Shalom

  Let me know when you’re tired of Petra photos because I have lots more to send!  It is taking me forever because I spent most of the morning trying to research whether that is Aaron’s Tomb visible from the High Place. Islam believes it is.  The Bible has two locations; Mt. Hor in Numbers and Moserah in Deuteronomy.  And apparently they are too far apart to be really confused.  I really do miss being able to go to the library though you would think here in Israel I could find some info somewhere.  I haven’t found a library yet and I’m not sure how much I would find in English.  There is much less English than we all thought and many people actually don’t speak any.  I really REALLY do wish I’d paid attention in Hebrew School!   (Har, could you ask Ellen to ask Gabriel if that really could be Aaron’s Tomb that we saw from Petra?)  I have probably enough photos for 2 or 3 more emails, one our hike to "The Monastery", one of mosaics that Randal loves, and one just some of the people who make their living through the tourists trade." 

  Tomorrow we’re off early in the morning for Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Jericho so no emails for a bit and I’ll be taking more photos and getting further behind!  Oiy!

Ru

Petra # 3

Sunset over the mountains from our hotel room window.

You couldn’t count on getting hot water; but you could count on the 4 am calls to prayer and a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

Also our hotel window view.

We were pretty tired from our long first day at Petra but since we had “two day” tickets, we had to go back for the second day. Linda and Charmaine went off birding but Randal and I went off to hike to the High Place of Sacrifice so I could see what “might be” Aaron’s Tomb. I say “might be” because apparently the Bible mentions two different locations where Aaron is buried.

Starting the climb and it was already quite hot early in the morning.

We hadn’t met Khoa Nguyen yet when I took this photo. But we all walked up at about the same time so talked along the way and took each other’s photos and traded email addresses. Khoa lives in Washington State but had lived outside Boston for 6 months so commented on my B hat. He is a structural engineer which must have made everything even more amazing.

Both Khoa and Randal spent time in Vietnam. Khoa left in 1992 at the age of 21 with his parents. Because his father had worked with the American military, Khoa was eligible for education scholarships from the American Government. Randal was there in 1969 as a marine and in 2000 on his world bicycle trip.

The view as we climbed.

You could take a mule up and it was amazing how they climbed the stairs.

Local Bedouin women had shops along the way.

3,000 feet about sea level on Jebel Attuf Mountain stand two 20 ft. stone obelisks.

Khoa took this photo of me with the obelisks in the background.

The place of sacrifice with lots of tourists.

Aaron’s Tomb (maybe) is the white dot on the center peak.

Randal and me with the “invisible maybe Aaron’s Tomb” off in the distance.

Lots of stone piles left as ….not sure what. In Tibet it was where spirits would come back after death.

I see an elephant and its trunk facing the camera though it’s really just a trick of the imagination and geology.

The remains of a bas relief lion fountain that is really there for all to see…for now until it is worn away like the head.

The descent was less tiring but technically more difficult.

We had more walking to do, but we were most of the way down to the central part of the park.