn from the tourists. There is a saying amongst the Bedouins, the babies sees the tourists before they see their mother. He invites us to the Bedouin village for tea later and maybe even dinner by a camp fire in the desert.
Late afternoon, Ellie and I find our Bedouin friend Teser (Te-shier) and we have some tea together and chats some more. There is something so genuine and lovely in his smile that Ellie and I agreed to join him for dinner out in the desert. We checked in with each other to make sure that neither of our spidy-sense were set off for any reason. We both find him to be lovely and genuine.
We meet Teser and Mohammed in the village and drive into the desert. At one point Ellie and I looked at each other and thought, we are in the desert with two strange men we don’t know!!! YIKES! Maybe this wasn’t the smartest thing ever. Yet, it was a lovely evening. They made us dinner by the camp fire, told us stories of their tribe and life in Petra. I asked them a million questions about livestock prices as I am now obsessed with the price of sheep since Eid. Teser was full of funny one-liners and silly riddles. One of his favorite one liners is, “No sugar no chai, no woman no cry.” Another is “You welcome, come everyday!”
The next day, they took us into the desert Wadi Araba. The day was spent with our Bedouin friends scampering in a desert they love and know so well. We camped in the desert and slept under the stars.
The Holy Grail promises eternal life. I glimpsed eternity as I dined under a million stars hosted by strangers generosity, new friends travel stories and the endless desert of Jordan.
Where have you had a glimpse of eternity?
Are you in search of the Holy Grail as well?
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