I needed Podiatrist Mohammed...

Harrison Ford is easily the driving force behind wanting to travel in this region. Yes this region is beautiful and steeped in history but I would be lying to you if I said that it wasn’t 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' that fueled my desire to visit Petra (before anyone comments, Transformers 2 actually had the reverse effect...terrible movie…lucky I went at all). So like a moth to a flame, I eventually made it to this famed icon…it seems as though the only thing that could stop me was my own toe.
In real life I never seem to have toe problems but while the rest of my body thrives on traveling, my toes seem to reject the idea outright. This time the offender is the baby toe of my right foot. It developed a little blister that of course was made worse by my flippers yesterday. Well today it has blossomed into a full infection; swollen red, warm to the touch and pulsating. Taking steps in flip flops hurts and there is simply no way that giant toe is going to fit in a shoe. But toe be damned I am going to see the set of 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.

After a painless border crossing from Israel, a drive through the winding desert mountains we started our stroll into the ancient city of Petra. It’s probably about a mile walk from the visitor center to the start of the main city but it took us over an hour cover the distance and not because of the tough terrain or my angry toe, it was the amazing scenery. The Siq canyon is a narrow, winding coloured rock canyon that actually seems to glow red in the rising sun. It’s just impossible not to saunter slowly, slack jawed at this amazing setting.

Petra is an ancient city full of ornately carved facades into rock designed to hold bodies after death. The city itself has over 480 of these such tombs, the treasury being the most famous was actually not a royal tomb (those were elsewhere) but just a really rich family. It is by far most preserved and the best spot to see the carvings. As with real estate today, it's all about location. The treasury is your first encounter as you exit the Siq canyon. The Treasury is also sheltered better than most from wind, sun and the annual hour of rain.

The most popular name in the world is…Mohammed. And given the fact that I only know 2 back in real life, it was only a matter of time before I had to stumble upon a whole slew of them to balance out the stats. I am actually surprised the country of Jordan is not called Mohammad. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine name – just confusing when you are trying to find YOUR Mohammad in a crowd. We started to differentiate our Mohammeds based on our encounters…Mohammed #1 (first one we met and our main guide)…Camel Mohammed (a vendor that Carrie had chatted with found me later and offered to give me one camel for her. Now I like camels to I seriously considered the offer before an outraged Carrie demanded that she was worth far more than a single camel)…etc.

I cannot attempt to explain the conflict in the Middle East; I find it to be a confusing and an odd combination of stagnant and ever-changing rationale. I can tell you some of the far-reaching effects however. Jordan is a teeny country nestled in between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Israel and Palestine. Not really ideal neighbours when you are trying to attract tourists - Petra at its high point was seeing a peak of 7000 tourists a day and an average of 3000 – 4000…we were 2 of 200 tourists there during our visit. This gave us a virtually abandoned ancient city to play in, especially since there are none of those pesky rules about climbing in or on things…after a couple of painkillers, and my toe and I were scampering up rocks, over bridges and in and out of caves. But for the Bedouins who depend on tourism, it is a very sad time.

The sun always seems to set faster on good days, so after several hours of scampering through ruins and drinking tea from random Bedoiuns, and we found ourselves hurrying to back to the treasury for the hike up the Siq canyon during dusk. The thought of stumbling through the canyon in the dark coupled with the angry little toe lead us to take a horse drawn car to the entrance and a chance to meet…Cave Mohammed.

This Mohammed, who Carrie thinks that I should return to Jordan and marry, drives a cart during the day and seems to alternate his nights between sleeping next to sheep and camels to protect them from wolves and sleeping in a cave in Petra. He even extended an invitation to spend the night in his cave with him. I am sure that some of you are wondering how we could forgo such an offer...the chance to sleep in the ancient city of Petra!? I'm not too worried, if things don't get better with my love life in Seattle, I'll be back. You are all welcome to visit.

(toe is doing better thanks to some over the counter antibiotics...love the loose standards)

Show-krun for reading!