Petra - Day 2

Warning - this post is even longer than the previous one... 

After a pretty good night's sleep (Finley and Will shared the second bed, and had fun before they fell asleep), we were ready to head back into the canyons and caves.  Will needed a new hat - we finally gave up on his National Zoo hat from when he was 1, and he graced us with a few more funny faces for pictures.

There were a few moments of vacation bliss as we started down the road.  We decided to forego the horses on our way in, and the hand holding, calm, happy faces made me feel it was going to be a good day.  This lasted until Finley decided she needed to be carried, and had a complete and total 2 year old meltdown.  Nate dealt with the fall out and Will and I carried on, and happened to see a super cool herd of goats climbing up seemingly impossible mountainsides with their goatherd.

Nate couldn't resist taking a picture of Finley's super long time out...

Surprisingly, Will really wanted his pictures with these guys - not sure what to call them since gladiators isn't right, but they were friendly, and didn't even ask for any money.  Once we got started back down this path, Finley's temporary calm disappeared again when I wouldn't carry her - she chased after me (on the slight downhill slope) and of course, took a tumble, getting a little scrape on her face.  Her dramatic cries echoed nicely down the canyon for everyone to enjoy...

If you look closely, you can see that this used to be a carving of a person, and on the left side, his camel - all that's left are the feet of the camel.  It was some sort of guardian towards the entrance of the city.  Coming up - scenery pics...

We knew it would be a longer day today, so we had planned to start off with animal rides once we made it to the Treasury - the only option to that point is horse drawn carts that speed down the bumpy path, and look more painful than not.  Turns out the camels were not the greatest either - Finley was terrified, and these were "growly" camels, which scare Will to death.  Plus every time we slowed down, my camel would get his head right up next to Will and he was truly afraid it was going to eat him with its giant teeth.  Somehow the path we were walking on was much bumpier than our previous camel rides, and my pregnant belly and Nate's back were also not so fond of the experience so we were glad when we made it to the spot where we would switch to donkeys.

On our first afternoon, we talked to a woman who had been up to the Monastery and said it was totally worth it, and that the donkeys didn't go up the 800 stairs - there was some kind of path "around the back side" that they took.  We thought that sounded good, so that was our plan, but when we switched animals, and started our trek, the donkeys headed up the stairs.  I don't know if it is possible to see in the pictures, but lets just say that for 45 minutes to an hour, we were bit afraid for our lives, and the lives of our children.  The path/stairs were steep, sometimes narrow and had some  dangerous looking drop-offs.  Plus, the poor kid who was leading my donkey - I kept trying to ask him if he was okay, if he needed a rest but he didn't speak English so we just kept clopping along.  When we would pass other donkeys or guides coming down, they would remind me to scoot forward - which I did my best to do, but gravity was not on my side!  By the end, my hands were numb from gripping the handle so hard, and Nate and I immediately agreed that no matter how long it took, we were NOT riding back down - we would walk down the stairs.

More hopping practice:)

The Monastery - there was actually a photo of this in our hotel room, and I thought it was pretty cool, so I'm glad we saw it, but mostly glad we survived our ride up the stairs.

Snack and drink time before our trek down.

The walk down was a bit slow, and there was a lot of dodging of donkey poop, plus all the women with their jewelry stalls were pretty bugged that I wouldn't stop (as I had "promised" on my way past the first time) to haggle with them and purchase their wares.

Finley pretty much had a donkey on the way down too... she got lots of time on Daddy's shoulders during the day.

Several of the guides had added a bit of flair to their look to make them resemble Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

After her meltdowns on the first walk in, and getting on the camel (she was fine once we got up and going), and then riding the donkey, walking the rest of the way to the Monastery - about 20 minutes past when we got off our beasts of burden, the trek down the stairs, Finley was pretty wiped out - she took about a 20 minute nap on her donkey ride back to the Treasury.

The view from the back of our hotel - pretty sweet.

After all the stairs and the slight uphill incline to get back out both days, our calves were pretty tight, and Nate and I limped a bit the rest of the trip, but we were so glad we took the risk of venturing to Petra with small children.  In many of our travels, we have been some of the few people crazy or brave enough to do it - we don't often see many other little people:)  To bed, to bed for another big day tomorrow... on to the Red Sea, and the town of Aqaba.