Petra and Jerash. What? You come up with a good title for it.

So, after quite an epic day to finish our tour of Egypt, our group woke to the gorgeous landscape of Jordan. First on our list was a morning at Petra. This ancient city was cut out of the mountains by a long-run-dry river. The water cut through the rock and left behind an amazing trek down into the city. We rode horses part of the way down the gorge and took the last part of the trip on foot. This gorge was the famous film site where Indiana Jones was chased by the giant ball in one of his adventurous movies. Petra, however, was originally used as an area for trade by voyagers from across the land. The most well known image of Petra was a building that was used as a treasury. Again, I was struck by the awesome beauty of the rocks and the ingenuity of the builders who carved immense structures out of rocks. This area is still being excavated and new treasures are being found every day. The thing that struck me the most about this area was how close we were allowed to get to everything. Literally, we were climbing on rocks and up staircases, looking into the past. Had we been anywhere in America, there would have been guards and roped off areas hustling tourists through. This really allowed us to get a better scope of the grandeur of Petra and enjoy it all the more. After an hour (which was not nearly enough time) of exploring (and a little bit of shopping), we were scurried out and returned to horseback for our trip back up the gorge. I will say, though, that Mom, Lori and I had a great time goofing off and taking fun pictures of the animals. Our next bus ride took us to Amman, with a stop for lunch at a little hole in the wall place for our first authentic meal of the trip. I relished my hummus wrap and loved finally getting a true taste of the area. We also stopped in Madoba to visit St. George's Greek Orthodox Church. This tiny chapel holds an amazing mosaic tile floor that depicts a map of the holy lands and was created centuries ago. At one point someone was a bit careless and built a column in the middle of the map, so part of it is lost, however, it is a gorgeous piece of history. Monday, November 17th found us in Jerash; a city of Roman ruins. I can't explain the immense nature of the columns, the city streets and the buildings that have been found, nor can I fill in much of the history. Unfortunately, this particular day was my first of several with stomach issues. No fun, highly uncomfortable, and very distracting. I'm sure our guide had plenty to say, but I was a bit busy looking around for the Roman version of a toilet. One of the things that really struck me in Jerash (besides my need for modern conveniences) was how much they are still finding. There were rows and rows of massive column heads just sitting about and waiting to once again top their rightful columns. Just seeing how many columns have been put up and how many there are still to go showed the enormity of what this city once was. I truly loved Jerash (and Petra as well) and would go back again instantly to see what developments have been made. Our day continued on Mount Nebo, which is the supposed burial site of Moses. I would say more, but there wasn't a lot there except for an inscribed stone and a wonderful view of Jordan. Yep, that was about it; we were up and down in about 10 minutes. The day ended when we crossed into Israel. Lori and I ran, exhausted, to our room and stayed there for the rest of the night in the hopes of feeling better for the upcoming day.