Bedouin Hospitality in Petra

By Wednesday morning, we had decided to accept the offer of the mule ride from Feras.  His offer was to take us, via mule up to the High Place of Sacrifice as well as the Monastery.  Both sites, and the hikes up to each were supposed to be worth the trip, however the map and information I read before the trip also indicated they were both long and difficult hikes with quite a bit of climbing ancient stairways.  The mule ride seemed like a good option to knock these out in half the time.  We woke up and confirmed with Feras that we would meet him at 9:00am.

We headed down to the Petra Guest House restaurant for breakfast, to give us energy for another day of quite a bit of walking (mule ride or no mule ride).  After quick breakfast we walked over to the entrance, preparing for the onslaught of vendors and touts.  The night before, we had seen that there were electric golf carts taking people to and from the Treasury from the park entrance.  We'd also heard there was a fee for this.  Given this distance was a 45 minute walk or so, we thought it'd be worth saving the time to grab one, however as we walked in we could not see where the golf carts were parked/launching from.  We didn't want to stop and look around or ask however, as any pause in forward moving brought a mob of individuals offering us all sorts of mini tours.  We quickly gave up on the idea and decided we would just walk twice as fast to get past the Siq and into Petra itself.  Since we spent the first day exploring a lot of the sites towards the entrance of Petra, we skipped past these areas (and much of the morning crowd) and headed straight to where we had talked to Feras the evening before.  

As we approached and began looking around for him, we heard someone call to us, and he came walking out of a small building.  He introduced us to his brother who was going to lead us and the mules up to the High Place of Sacrifice.  We mounted our trusty steeds and began up an incline and some ancient stairs that began the long trail to the ultimate site.  Aimee and her mule were in the front, and I was behind her.  Our mules were connected by a short chain.  It didn't take long to realize that this ride was going to be on a steep set of ancient stairs, that were on a cliff side that quickly rose further and further from the bottom of the Petra canyon.  A few times as we were walking, my mule attempted to move up besides Aimee's at times causing the chain connecting them to get tangled with our feet.  

Our Companions Monica and Layla

View as we began toward the High Place of Sacrifice

As the trail got narrower, Aimee's fear kicked in of the combination of the mules, the heights, and their less than graceful traversing of the cliffside, even with Feras' brother there to keep them in line.  We stopped a couple times debating whether to cut the ride short.  Feras' brother while urging us to continue, also repeated that he was there for our enjoyment and he would do anything we'd like.  After pausing for a few minutes, we decided to try going a bit further.  We only went forward another 20-30 feet, when it became clear that the drop off to our right was extremely deep, and that depending on what part of the trail we was only 8-15 feet between us and the edge--plenty of room for walking, but much more frightening when sitting on an animal 5 feet off the ground.  Aimee's nerves were made worse by the tangling of the chain between us.  She asked to stop again, and said she could not do it.  

As the morning air was cool (though slightly warmer than the day before, and finally sunny) and the breeze in her eyes had caused her eyes to water a bit.  Feras' brother saw her eye watering and mistook it for crying, and was overcome with concern.  He immediately approached her and apologized and asked her not to cry, and reiterated he was there for our enjoyment and we did not need to continue.  She tried to explain that she was not crying, it was just the wind in her eyes.  (Feras' brother's English was not as good as Feras' and I'm not sure he fully understood this.)  We turned and headed back down the trail to the main road (the Street of Facades) and were met by Feras.  We explained that our fear of heights was making us too uneasy on the mules for the ride up the mountain.  

He asked if it was just the heights or if we didn't like riding the mules in general, and we explained the mules were fine.  Feras suggested an alternate plan.  He puled out a map of Petra and suggested ride around the various areas that are not on cliffside ending up at his house for lunch.  This would save us some walking around throughout the expansive city, and then perhaps we could hike by foot up either the trail to the High Place of Sacrifice or the Monastery.  This seemed like a much better idea.  Feras took over the guiding of our mules from his brother at this point.

View of the Tombs from our Mule Tour

Our mules took us around the upper terrace behind the Great Temple offering fantastic views of the Tombs, the Colonnaded Street, the Great Temple, and Qasr al Bint.  We we continued to follow a path back behind a large rock formation towards the back of Petra, and down into a wadi behind it.  

The Great Temple

While we were walking we asked Feras what he had named his mules.  His answer was Monica and Layla.  Monica was the much older of the two at 23 years old.  As we continued to ride I pondered what the source of the names may be.  I'd recently seen a Facebook article about the popularity of Friends in many countries outside the US, and I wondered if this was the source.  At some point awhile later my curiousity got the best of me, and I asked Feras why the names Monica and Layla.  He smiled a bit embarassed and said "Monica is named after Monica Lewinski".  That was not the answer I was expecting, and I laughed out loud. "Layla, he said, was simply a name his father liked.

Now that we were back behind the main sites of Petra, we could see that there were some Bedouin homes back in this area, and many caves that were clearly lived in.  Feras' began pointing out some of the homes that his family lived in.  We had also noticed throughout the day, that it seemed that all of the guides and vendors seemed to know each other.  They all greeted one another as they would walk past each other with much more than just a casual "Merhaba."  This was clearly a close knit, and small community living within Petra. 

At one point Feras brought us to his mother's cave.  Her cave had a large covered porch area, and she was there for us to meet.  Feras asked me if I'd like to see inside, which I of course couldn't turn down.  The cave had a couple rooms, and had a large pile of mats along one wall of the main room.  It also had a refrigerator and a flat screen TV with an entertainment center.

Feras' Mothers Cave

We only stayed here for a few minutes and then continued on the scenic ride through the canyon.  After another 10 minutes or so we ended up heading up one side of a canyon wall (though not walking along the edge of the cliff) to Feras' house.  We were on a trail slightly above his cave, which had a short wall along the edge of the trail, with his cave down below.  We got off the horses and walked down a few steps onto his terrace.  At the top of it was a covered dining area with a table and seats.  Down several more steps were a couple door ways to his cave. As we came down this way, we saw there was a large spread of food laid out, and a couple tourists sitting enjoying it. Feras' invited us to sit down and handed us a few plates to eat from.  His wife came out and he introduced her, and of course she poured us some tea. (or "Bedouin Whiskey").  We talked briefly to the tourists.  They were from Bulgaria.  At this point, Feras shared with us that he rents out half of his cave on AirBNB (Indiana Jones Cave).  He said we could take a look at it (the Bulgarians were in the process of "checking out")  It was shared quarters, with 5 beds (a cave hostel so to speak).  The cave was heavily adorned with various flags of an eclectic nature (including a Saudi flag, an el Che flag, a Jordanian flag and a few others), various Bedouin rugs and mats and other decorations. 

Entry Down to Feras' House

Brunch!

As we sat and shared in the food that his wife had prepared, one of the snacks provided made me laugh:  Laughing Cow individually wrapped cheeses.  When I was a child my grandmother always had Laughing Cow cheese.  In 2011 when I was in Mumbai, our host had Laughing Cow cheese.  And here I am sitting outside a 2000 year old cave in Petra, eating Laughing Cow cheese.  (For some reason I grew up thinking that this was something local to the midwest.)

Feras and His Wife at Home

After spending a little bit of time with Feras, his wife, and the Bulgarian travelers, we got back onto our mules, and he took us back to the center of Petra.  On the way there, we mentioned we had planned to ride camels, and he offered to get us to a couple camels.  While we had figured we'd grab lunch about this time, the snack at Feras' house was enough to tide us over and we decided to go ahead and knock out the camel rides.  After introducing us to a camel guide, he offered to us that we could meet him that evening and he would make us a home cooked dinner in his cave.  Outside of the tourist traps, in Bedouin areas, it is not unlikely that you may get invited into someone's home for a meal on a whim.  This would of course be true hospitality with no repayment expected or even considered.  Within Petra however, I had a strong sense this would be a paid dinner.  However, we thought this would be well worth the price. 

Riding camels are quite a bit different than riding a horse.  While there was a saddle, there were no stirrups.  In order to mount the camels, our guide would grab the fabric draped over the camera and hold it tight so we could use it as a step with one foot so we could swing our other leg over the camel.  All this of course was while the Camel was kneeling on the ground.  

Our Camel Guide

Once we were seated, our guide would have the camels stand up.  The camels stood up with their back legs first, requiring us to lean very far backwards to prevent toppling on the camel's necks. After the back legs went up, then the front legs would go up.  It was a strange feeling multi-stage process for the animal to get up.  Once it did, we were a good 8 feet off the ground.  

The camels walked very slowly, as we had anticipated.  It only took a few minutes to realize that straddling them was not nearly as comfortable as sitting on the mules.  Their girth was much wider.  It was possible to pull our knees up a bit, and let the bottom halves of our legs extend over the front of the saddle, but this also created some uncomfortable rubbing and chaffing on the lower legs.  

The Great Temple

Ruins of Qasr al Bint

Our guide took us around to a few more sites including the Byzantine church, and some more views from different angles of the Qasr al Bint and the Great Temple.  Additionally we made a stop for some tea (for a fee, as goes everything in Petra).  After an hour or so touring with the camel, we were dropped off in front of The Basin restaurant in central Petra (the only full scale restaurant in the park).  The Basin is actually owned by Crowne Plaza, (as is our hotel that we were staying at.)  We went in and requested a table for two, and the host said to us "You are staying at Petra Guest House also, correct?"  I was surprised by this, since there are many dozens of hotels in Wadi Musa.  I said "Yes.  But I must ask, how did you know that?"  The host replied "I served you for breakfast and remembered you."   I laughed a little embarrassed.  The restaurant here was very large, and filled with hundreds of people.  I couldn't believe that he was able to pick us out of the crowd.  Especially since I didn't recognize him (though I am admittedly terrible at remembering either faces or names.)

Lunch

The lunch was a fairly elaborate buffet, and wine, beer, and cocktails were available as well.  Indoor seating was full, so we ended up having to sit outside on what was a sunny yet quite brisk day still. While we ate, we decided we'd give the hike to the Monastery a try, and then call Feras to meet for dinner.

As we headed to the trail head for the Monastery, I was anticipating this would be a quiet trek, as it was off to one end of the entire park, and was a very long trail.  As we approached it however we saw this was definitely not the case.  There were hundreds of people making their way up the trail, as well as many mules as well with riders.  The guidebook stated that the hike to the top entailed about 800 stairs.  This sounded a bit intimidating, but we figured we'd give it a shot.  

Unfortunately, as we began up the trail, we also quickly noticed there were lots of vendors set up along side the trail at every flat or wide spot on the trail.  Most of these were women, utilizing extremely aggressive techniques.  As you walk by, they would approach you and say things such as "looking is free"..."these items only 1 dinar"... take a look at this scarf, let me show you how to put it on.  If you stopped for a minute, you may have a child pushing a glass of hot tea in to your hand.  "No thank you" (or "La shukran" in arabic) was not an answer that they were willing to accept.  In some cases if you got passed them, they would say things like "OK, you take a look when you come back down."  In one case on the way up, a woman who identified as Sarah took this approach.  Though we didn't agree, she said "you look very honest, you promise you will buy when you come back.  I know I can trust your promise (though none had been made)"  This was followed up by a friendly warning of "you better not buy everything up there.  You promised, remember my name is Sarah."

At one point we witnessed a bit testy of  an exchange.  One of the vendors started yelling at a tourist.  "I work hard here, and leave my children every morning at 6:30 in the morning and am up on this mountain all day so I can feed them, and you tell my customers not to buy my things.  You are a very bad person." The exchange continued for awhile, and after the tourist was gone, the vendor told anyone else that would listen that she was talking to a potential customer, and the other tourist walked between her and the customer, and told the customer that everything was too expensive.  Aimee had seen some of the original exchange and said it didn't look like the tourist had done anything wrong besides likely accidentally walking between the two.  As we walked past her she made sure to tell us as well how bad of a person the tourist was.

The trail up to the Monastery was a continual climb.  All in all, it was not too challenging, as most of the steps were well formed, and there were only a few spots where they were eroded badly and not replaced that it required a bit of mild climbing. Endurance was really the only thing required to get to the top.  As we did, some of the vendors at this level were very clever in heaping praise on the tourists saying "You did it!  You made it!"

The Monastery

The monastery itself, while impressive, was very similar to the Treasury, thought shorter and wider.  Just beyond it was a cafe with lots of seating.  Quite a few people were hanging out in the area after having made the long trek.  A trail continued for what looked like an eight of a mile beyond this point to a lookout point a little further out and requiring a bit more climbing.  We decided we didn't have it in us to do this add on.  We relaxed for a few minutes and took in the sight of the monastery, and headed back down the trail knowing we'd have to go past all the vendors.  They were even more aggressive on the descent as they were coming up.  

Monastery and Surrounding Area

When were in the area of  where we remembered "Sarah's" tent, we were hoping we could get past without being noticed.  We were not so lucky.  She came flying out from behind the lines of scarves and shirts, and tables of trinkets, saying "I knew you'd come back, you promised, you are good people."  We attempted to quickly buy some trivial item, and ended up grabbing something that was more pricey than I had anticipated.  Assuming that most people knew many of the other guides and vendors in the ancient city, at one point I said, I was having dinner with Feras and needed to give him some dinars for dinner.  Her retort without missing a beat was "Feras accepts Visa, you can pay for my items"

Brutal.

We eventually survived the descent, and called Feras to let him know we were ready to meet for dinner.  After a few minutes he appeared, and led us back to the "short cut" to his house.  This required climbing several steps carved into the rock formation near the back of the main section of Petra (passed the old museum which does not function as a museum any more) around the side of the mountain on what was a fairly narrow ledge of only 3 or 4 feet.  Part of it had a barrier wall along the edge, part of it had no barrier between the ledge and a deep chasm.  We walked for 5-10 minutes along the cliff side and up and down a few sections of rock, and came upon the cave that we had stopped at for lunch.

Cliffside Trail Along the Right (zoom in on center of picture)

He asked if we wanted to sit outside or inside.  It was getting cold, so we suggested inside.  He brought us in, turned on a propane heater, and served us some dates, hot tea, and cardamom coffee (which seemed to be entirely cardamom, and very little if any coffee beans in it.)  He then offered us his wifi password so that we could connect.  I facetimed my daughters while we sat there, tickled with the irony that today's technology enabled us to have a clear video call while I was sitting in a 2000 year old cave in Petra, Jordan.

Aimee in Feras' Cave

While we all sat in the cave, Feras shared a bit about living in the Petra community, his family life, and working in Petra.  The cave was perhaps 16 foot by 16 foot, square with an 8 foot high ceiling.  Some "closets" were carved into the walls with fabric tapestries covering them.  The walls were covered with tapestries, and there were mats and rugs for sitting on the floor.  There was a refrigerator, and a small area that served as the kitchen were Feras prepared our food.   

At one point while we were talking and drinking tea, an early teenage boy came in and began talking to Feras in Arabic.  Feras seemed a bit annoyed at the boy and continued to repeat something to him.  The boy seemed to continue to argue. Feras seemed to have nothing more to say to the boy, who continued to linger and stare at Feras waiting for his answer to change.  This went on for about 30-40 minutes. At one point when the boy walked out, Feras said “that is my brother”.  Aimee responded “He looked like he wanted something from you”.  Feras replied “Yes, he wanted me to let him take my mule out for the evening.”

To accompany dinner, Feras made some bread from scratch, and brought us out to his terrace to see the griddle on which he cooked it.  It was quite the view while cooking the bread, as there was only about a 12 inch high wall, and then a deep wadi 50 feet or more below where we stood.  After the bread was done we went back in and he served the rest of the meal.  Stewed chicken with tomatoes, green peppers, rice, yogurt and the bread.  It was indeed one of the most unique settings for a meal I've ever experienced. 

Baking Bread Overlooking the Wadi

After dinner was done and having spent a couple hours at Feras' home he had offered to drive us back to our hotel in his truck.  It was parked on the other side of this rock formation, requiring us to go back just about to where we met him.  This time however it was extremely dark, requiring us to walk the narrow cliff side ledges navigating them with flashlights to carefully make sure we didn't accidentally fall into the pit.  We made it, and Feras drove us out the backside of Petra, through Wadi Musa, and back to our guest house, where we got ourselves packed up and read to move on towards the next days' adventures.

Dinner is Served!