The Lost City of Petra in Jordan is where I was this summer with my best friend.
In case you don’t know Petra, is a historical city in the desert of Jordan, made up of sandstone rock. Known as the “Lost City.”
We were standing in front of one of the many wonders of a world, a temple carved into stone called “The Treasury” when a Bedouin men named Meeto, approached us offering to take us to the highest point of the rock city to be able to take a beautiful Instagram worthy picture of the Treasury.
We debated, haggled the price and agreed to go with him. He proceeded to motion us to follow him. On the way over to the sandstone rock, he removed his sandals and continued barefoot. I was unsure if we should do the same. The temperature felt like they were at 100 degrees, I was pretty sure the rocks where very hot under his feet. That’s when fear started taking over me.
Are we hiking? Will there be stairs? How high are we climbing? And most importantly is this safe?
My questions were somewhat answered as we got to the starting point of the hike. Yes, we were hiking; no there’s no stairs or a clearly marked path for that matter. And in regards to the: is this safe question, I made a mental note that I would ask him after if anyone has ever fallen off.
As soon as we started climbing, higher and higher with no marked path and slippery stone, I kept saying, “Maybe we should go back down,” although the Bedouin man insisted we were perfectly safe with him. He kept saying to calm me “ I got you” as he was balancing himself on the edge of the rocks we were climbing. I’m not exactly sure how he was going to “get me” if I slipped down. But he seemed very confident and would guide us through the rocks on the way up. We would try to follow close behind and step exactly where he would step.
After what felt like an eternity going up, we managed to get to the top of the rocks where we could see the Treasury perfectly. Here was the spot to take the pictures. 100 pictures later, it was time to make our way back down.
Fear took over me again this time paralyzing me the moment we started the hike down. It was one thing going up but a whole different thing coming back down, it took him around 10 minutes to convince me to trust him again and another 30 minutes to make our way back down with the rest of the visitors.
Getting back down was way more slippery than going up but he was there to grab my arm and assure me we were fine. Once down, I recalled my earlier question and asked him if anyone has ever fallen off, he answered with a smile “not with me.”
Well that was a relief. Right?
In the end we got our incredible picture and had a beautiful experience hiking up (even though it was super scary!)
Here’s the pictures we took.
Would you have done it?
