Heartstrings 22.0: magnificence and sunsets

To all my teacher friends back home I say this sincerely with a hint of jealousy attached... I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving Break that started today!!! Can't believe it's already that time of year... must have something to do with the weather still being super sunny and warm here. A bunch of my friends here in the UAE are super stoked to be celebrating Thanksgiving together here. On Friday (weird, right?!?) although it will technically be Thursday back home. So we'll be celebrating on the same day! :)

I decided to just do a picture post today with some captions since my post yesterday was rather wordy.

Here is Day Two in the beautimus Jordan... Andrea and I got a wonderful surprise wake-up call from the hotel lobby saying that our driver, Sam, was waiting for us for our 7:30 pick up. We both had set our clocks back (as advised to us on the plane) but we were told that the King decided not to do daylight savings time this year and it was just recently announced... so yeah. Good thing we're both fast at getting ready.

We drove the few hours it took to get from Amman to Petra... and were very glad we decided to do this instead of taking a tour with loads of people.

Petra... is.... ah.... mazing! 

The greenery is from the rock that Moses struck twice when he was angry that the people asked him for water. God told him to speak to the water and he showed his anger. This was why he was told he would not take the people into the Promised Land. At the top of mountain in the bground is a temple dedicated to Aaron.

Brilliance... water system the people used to get water into the city from the river. They used clay moldings to transfer the water through the passageway.

remains of statue-art they had

The people had built a dam to keep the city from flooding when it rained.

There she is for the first time... The Treasury Building

Such a beautiful piece of architecture... still can't wrap my head around how they built this beauty.

Andrea and I standing in the opening outside of the Treasury... and a random older dude who wanted to be in our shot!

just look at all the detail they put into these columns WAY up at the top!

I just HAD to know what the city looked like from the top of these stairs. So upward we went!

And boy we were not disappointed... apparently those openings in the rock were tombs. We're still not convinced they were ALL tombs, right Andrea?!? :)

The Romans love to build a good theater when they take over places... and here is another one.

A donkey patiently waiting by the King's Tomb... which is MASSIVE. And which sadly, we did not get to explore since time was running short.

This street is as far as we got in Petra... there was still much more to explore, but we had to meet Sam back at the entrance to make it down to Wadi Rum in time for the sunset. I would easily spend 2-3 days in this area, for sure! There is so much to do and unfortunately, we did not have enough time to do it all.

One last look at The Treasury before we headed back to meet Sam. We had a decent lunch at a place Sam recommended (although we bailed on the check--on accident! We thought it was included in our tour... oops!)

The stones were laid down by the Romans when they were in Petra. They love a good road as well... parts of the original road were still in tact.

On the way to Wadi Rum (wadi means valley) we stopped to see this stunning view of Isaeal and the Dead Sea. It was later in the afternoon as you can see, so the clouds kind of take away the view a little. Freakin' widy as all get out up here on!

We left Petra and wondered down to Wadi Rum where we met Ali, a local. He gave us a tour of his home and shared stories... like the tree up there. His family many years ago found a spring where the tree is and used it to get water. They had to rock it up because camels would wonder up there to get water, but they couldn't make it down on their own without getting hurt. So they closed it off.

Such beautiful red sand... never seen anything like it. I so would have climbed to the top (shocking, right?!?) but Ali said we would stop to take a quick picture. Time was running short and there was still loads more to see!

I just love all the details! This was another place his ancient family members found with water.

there is water back there...

The people used to leave messages to each other on the walls to signal that they were there if they didn't catch who they needed to see while they were there. The inside walls were filled with things like this.

Ali led us up a small climb of the Small Arch

Andrea and I on the Small Arch at Wadi Rum

we left the Small Arch and drove through Wadi Rum passing these breathtaking cliffs. Don't think we spoke too much in the car as we admired the views.

Ali took us to a special spot where he likes to watch the sun setting over the desert. It was spectacular!

Ali telling us a story (can't remember what).

Me on a rock... wanted to get up higher to watch the sun set.

doing a little reading whilst I wait for the sun to go down over the desert.

there she goes over the mountains...

Ali served us Bedouin tea (that was super sweet--it was good though) and we talked to him for a good long while. He was a great guide and someone I would highly recommend going to visit if you're ever in the area!

We left Wadi Rum and headed back to Amman for the night. It took us 4 hours to get back and I slept most of the way... the next day, we were at it again.

TBC: Day Three... Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and Mount Nebo.