Petra, Jordan

Arriving in Jordan, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was equipped with a "I'll figure it out when I get there" mentality. I had so many countries to research before I left, it was impossible to fully explore all of them. Most of the information I had gathered came from Dr. Battah, a handsome Jordanian now living in Alaska, working at the same hospital as I did. He talked highly of his mother land. He told me that all the boys will want to marry me, so I can bring them back to the US with me. I told him that if they looked anything like him, I might consider taking them up on their offer. Haha.

But in all actuality, he was exactly right. There was a large supply of randy Jordanian men with black eyeliner "Jack Sparrow" eyes, throwing a marriage proposal or an "I love you" out there a little too quickly. I politely shake my head and say no. I'm such a heartbreaker :)

He also said that Jordan was safe. Coming from such a credible source, I was happy to hear this. The main motive for me visiting this middle eastern country was to lay my eyes on one of the seven wonders of the world, Petra, the ancient city built in 1200 BC, made most famous by the Indiana Jones movie. It bewilders me that so many people are unfamiliar with this amazing city. When I text my mom to tell her I was going to see Petra the next day, she texted back "OK. Who's Petra?"

At my hotel in Amman, I met a guy named Pavan. We had similar itineraries so we took the 3 hour bus to Petra together. Although I travel alone, I am very rarely by myself. He was Indian but was living in America at the moment, attending Duke for his MBA. Once again, I find myself in the company of Indians, which I don't mind one bit. They must gravitate towards me, or vice versa.

Petra is spread out over several kilometers. Make sure you bring comfortable walking shoes if you ever decide to visit. Your other option is to hire one of the many donkeys readily available from eager Jordanian men. It was heartbreaking watching these small donkeys struggle as they transported overweight slothful tourists, their backs bowing from the load. I have 2 healthy legs that get me around just fine, a donkey shouldn't have to take the brunt of my laziness. Objecting to contribute to this animal cruelty, me and Pavan walked... and walked.... and walked. I bet we walked over 10 miles through Petra.


The occasional gluttoral gurgle from a camel or the hee-haw from a donkey could be heard as we navigated our way through the archaelogical city.

In between all this walking, there was lots of picture taking, conversation and laughs. I got to know Pavan fairly well during the day we spent together, and I have to say, this guy is all right. There were many laughs as we navigated the ancient city together. As a male and female together, we were automatically dubbed as a couple. The Jordanians selling souvenirs would say "buy something nice for your wife" or "very beautiful wife" as we passed by, which made us giggle. It happened so frequently, we just decided to go with it. We found humor in making up different stories to inquisitive locals. Sometimes our fabricated story would be that I was living in india with him, sometimes he was living in America with me.


While asking someone to take our picture in front of the monastery, I said "geez honey, it's our honeymoon and we don't even have a picture of us together." The lucky man taking our pic enthusiastically said, "It's your honeymoon?!! Cool!" We didn't have the heart to burst his bubble. We snuggled up close as we posed for the photo, snickering inside.

But the appearance of being a couple didn't subdue the lewd comments that came from the Jordanians. I wanted to hose these overzealous fellas down with cold water. Walking alone as a female in Jordan is very tiring. I'm subject to leers from the male dominated environment. Testosterone is thick in the air as they call out "Habibi" (meaning "my darling" or "my love" in Arabic), and other sweet nothings to me, but it falls to deaf ears. It may be flattering the first few times, but it gets old very fast.


All the sun and walking left us feeling famished as we made our way back to the entrance. Our extreme hunger gave us thoughts of tackling a family of French tourists to steal their fruit roll-ups. We restrained ourselves from resorting to this tactic and arrived at a local restaurant in our hypoglycemic states. We revived ourselves with falafel sandwiches. It was the best thing I've ever ate.


Besides narrowly escaping starvation, we had a blast in Petra and I genuinely enjoyed spending a day with Pavan at one of the wonders of the world.