Petra

...One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

...The backdrop from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

...An Entire city, thousands of years old, hewn out of the rock.

It's in Jordan, so for us to visit, we drove to Eilat where the border into Jordan is open.

Our journey into Petra started with a 6:30 am pick up from our hotel.

The day was supposed to go something like this:

-wake up at 6 am; throw on pre picked out clothing

- load shuttle bus to the border at 6:30 am

-take shuttle bus to border

-go through border crossing into Jordan

-have Jordanian tour company bus us 2 hours north to Petra

-hike Petra in the warm desert

-head back to the hotel after a long, enjoyable day of hiking and seeing the sights

-have a Turkish bath

-enjoy a buffet feast at the hotel

-turn in for a beautiful night's sleep, only to wake up at a reasonable hour the next morning for a fabulous jeep adventure through the Jordanian desert.

That.

was.

the.

plan.

[Snow...In the Jordan desert? Really?!? Yes. read on...]

Instead, the trip went down like this:

I woke up, feeling rotten and still running a fever.

Lydia woke up crying, complaining her stomach hurt.

She, too, was running a fever.

We were late for the shuttle. Of course.

And then Lydia puked on the shuttle bus to the border. Awesome.

Only 7 am, and we were off to a great start.

There were 17 people total on our tour, and I could feel the glares and stares for having a sick child along for the ride. We paid a decent amount of money to take this tour, and at this point, it was our only option. Otherwise, we were stranded in Eilat with no hotel. So we pressed on, with the hope that the virus from which we were dropping like flies, was a short-lived one. We made it through the border crossing and the drive up to Petra without much drama. Unfortunately, because of the virus, by the time we were to start the hiking/walking portion of the day, Lydia and I were already wiped. So, we put Lydia in the backpack carrier we brought for Will. Our son, an otherwise boundless source of energy, HATES to walk for the sake of walking. He whines and cries and drags his feet and carries on like he is lame and dying. It's really a spectacle. So, when Lydia usurped his ride for the day, we landed ourself yet another source of drama: Will. Let me break this down for you: Lydia=sick, Elizabeth=sick, Will=non stop whining, Stewart=stressed out. We were the brady bunch and then some.

Standard, really.

Somehow we managed to muscle through, but I did not hear or comprehend ONE word our guide was saying. Given the circumstances, it was just "mwaaa, mwaaa, mwaaaa" Charlie Brown adult speak. Oh, and did I mention that it was freezing cold? There was a freak turn of weather, and it had actually SNOWED in Petra the day before our tour. SNOW in Petra. Unbelievable.

Our guide, Ali. He was really quite impressive.

The walk through the siq was gorgeous.

Que the music from Indiana Jones...

This is a rock. If you look at it one way, you see a fish. If you look at it from a different angle, you see an elephant. The charm of this was completely lost on me given the circumstances. However, we have a ridiculous number of pictures to document said rock. For example...

See the elephant?

...now it's a fish face.

Wait, there's more. See the camels? (me neither)

& now the creepy rock-man face...(yep, I didn't see it at first either)

One thing is for sure, Petra is stunning. Breathtaking. Amazing. & Huge.

When we finally reached the opening of the siq and saw the famous Indiana Jones scenery of Petra, Stewart said to a whimpering Lydia, "Isn't this awesome?" She replied through her whimpers, "No I WON"T look, this is NOTHING special." Quote of the day/week/month/year.

Dallas and Stewart looking tough.

Me. This is the best I could do. Pitiful. Just pitiful.

The scenery combined with ornate camels, carriages, horses, and donkeys was just surreal. Really cool stuff, folks.

Petra goes on for miles and miles. You could spend days exploring and still not see all there is to see.

I love the camel face off.

Guess who won?

I'm hoping our friends the Hills are able to post more about Petra. Since they were unaffected by the sick, they were able to do a little more exploring than us. They have some great stories and amazing pics. For now, look at all the cool dwellings carved into the mountain.....

Their significance? I have no idea.

There are also an abundance of locals offering horse rides, horse and carriage rides, camel rides, and donkey rides in Petra. Originally, we weren't intending on using any of these, but by the end of the tour, we were done. I couldn't walk any more. Lydia couldn't walk any more. Will wouldn't walk anymore. So, we hired "taxi's" -- donkeys-- to take us halfway back to the entrance. The donkey guy took pity on us (or so we were led to believe), and even threw in a free donkey ride for Stewart. So, the four of us enjoyed a nice ride from the monastery to the treasury. Then, the 10 year old boy leading our donkeys demanded double the agreed upon price. Double. Stewart told him no, that we had agreed to pay $20 for the rides, but he demanded $40, and a stubborn, stand-off ensued. Eventually, we payed $30 and felt duped. But, what do you do? There's a crowd of foreigners gathering & arguing. You pay the money and walk. He's not getting rich, and we're not going to be poor. Fine...

Will is in the zone--while our little guide proves himself a shrewd negotiator.

D.O.N.E. We were done.

All-in-all, we made it through and had an amazing and memorable family experience....

Petra, check.

Shalom Y'all!

Eilat & The Red Sea

Sorry for the blog-hiatus, folks, but I had exams and we have entertained a slew of guests in the last few weeks. To celebrate the end of the semester and the arrival of our dear friends, the Hills, we headed south to Israel's southern-most point of Eilat. This is Israel's link to the Red Sea, and it is home to a nice Underwater observatory and dolphin reef. It's also where we kick off the adventure into Jordan to see Petra and Wadi Rum, but that's a post for another day.

For now, we'll let the pictures do the talking...

(unfortunately, Elizabeth came down with a virus the morning of our trip, and spent most of her day sleeping in the van, hence her absence in the photos. We didn't forget her.)

View of Aqaba above, Jordan's only sea port.

On a clear day, one can see Jordan, Saudi, and Egypt from Eilat.

Our friends Dallas & Kelly Hills join the fun.

Will calls them the "Guestinies"

There's no shortage of life in the waters around Eilat:

Aquarium Sea-Turtles

& wild Sea-Turtles.

Scuba divers...

& FREE shark-rides!

Lydia checks out the dolphins up-close & personal.

Israel's Dolphin Reef is a unique set-up. They are wild dolphins with no cages keeping them inside. They come & go as they please..... But since they are fed 3 meals a day & don't have to perform for fish, this dolphin family has been hanging around there for years. Pretty good gig. It's fascinating to see them in the wild and swimming all around you. Dallas & Kelly witnessed one dolphin soar through the air higher than they ever imagined possible 3 times in a row. I managed to get this shot. Not quite as impressive.

Good times had by all. Stand by for more blogs on our little Jordanian adventure to Petra and Wadi Rum...Shalom Y'all! -Stew

The pressure.....of a name.

What's in a name?

Apparently not much if you can't remember it.

One thing that has taken some getting used to out here in the Middle East is the new variety of names. I think we're finally getting a handle on it, but man, it took some time. There's nothing more awkward than offering that deer in the headlights look when someone introduces themselves to you.

"Could you say that again?"

Still, nothing.

Now what?

New names are hard enough to remember, but especially hard when you've never heard a name remotely like it before, not sure exactly what the person said, and you have no idea how to spell it. So, If I'm really clueless, I forego all pride and dignity and end up asking them to spell it and then pronounce it for me a few more times just for good measure. I look like a total tool, but what can you do? There's no faking this one. I just add it to my "Here I am, Stupid American" repertoire.

Fortunately, now that the original shock of it all has worn off, there is some rhyme and reason. As it turns out, the American obsession with trendy, unusual and unique names is missing from the name game here. Here, names are still all in the family and often times Biblical. Of course, like anywhere else, they rotate based on popularity, but in general you end up with a lot of repetition.

So, would you like to do a little Hebrew name dropping?

Chances are if you meet a female here and you can't remember her name, it is probably:

Shira

Orly

Leah or

Dana

For a man:

Gai

Gal or

David (pronounced Dah-veed)

If you have absolutely no idea, you can make a safe bet on a gender neutral name like Lior or Yuval.

In Lydia's class at school there are several Leahs, a Lihi (lee-hee), & a Hili (hee-lee). For boys it's Omer, Omri, Eli & Ariel.

To all of our American readers: just in case you're desperately searching for a new and unusual option for your next baby's name, have a gander at this. Hebrew Names for Dummies.

The name game goes both ways. People here botch our names all the time. First off, they are all said in a thick Israeli accent that distorts the sound of the name. No big deal.... totally expected that, and I'm certain my pronunciation of their names is much more hideous. However, it's our last name that's the real stumper. There is no naturally occurring "W" or "ch" sound in Hebrew, so you have to use two exceptions to the grammatical rules in even attempting to spell it. Then, when people try to say it or read it, it comes out sounding like this: Val-itz. Yes, that means Welch here.

Lydia and Will can imitate the accents really well, and it is so funny to hear them call each other by their 'hebrew' names.

Leeee -dee ah & Veeeeell or Weeeell

So, from our home to yours,

Steeuw-Art, Eeeleetzahbeth, Leedeeah & Weeeell

Shalom Y'all.

[Cue the theme song from Cheers ]