Our Bedouin Adventures

PETRA JORDAN made my heart beat faster and jump with joy. From the first steps across the border to the nice driver and welcoming Bedouins I met at the rest stops, little shops and around the trail. It was a different vibe all together from Israel. And this weekend trip was just the change of speed I needed to remind myself that the world is big and full of beautifully constructed nature and in some places the goodwill runneth over from perfect strangers. My travel buddies and I had some fun and here are some of my favorite photos from the visit.
Driving to Petra I snapped a photo of this young Bedouin on a donkey with a small herd of goats.
As some may be asking, as I was when I arrived, what the heck is a Bedouin exactly? Well with a quick google search I found that The Bedouin are a nomadic group of mostly Muslim dessert dwelling tribes. They have strong honor codes and as I found out at one of the rest stops a long the way a history of folk music, dance and poetry.
At one of the rest stops I made friends with one of the young Bedouin guys who had a drum. I asked him to share some of his music while I drank my strong turkish coffee and waited for my friends. He happily obliged. When the guy beating the drum then turned to me and asked if I had any folk songs I thought for two seconds and with a laugh and a question in my voice said "La Cucaracha?". I looked around to my travel companions who had now gathered around and received a round of laughter and approval. Our new Bedouin friend signaled to me to start and he would follow. So I started in "la Cucaracha, La Cucaracha" after this first verse two then four then everyone from my group joined in and we were soon clapping and singing while our friend drummed. It was fun and we all piled back into the tour van and headed to our next destination.
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Our group walking around Petra
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Not sure if you can see this but the detail is amazing. You can even see the strap on his sandal.
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Photo of camels and amphitheater in the background. Petra is magnificent and jaw dropping but I think my camera gave the same amount of attention to these beautiful creatures. For everyone's sanity I edited down the camels to this photo.

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What do you see? Elephant?
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Walking in a narrow area toward the treasury. This is the most well preserved building in Petra and I think the most beautiful. Its hard to believe the Nabateans constructed Petra as thier capital around 100 BCE. Dang that's old.
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Posing in front of Al Khazneh aka: The Treasury.
Al Khazneh was originally built as a royal tomb. Its Arabic name Treasury derives from a legend that bandits or pirates (arrrggghhh) hid their loot in a stone urn high on the second level. Significant damage from bullets can be seen on the urn. Local lore attributes this to Bedouins who are said to have shot at the urn in hopes of breaking it open and spilling out the "treasure" within. Yup, its made of pure standstone. No booty to be found.
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There are many elaborate tombs to admire in aw in Petra but I decided to hike up to one of them and see what I could find inside. Its not as elaborate inside. But I still was able to take this beautiful photo.

Wait! How did this get in here?