{"id":108,"date":"2011-04-03T15:47:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-03T08:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.wordpress.com\/?p=108"},"modified":"2011-04-03T15:47:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-03T08:47:13","slug":"somehow-i-found-my-way-petra-04032011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=108","title":{"rendered":"Somehow I Found My Way – Petra, 04\/03\/2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Petra Treasury – View from the Siq<\/p><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t know where to start.<\/p>\n

I never thought I would be writing this entry, I never thought I\u2019d see this port. The Rose City has been the crowning jewel on my list of \u201cthings I will somehow see before I die\u201d for over 20 years, and through a series of circumstances, not to mention the current volatile situation in the Middle East as a whole, I had almost given up on ever seeing that dream come true. But, Goddess bless our very determined Captain, he pulled us into Jordan this morning with an hour to spare, despite the fact that we were an hour late leaving Egypt last night and you could feel the ship rattling as he put pedal to the metal to make the deadline over night.<\/p>\n

This morning, I finally touched my dream.<\/p>\n

I could be sent home tomorrow, I could fall overboard, and do so a happy woman, after today.<\/p>\n

Petra is physically impossible to explain. Words can\u2019t capture it, and no photograph, no matter how beautiful, will do it justice. But bear with me, and I\u2019ll try my best.<\/p>\n

The Siq canyon (known in popular culture as \u201cThe Canyon of the Crescent Moon\u201d thanks to Indiana Jones), cuts through the Jordanian desert as if someone has slashed it there with a dagger, it doesn\u2019t wind, it just curves, for a half an hour. For an extra fee upon entry you can take a fast paced carriage ride to the far end, but walking it is much more fulfilling in the long run. The canyon is a sight in itself, towering on either side of you and making you feel more insignificantly small than anything I\u2019ve yet experienced. There are little niches carved into the rock, the subjects of which are long faded, but if you look closely you can see that they\u2019re tributes to the Goddess the original nomadic tribes that occupied the area (and yes, built the city) followed, this was originally a caravan route, but trade wasn\u2019t the only thing that was important here by a long shot. There are places where the canyon is beautiful and sunny (and even paved) and places where it is dark and sandy bottomed.<\/p>\n

Then suddenly it jars to the right, and even though you know it\u2019s coming, even though you think you know what to expect, nothing can prepare you for the sight of the Treasury appearing through the narrow gash that marks the end of the Siq. If you don\u2019t have some reaction, if you don\u2019t choke a little bit (or in my case, and I wasn\u2019t the only one, start weeping), there\u2019s something wrong with your emotional sensors. Your heart turns over, rises into your throat, and lodges there, the emotions are almost tangible. I\u2019m a very spiritual person, and I\u2019ve seen and felt a lot of amazing things, but that first moment, was probably one of the closest things to a religious experience I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

There is a great deal more to Petra than the Treasury of course, it\u2019s a city, nearly fully excavated, with tombs and monasteries, and even modern shops (if you can call them that) run by descendants of the original residents who still live there despite the fact that the government has set up more modern quarters for them in the surrounding town. They aren\u2019t pushy, and having them there adds something to the experience that you can\u2019t really place your finger on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Petra Panoramic, with Theatre<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

You don\u2019t know where to turn your eyes once you\u2019re inside. The site spreads wide, sprawling across the desert like someone has spilled rose coloured paint on the sand. Everywhere you look there is something to see, something to be inspired by, to be shocked by. One empty room tucked behind a crumbling fa\u00e7ade provides the most perfect echo you\u2019ve ever heard, another houses a ceiling that looks like its painted but is really natural rock coloration.<\/p>\n

Camels roam, donkeys gallop by, children play in the remains of the old market place.<\/p>\n

If I could put everything I felt, everything I saw, into words, if I could craft a word picture for you and tell you exactly what it\u2019s like to walk through something that\u2019s literally living history, I would do so \u2013 but to try would be to be typing for the rest of my contract, and alas, the time has come to cherish and move on. In only a few days time we\u2019ll be in Israel, and there will be a whole other set of things to see.<\/p>\n

But today, I realized that if you put your mind to it, if you refuse to stop believing something is possible, eventually the Universe will drop it into your lap\u2026<\/p>\n

And I realized too, that I have chosen very very<\/em> wisely, bright blessings,<\/p>\n

Shaughnessy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know where to start. I never thought I would be writing this entry, I never thought I\u2019d see this port. The Rose City has been the crowning jewel on my list of \u201cthings I will somehow see before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,12,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grand-world-voyage-2011","category-historical-sites","category-ports-of-call"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}