I returned from a 3 day trip to Jordan yesterday and I must say that I think I may officially love that country. After a 2 hour ride to the Shiekh Hussein checkpoint just north of the West Bank I entered the "terminal" where I had to pay my exit tax of 88 shekels and then get my exit stamp. From there I boarded a bus which took me a 1/2 mile to the Jordanian border. My first impression of Jordanians were that they were extremely friendly, helpful and willing to talk. After paying for a 1 month visa (10 JDs), I had to go through customs and then get a taxi that would take me to Amman. My taxi driver's name was Huwwari and although he didn't know any English, I somehow managed to communicate in my extremely poor Arabic.
We drove through the beautiful and lush Jordanian valley, zipping through a number of small villages where the vegetable markets lined the sides of the road. I couldn't help but smile as I heard the sounds of the vendors shouting out their deals of the day. After being in the valley for about an hour, we turned east and headed up onto the winding mountain roads that would take us to Amman. Once I got to my hotel I was tired from a full day of travel (which geographically should only take 1 hour), but because of border "security" ended up taking 5+ hours, I crashed for the night.
View from my hotel room --- notice the 2 minarets from the mosque on the right side and the 2 crosses from the church on the left side.
After footoor (breakfast) I started walking in the direction that I believed the city center to be in. About 20 minutes later I was downtown with all the glorious hustle and bustle that only the city center of a Middle Eastern country could present. I wandered for hours amongst Amman's many shops and markets and had lunch at a wonderful restaurant by the name of Jebri. I sat outside on the 2nd floor balcony eating hummous, bread, and tabbouleh while filling out my postcards, watching the action on the street below, and smelling the nargileh wafting over from the man sitting next to me.
View from my seat on the balcony -- downtown Amman.
I dropped my postcards off at the post office, picked up my map and headed towards the Roman ruins that dot Amman. The ruins and in particular the ampitheatre, which seats 7,000, are absolutely gorgeous and I was probably only 1 of maybe 10 tourists there. It was fabulous. The men that worked there were again extremely helpful and charming. An old man by the name of Muhammed took me around to show me different aspects of the theatre that I may have missed. At first I thought he wanted a fee, but he said that it was free of charge so he took me around to a smaller theatre near the large one and then up to a bazaar that sold an eclectic mix of old and new. I ended up buying an old ring, thanked Muhammed for his time and headed back to the hotel.
Jordan.... who knew?
After a fabulous first day and a half in Jordan, I hired a private taxi to take me to Petra, which is 3 hours to the south of Amman. I had heard from a number of people that Petra is amazing and that when in Jordan it is a must, so I figured... why not? My driver, Wael, was fantastic... he spoke English fluently and was a joy to talk to. He dropped me at the entrance to Petra at around 10:30 and I was off. The first mile and a half of the walk is a narrow descent called the "siq." At every turn the local Bedouins ask if you would like to ride their horse or horse carriage as the walk can be quite tiring. I told me self that I was going to suck it up and not give in to their offerings. I can't even explain how beautiful it was to be walking along this old ancient passageway -- beautiful in every way except for the copious amounts of tour groups full of teenagers. 
After a 20 minute walk I turned the corner and there the famous "Treasury" stood in a wide open area. From there you are forced to go to the right and descend further in. All along the way there are tombs and houses carved into the cliffsides. Eventually I came to the ampitheatre, which is said to be on its way to holding performances after being closed for thousands of years. I continued along the main path but at some point climbed a hill to get a better view of things.
It was at this point that I met a Bedouin boy by the name of Khalled (however he told me to call him Shams -- which is the Arabic word for "sun"). Shams owns two donkeys, Suzannah and Zuzu, which he uses to make money at Petra. Shams and I quickly became friends and he asked if I wanted some Bedouin tea. I couldn't decline so he took me around to one of the tombs where we could get some tea. It seems the women who are normally there were not, so he decided to take me to a path to get back to the entrance. Along the way he somehow managed to convince to get on his donkey. I admit that I was a little apprehensive, but Shams assured me that I would be fine. I was riding along and all of a sudden Shams decided to hop on the donkey and join me. So along the path I went on a bedouin donkey with a bedouin boy. Before I headed down the narrow, rarely used path that would take me back to the entrance, I sat down and had some tea with a local bedouin lady, her young daughter, a sleeping infant, and about 3-4 little bedouin boys. They were all so captivating with their honey-colored eyes and their radiant smiles. I felt like I wanted to stay forever, but alas I could not.
I started headed along the path that would take me to the entrance. At first I thought that I was crazy because I ended up basically having to become a rock climber to maneuver the difficult path and within the first 5 minutes I nearly turned around. However, when I spotted one other hiker coming the opposite way I figured that I must be headed in the right direction so I kept on trekking. After about 45 minutes or so I spotted the main path. After I climbed the rocks I met a bedouin man by the name of Uthman and his brother Hamza. They both owned horses and worked at Petra for a living. I was invited to have some more tea with them and with pleasure I accepted. They took me to their "father's" cave where I saw an older gentleman laying on a bed. He woke up and invited me to come inside where he proceeded to make us tea. According to Hamza, Muhammed has the cave as a place where the bedouin workers can come and get something to eat and drink while they rest. Muhammed was lovely and again knew English like the others. I thanked my new friends and said goodbye to them and the surreal place that is Petra.
