This is a story about trust. It is always very very hard to trust anyone in a touristic area, because they may try to rip you off, or something even worse. I have been ripped off, in Turkey, for over US$400. But this doesn't deter me from trusting people. You will get burned, but you can't let that deter you. Be smart about it and once in a while you will find a genuine connection. And once in a blue moon, you will get an experience that will stay with you for a lifetime.
Granted, I got REALLY lucky, and ended up with a once in a life time experience.
Let me first preface this story. I took this initial climb up this mountain, by myself, first thing in the morning. After finding nothing up there too spectacular, I came down. So, I had absolutely no intention to climb back up this mountain.
I went to Petra alone (see pictures here). I met a French couple, and a Dutch guy, Robert, along the way, but since we were all staying in separate hostels, I didn't expect to see them. I entered Petra at 8am, 1 hour later than what I wanted. Guidebooks say that over 10,000 people will visit Petra everyday and that you should go before 7am. I got lucky. It was basically empty.
The walk from the Siq canyon is longer than what you may expect, and around every turn you think the treasury is around the corner and your heart skips a beat. Until you finally see it.
The site is beyond words. It is absolutely amazing.
I decided to climb one of the many mountains in Petra. The hike claimed that it had a view of the Treasury from above. It was a short, but steep climb, and I found nothing on top. I hiked down and decide to trek it to the monastery. On the way, I sat on a stone path to eat my banana, melon seeds, and nuts that I had packed, and a Bedouin lady, who is also selling stuff, gestures to me to come and have tea. Most of the time, especially in Egypt, if you are offered something, they will hassle you to buy something, but I felt adventurous and went over and shared tea. I shared what food I had and we chatted for about 10 minutes. This is where I met up again with Robert, the Dutch guy I met in Amman and took a very weird car trip down. He met this Polish girl, Agnieszka, and we all chatted with the Bedouins over tea. The three of us decided to travel together for the rest of the day.
At the end of the day, they decided to climb the mountain I did first thing in the morning. I was tired and had no energy or will to climb it again. But they convinced me that it would be a good idea, since this time around, I might actually find the view I was looking for.
The climb wasn't easy. I wanted to stop and wait for them more than once, but they kept me going. But we finally made it and found the view to see the Treasury from above. This is where the story of trust begins.
On this cliff's edge, there was a Bedouin tent. A man was sitting there and we introduced ourselves and he said his name was Sami.
He let us into his tent and we laid there, exhausted from the hike, overlooking Petra's Treasury. A few minutes later, another man, Mahr, appears from the cliff's edge and sit down with us.
All 5 of us started chatting about life in Petra, where the Bedouins lived, and what they did. They all spoke English extraordinarily well and had English jokes and Bedouin pick up lines. Every time we asked them where they learned English, they would say "tourists". This could not be true, since if it was from tourists, you would know phrases and not have complete control of the language.
Granted, I got REALLY lucky, and ended up with a once in a life time experience.
Let me first preface this story. I took this initial climb up this mountain, by myself, first thing in the morning. After finding nothing up there too spectacular, I came down. So, I had absolutely no intention to climb back up this mountain.
I went to Petra alone (see pictures here). I met a French couple, and a Dutch guy, Robert, along the way, but since we were all staying in separate hostels, I didn't expect to see them. I entered Petra at 8am, 1 hour later than what I wanted. Guidebooks say that over 10,000 people will visit Petra everyday and that you should go before 7am. I got lucky. It was basically empty.
The walk from the Siq canyon is longer than what you may expect, and around every turn you think the treasury is around the corner and your heart skips a beat. Until you finally see it.
The site is beyond words. It is absolutely amazing.
I decided to climb one of the many mountains in Petra. The hike claimed that it had a view of the Treasury from above. It was a short, but steep climb, and I found nothing on top. I hiked down and decide to trek it to the monastery. On the way, I sat on a stone path to eat my banana, melon seeds, and nuts that I had packed, and a Bedouin lady, who is also selling stuff, gestures to me to come and have tea. Most of the time, especially in Egypt, if you are offered something, they will hassle you to buy something, but I felt adventurous and went over and shared tea. I shared what food I had and we chatted for about 10 minutes. This is where I met up again with Robert, the Dutch guy I met in Amman and took a very weird car trip down. He met this Polish girl, Agnieszka, and we all chatted with the Bedouins over tea. The three of us decided to travel together for the rest of the day.
At the end of the day, they decided to climb the mountain I did first thing in the morning. I was tired and had no energy or will to climb it again. But they convinced me that it would be a good idea, since this time around, I might actually find the view I was looking for.
The climb wasn't easy. I wanted to stop and wait for them more than once, but they kept me going. But we finally made it and found the view to see the Treasury from above. This is where the story of trust begins.
On this cliff's edge, there was a Bedouin tent. A man was sitting there and we introduced ourselves and he said his name was Sami.
 |
| Sami's on the very left. He made it into the local guidebook |
He let us into his tent and we laid there, exhausted from the hike, overlooking Petra's Treasury. A few minutes later, another man, Mahr, appears from the cliff's edge and sit down with us.
 |
| Mahr, aka Captain Jack Sparrow |
We sat there for a couple of hours, and Sami extended us an offer for dinner in their cave. I initially thought that this was going to be some sort of scam where they bring us to a "cave" and feed us "local food" and then charge us a shit ton of money. But Sami quickly said that it was 5JD (US$8) each and he would get food from the village and we would cook by the cave. We all quickly agreed and hiked down the hill.
Sami stopped at the most photogenic locations:
AND
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| Nat Geo...you like?? |
Petra has no lights, so we ended up building a fire and cooking by the fire. Sami cooked chicken, with potatoes, spices, and tomatoes, wrapped it up in aluminum foil and threw it in the fire for 3 hours. We chatted, smoked sheesha, and ate to about midnight. They offered us to stay in the cave, but Robert had an early bus to catch so we end up hiking out of Petra, by moonlight, up a steep hill to the Bedouin village where Sami and Mahr found us a ride back to our hotels.
I went back in the morning. I still can't believe that it happened.
Trust.
This time it got me a night in Petra and an amazing experience that will stay with me forever. It is something I will never forget, and have feeling about Petra that I can't put into words. It was absolutely amazing.
Trust.
You may get hustled 4 out of 10 times, but there is also that one time that will take your breathe away.
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