We Made it Across the Israeli Border!!

But before we did we spent another morning in Petra and a night at a Bedouin camp in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert.

On our last day in Petra most of the group woke up extra early for a 6am hike through some new parts of the city. Jim had arranged for a Bedouin man to meet us at the treasury at 6:30 dressed in his traditional robes so that we could get some good pictures without all the other tourists there. It was pretty fun watching Jim have basically a full on photo shoot with this man, ordering him around and getting all the good angles.

We hiked up to the High Point, where they had an alter for sacrificing, and also where they had built a huge temple up on the top of a mountain. It's always very interesting seeing these types of places and the views were incredible. Not much of the temple remains because most of it was destroyed in a giant earthquake which happened in 749 (which earthquake apparently destroyed everything that was great, we definitely heard that number an awful lot), but there was enough to see how huge it must've been, all up on the mountaintop.

After the High Point, we followed Jim back down the mountain, then started are trek across the desert to the place where he had been working the previous weeks excavating some tombs. It was a pretty long and hot walk through the desert, and Jim does not slow down for anyone, so we had to keep at a quick pace to keep up. When we first arrived at the dig site I was not too impressed, but then he started telling us stories about some of the things they have found and it was pretty awesome. Jim gets so excited when he talks about history and the work he does, it's so obvious how much he loves what he does everyday, it's awesome and in turn gets us all excited about it as well.

When we were done at the dig site we followed Jim on the "short cut" for getting out of Petra. In the end I'm not sure exactly how much of a short cut it was, and there were definitely a few obstacles along the way. It was a lot of fun and a little scary at times, and definitely one of those things that I look back at and am so glad I did. I was a little hesitant about doing the early morning hike, thinking that I didn't need to see more of Petra, but the hike at the end made it all worth it. Jim admitted to us that he took us on the more adventurous route that he usually doesn't take people on since it involves scaling some large rocks and wedging yourself in between the canyon walls so as to climb to the top. It was great. We realized after that we would pretty much follow Jim anywhere he led us.

When we were done with Petra we headed out to the Wadi Rum desert where we did some four-wheeling and visited a Bedouin family in their tent.

The Bedouin people are some of the most generous people ever and would basically give you anything you wanted, even if it was the last thing they had. It's so impressive that often the most generous people are those who have the least. They live such a simple, outdated life that you almost feel bad for them at times, but in the end they don't know anything else and they don't want anything else, they are completely happy with the way they are. The number of truly nomadic Bedouin people is decreasing with each generation, though, as more and more move into little towns that are a little more permanent. This may be the last generation that actually lives in the middle of the desert in tents.

The family we visited have a 7-month-old baby camel that they love and are very proud of, it is one of their prized possessions.

That night we stayed at a Bedouin camp, but luckily not in the tents, we actually had little rooms with bathrooms. Because it's out in the desert away from any cities, it's the perfect place for looking at the stars. As we were out stargazing, we started noticing that the moon looked like it was slowly disappearing, and soon learned that there was a total lunar eclipse that night. It was honestly amazing. We were told that a total lunar eclipse happens only once every 100 years out in the Wadi Rum desert, and we just so happened to be there the night that it was happening. It all made for a pretty unforgettable night, complete with a little Bedouin dancing following dinner.