worth the hassle

First and foremost, no excuses people, you *HAVE* to go to Petra. It's absolutely amazing. You actually walk the streets of the ancient Nabatean Kingdom's capital. Phenomenal. Incredible. Mind-blowing. I can't think of enough hyperbole to describe the place. It blew me away more than Giza.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll give only a short recap of yesterday's pains, so as not to dour my happiness with all we accomplished today.

First was the suffocating four-hour bus ride to Nuweiba, then the three-hours-turned 5-hour ferry across the Red Sea to Aqaba. We found out when we arrived that the 1-hour speedboat we were expecting to take at 2:30 was not scheduled for that day because of some obscure holiday. The ferry would've been fine had their been a serviceable toilet. Instead, my best option was a very stinky men's toilet. I don't understand why it's so hard to keep toilets clean in foreign countries, but apparently it's damn near impossible.

Then we had to pass through customs in Jordan, haggle over exchanging money then finally haggle with a taxi driver for the $40, two-hour ride to Wadi Musa, the city that borders Petra. That's a whole other story, but suffice to say that we left the port at 9 p.m., but didn't leave the city until 10 p.m. after getting gas, changing drivers, having the 2nd driver also stop for gas, then to pick up his wife for what we could only interpret as their date night. They chattered away while Courtney and I desperately tried to sleep on the drive up.

We arrived in Wadi Musa with no hotel reservation and got lucky at the first place we stopped. For about $21 a night, we have a massive room, private bathroom and drop-off and pick-up at the Petra Gate at the Al-Anbat Hotel. Oh yeah, we scored.

Petra though...Wow. You have to see it to believe it. We probably walked around 8 miles up and down mountain trails, marveling at the architecture that's lasted 2,000 years or more. If you're wondering what all this looks like, just go to Blockbuster (or Netflix) and rent "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Remember that last building he walks into? That's the Treasury of Petra. They filmed the movie there.

But now we're absolutely wiped out. Time for dinner and an early bedtime. Our buddy in the hotel has arranged for a friend to drive us the three hours to the Dead Sea tomorrow morning for a seriously cheap price. We're very happy to have Riad as a friend.

Jordan Valley Marriott (aka Lap of Luxury): Here we come!