Since sunday the 1st march I'm in Jordan now after quite an exhausting trip from Cairo to Aqaba which took about 26 hours because the ferry was late and on arriving in Aqaba I met an American couple and an Australian guy and we decided to take a taxi to Petra. On the way to Petra it became colder and colder and finally we had snow on the streets, it was enourmously foggy - and the road to Petra had been closed by the police. First the police told us to sleep in the police station because going back to Aqaba was impossible and the road to Petra was blocked. But then the boss of the station decided we could continue to Ma'an because there was less snow. But also no hotel, the only one we found was closed - so the taxi driver took us with him to his family and told us we could stay overnight without paying for it. On arriving there they had tea ready, some of his brothers joined us, they started heating the room with a gas heater (the temperature was around zero, but still they have only one heater for a whole house with at least ten people living there). They gave us blankets and we stayed there quite comfortable, had a small breakfast the next morning and afterwards the taxi driver drove us to Petra on another road which wasn't blocked. On arriving at the hotel which we had chosen we gave him 40 Dinar instead of the 27 we had agreed on because he drove around 100km more than we had planned, but he insisted on wanting more money because we had breakfast at his home, so we gave him 50 Dinar (around 50 EUR). Jaja, never trust an invitation in this area ... things like that happen too often! But well, finally we got to Petra...
This place is really worth a visit althoug entrance fees are pretty expensive (26 EUR for a two-day-pass). But trying to visit this old nabbatean town in one day is impossible - and so I decided to stay two days which was really good but also very exhausting because you keep walking the whole day. So on the pictures you get some impressions of how it is in Petra - but still reality is much better, especially all the colours of the stones.
The first day I walked around with the American couple and the Australian guy, but on the second day I climbed up several mountains alone which was really really nice because there were no tourists and the surrounding nature and landscape is wonderful. One of the close-by mountains has a mosque on its top - that's Djebel Haroun where - as legend tells - Moses brother Aaron died.
In the evening it was funny to see in the hostel that all people stayed in the entrance area where they have a heater - the dorms are unheated and you could see your breath at any time in there. So my first days "alone" on the road were pretty communicative - and I guess it'll remain like that because also in Amman, the capital of Jordan where I'm now, it's cold in the evening and the dorm has no heater. I arrived here today, still with the American couple, the Australian and another American guy - but they don't stay as long as I, I'm the most relaxed traveller of us. After walking around in Amman today, visiting the citadell and the amphitheater here I'll probably take an early bus to Jerash tomorrow to visit a crusader castle.
Think of me when you turn on your heater - I'm really badly prepared for this weather after two months in Egypt....