Hanging with the locals in Petra
Cairo, Egypt
It's time to get back to catching up on my updates instead of messing around with phone calls and photos. Last time I left you, I was telling you all about Petra , and how I had met Abdullah, one of the local Bedouins and had taken him up on his offer to join him on my third day in Wadi Musa....
So, that morning, after checking out of my crappy hotel, I met up with Teena in "downtown" Wadi Musa. (Teena was the Australian traveler that was with Rob and Atila, when I met all three of them the day before down in Petra.) Teena and I hailed a taxi and headed over to the Bedouin village, about a 5-10 minute taxi away from Wadi Musa. Even though the Bedouin are technically nomadic, this village/town is pretty permanent. The buildings are all concrete and brick, there are schools, stores, etc... The only there isn't are hotels and tourists, which is in stark contrast to Wadi Musa which exists simply to cater to tourists.
The taxi dropped us off on the main street where we asked a small girl walking by if she knew where "Abdullah" lives. Turns out there are dozens of Abdullah's but once we described him a bit she led us right to his place. We quickly learned that Raza, the girl, was Abdullah's younger sister. It quickly becomes very difficult to keep track of how people are related. First off, everyone is related somehow, and the terms "brother" and "sister" are used even if it's not biologically 'correct'.
Teena and I hung out at Abdullah's for a few hours. He's building a new house in the village and with only one room essentially complete, we all just hung out in his bedroom watching TV and listening to Bob Marley. Ultimately some food arrived, breakfast for them prepared by his mom and/or sister. With that finished, Abdullah, Teena and I started hiking down to Petra from the village.
Abdullah was pretty much our personal tour guide. Someone else must have been watching over his camels that day because he spent the entire day showing us around Petra. The walk in from the Bedouin Village is dramatically different then the one from the main gate. (Arguably, the main gate entrance is more spectacular as you walk through the narrow canyon, but it was still interesting to approach Petra from some "high ground" and pass ruins that others wouldn't normally see without a huge hike out of the canyon.)
Down in Petra, we made several stops for tea and met a bunch of the other Bedouin workers in Petra. I decided to split from Abdullah and Teena to try and quickly make it up to one of the "high places of sacrifice", before meeting back up with them for the hike to the Monastery. Time was somewhat limited as we wanted to be up at the Monastery in time to watch the sunset, so I finally buckled and rented a damn donkey to get my sorry ass (yes, pun intended) up to the top. Normally, I'm quite against the whole donkey/camel renting because it just seems so lame to be sitting on a donkey/camel while the owner walks in front, towing it along. If I'm going to use a camel, I want everyone on the camels so that we can cover some great distances. A donkey is even worse because you can almost touch the ground as you ride it, further making you feel like a lazy ass for not walking yourself.
In this case, I told the donkey renter, with Abdullah's help, that I only wanted to take a donkey if he also rode a donkey so that we could get up to the summit quicker. Ultimately he agreed, and the two of us setup for the high place... Well, within minutes it was clear that the other donkey was not going to cooperate because he was slowing down the pace rather then helping it out. It didn't take long for the owner to hop off his donkey, to it to a rock, then start towing my donkey. Exactly what I didn't want... Well, one thing I've learned when it comes to hiking is to never under estimate the locals. Wearing jeans, some sort of cowboy boot / sandal hybrid and smoking a cigarette, this guy pretty much ran up the side of the mountain. After about 15-20 minutes, we had arrived for a hike that probably would have taken me around 45 minutes. Go figure.
After getting treated to spectacular views of the canyon below, I headed down the backside to meet back up with Abdullah and Teena, who were waiting for me at the start of the trail for the Monastery. The Monastery trail is not particularly hard, but it is about 45 minutes of constant uphill hiking. At least half of the trail is carved into the rock, including hundreds (maybe thousands?) of steps.
Once up at the Monastery, we met up with several other Bedouin who essentially call the Monastery home. They took us up behind the ruins where we got to experience the Monastery from the top, looking down. An area that few other tourists get to enjoy. The true size and scale of the Monastery can't really be appreciated until your standing on top of it and people down below realize just how big it really is when compared to a person.
Of course, the Bedouin are like little professional rock climbers and scampered all over the cliffs, resulting in some pretty impressive displays of balance and fearlessness of heights. One of the Bedouin named Fawaz is an avid flute player and to listen to the flute while sitting atop the Monastery looking back down towards Petra was pretty magical.
As the sun set, we all headed back down and regrouped in the cafe under the tent. Several other tourists started to make the hike back down to Petra, but Teena and I stayed up there, along with a couple from Slovakia who had also been invited to spend the night.
The rest of the night was spent telling stories, playing music and just all around having a really fun time.They made a classic Bedouin dinner for us of rice, chicken stew and bread which was actually quite good.
As night set in, we all just made some impromptu beds out of sofa cushions and blankets that they keep up there and went to sleep.
The following morning, we spent some time exploring the summit area around the Monastery and just enjoying the view in general. (At night, you can see lights off in the distance which apparently are in Palestine.) Abdullah and company headed back down to Petra, while Salem, another Bedouin, guided us back to the Bedouin village along an impossible to find mountain route that skirted the backside of Petra itself and into an area known as Little Petra. No way we would have been able to find, let alone follow the path without Salem, but it provided yet another great experience that few visitors to Petra enjoy. After about 2 hours of hiking, we rejoined Abdullah at his place in the village.
We spent the rest of morning and early afternoon just relaxing at Abdullah's over tea and snacks. The plan now was to wait for Mohammad, a fellow Bedouin, who would drive Teena and I south to a place called Wadi Rum, a desert famous for it's surreal landscapes.
Click to view photos in a new window.
Kenny
It's time to get back to catching up on my updates instead of messing around with phone calls and photos. Last time I left you, I was telling you all about Petra , and how I had met Abdullah, one of the local Bedouins and had taken him up on his offer to join him on my third day in Wadi Musa....
So, that morning, after checking out of my crappy hotel, I met up with Teena in "downtown" Wadi Musa. (Teena was the Australian traveler that was with Rob and Atila, when I met all three of them the day before down in Petra.) Teena and I hailed a taxi and headed over to the Bedouin village, about a 5-10 minute taxi away from Wadi Musa. Even though the Bedouin are technically nomadic, this village/town is pretty permanent. The buildings are all concrete and brick, there are schools, stores, etc... The only there isn't are hotels and tourists, which is in stark contrast to Wadi Musa which exists simply to cater to tourists.
The taxi dropped us off on the main street where we asked a small girl walking by if she knew where "Abdullah" lives. Turns out there are dozens of Abdullah's but once we described him a bit she led us right to his place. We quickly learned that Raza, the girl, was Abdullah's younger sister. It quickly becomes very difficult to keep track of how people are related. First off, everyone is related somehow, and the terms "brother" and "sister" are used even if it's not biologically 'correct'.
Teena and I hung out at Abdullah's for a few hours. He's building a new house in the village and with only one room essentially complete, we all just hung out in his bedroom watching TV and listening to Bob Marley. Ultimately some food arrived, breakfast for them prepared by his mom and/or sister. With that finished, Abdullah, Teena and I started hiking down to Petra from the village.
Abdullah was pretty much our personal tour guide. Someone else must have been watching over his camels that day because he spent the entire day showing us around Petra. The walk in from the Bedouin Village is dramatically different then the one from the main gate. (Arguably, the main gate entrance is more spectacular as you walk through the narrow canyon, but it was still interesting to approach Petra from some "high ground" and pass ruins that others wouldn't normally see without a huge hike out of the canyon.)
Down in Petra, we made several stops for tea and met a bunch of the other Bedouin workers in Petra. I decided to split from Abdullah and Teena to try and quickly make it up to one of the "high places of sacrifice", before meeting back up with them for the hike to the Monastery. Time was somewhat limited as we wanted to be up at the Monastery in time to watch the sunset, so I finally buckled and rented a damn donkey to get my sorry ass (yes, pun intended) up to the top. Normally, I'm quite against the whole donkey/camel renting because it just seems so lame to be sitting on a donkey/camel while the owner walks in front, towing it along. If I'm going to use a camel, I want everyone on the camels so that we can cover some great distances. A donkey is even worse because you can almost touch the ground as you ride it, further making you feel like a lazy ass for not walking yourself.
In this case, I told the donkey renter, with Abdullah's help, that I only wanted to take a donkey if he also rode a donkey so that we could get up to the summit quicker. Ultimately he agreed, and the two of us setup for the high place... Well, within minutes it was clear that the other donkey was not going to cooperate because he was slowing down the pace rather then helping it out. It didn't take long for the owner to hop off his donkey, to it to a rock, then start towing my donkey. Exactly what I didn't want... Well, one thing I've learned when it comes to hiking is to never under estimate the locals. Wearing jeans, some sort of cowboy boot / sandal hybrid and smoking a cigarette, this guy pretty much ran up the side of the mountain. After about 15-20 minutes, we had arrived for a hike that probably would have taken me around 45 minutes. Go figure.
After getting treated to spectacular views of the canyon below, I headed down the backside to meet back up with Abdullah and Teena, who were waiting for me at the start of the trail for the Monastery. The Monastery trail is not particularly hard, but it is about 45 minutes of constant uphill hiking. At least half of the trail is carved into the rock, including hundreds (maybe thousands?) of steps.
Once up at the Monastery, we met up with several other Bedouin who essentially call the Monastery home. They took us up behind the ruins where we got to experience the Monastery from the top, looking down. An area that few other tourists get to enjoy. The true size and scale of the Monastery can't really be appreciated until your standing on top of it and people down below realize just how big it really is when compared to a person.
Of course, the Bedouin are like little professional rock climbers and scampered all over the cliffs, resulting in some pretty impressive displays of balance and fearlessness of heights. One of the Bedouin named Fawaz is an avid flute player and to listen to the flute while sitting atop the Monastery looking back down towards Petra was pretty magical.
As the sun set, we all headed back down and regrouped in the cafe under the tent. Several other tourists started to make the hike back down to Petra, but Teena and I stayed up there, along with a couple from Slovakia who had also been invited to spend the night.
The rest of the night was spent telling stories, playing music and just all around having a really fun time.They made a classic Bedouin dinner for us of rice, chicken stew and bread which was actually quite good.
As night set in, we all just made some impromptu beds out of sofa cushions and blankets that they keep up there and went to sleep.
The following morning, we spent some time exploring the summit area around the Monastery and just enjoying the view in general. (At night, you can see lights off in the distance which apparently are in Palestine.) Abdullah and company headed back down to Petra, while Salem, another Bedouin, guided us back to the Bedouin village along an impossible to find mountain route that skirted the backside of Petra itself and into an area known as Little Petra. No way we would have been able to find, let alone follow the path without Salem, but it provided yet another great experience that few visitors to Petra enjoy. After about 2 hours of hiking, we rejoined Abdullah at his place in the village.
We spent the rest of morning and early afternoon just relaxing at Abdullah's over tea and snacks. The plan now was to wait for Mohammad, a fellow Bedouin, who would drive Teena and I south to a place called Wadi Rum, a desert famous for it's surreal landscapes.
Click to view photos in a new window.
Kenny
posted by Kenny Carruthers at 1/07/2006 08:04:00 AM
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