Petra Part III: Up, Up, Up to the Monastery and Then On Up to The End of the World

Ad-Deir (The Monastery)

Our approach to traveling this year has been relaxed. We decide where we are going to go and then we go there, without a lot of advance research and planning. When we get to a destination, we see what presents itself. There are downsides to this approach, of course.  The primary one is that we have probably missed some things that were right in front of our noses. On the other hand, there have been many upsides to this approach.  The most obvious is that we rarely argue about what we are going to do when we reach a destination because we all just go with the flow in exploring what we find. (Don't worry, we have plenty of other things to argue about) The other significant upside is that, since we arrive at most destinations without etched-in-stone expectations, we are never disappointed.  In fact, we usually go away saying "that was even better than I thought it would be."

At no time was this more true than on our visit to Petra. We got to Petra, made it to the Treasury, and then looked around for what we would do next. What presented itself was a donkey ride with Mohammed and his buddies. If I had known what was in store for me on the donkey ride up, up, up the mountain to the Monastery, I probably would not have gone.  If I had not gone, I would have missed out on a fabulous experience.

Mohammed told me that he and his buddies and their donkeys would take us up the 800 steps to the Monastery, which was the "best place in Petra."  Missing from his description of the trip were words like "treacherous," "dangerous," "hazardous," and "perilous," but all of these words accurately describe our journey up the narrow, worn, fragile, slippery, crowded steps on the donkeys' backs to the Monastery.  But, so could words like "awesome," "exciting," "thrilling," "breathtaking," "spectacular," and "magnificent."

So, I climbed onto  Shakira, who, my guide was quick to point out, was a "boy donkey," Obviously, he didn't want me to confuse Shakira The Boy Donkey for Shakira The Girl Singer.

Shakira The Boy Donkey and his owner, my Bedouin guide

I was very nervous at the beginning, but then relaxed and enjoyed the ride until we got to the base of the climb and I realized how far up we had to go and how steep the climb was.  Then, I got nervous again.  My guide just kept saying "relax, relax, relax."

I had two things working against me on the trek up the mountain:  (1) I'm not that crazy about heights. The top of the Empire State Building is not my favorite spot in New York.  My knees feel like jello when I get anywhere near the edge of a high place.  In fact, my knees feel like jello when I even see my kids get close to the edge of a high place. So, the higher we went, the less I was able to relax, relax, relax. (2) Being a lawyer, I had no trouble thinking of all the things that could possibly go wrong.  And, the ride was long enough that I could be very creative in imagining every possible horrifying, tragic scenario.

But, up we went.  Up, up, up.  And up some more.  They say there are about 800 steps.  If so, I would estimate that about 600 of them are "steps" in the ordinary sense.  The rest are rocky inclines that you simply hike up--or that the donkeys hike up while the riders hold on for dear life.

The donkey went fast.  It wasted no time getting up the mountain, which would have been fine except that all the walking people on the steps were practically being trampled by the donkeys.  It did not take me long to figure out that, as terrifying as it was going up the narrow stairs on Shakira with the edge of the steep cliff very close to my right side, it would have been even more terrifying to have been one of the pedestrians on the steps trying to get out of the way to avoid being knocked over or pushed off the cliff by the passing donkeys. The moral of the story: the climb is as treacherous for the people off the donkeys as it is for the people on the donkeys--maybe even more!

Photo by Charlie Scudder

Mohammad and his buddies really earned their money keeping up with the donkeys too.  My guide ran all the way up the steps close to Shakira, telling me to "relax, relax, relax" and trying to keep Shakira going the right direction (once Shakira turned completely around and started heading back down the steps).

The donkeys took us up as far as a plateau about 1/4 mile below the Monastery.  We climbed the rest of the way on foot.  As we came around the corner with the Monastery in view, I immediately knew that the harrowing trip had been completely worth it.

In the large open area in front of the Monastery, all sorts of things could be found.  For example, this photo shows some ancient column pieces.

And, there was a snack bar with cold water (almost frozen, actually), soft drinks, and snacks, and there were comfortable benches to rest on after the long ride and climb up the mountain.











Once we had enjoyed a short rest, we continued our upward journey on foot toward the End of the World.

The climb from the Monastery up to the top was not far and relatively easy compared to the steep climb up to the Monastery.

And, the view was spectacular.  (That person sitting on the edge of the cliff is Charlie.)

From up here, you can see the Rift Valley and all the way to the mountains in Israel.

No matter how high I climbed, Maggie climbed higher.  All day--even before the donkey ride up the mountain--every time I turned around, Maggie would be missing. But, I would just have to look up onto the rocky cliffs to find her. Sure enough, there she would be, up higher than everyone else.

Notice the carved out caves even up here at the very top of the mountain.

We walked most of the way down the mountain instead of riding.  As we made our way down, we passed numerous jewelry stands operated by Bedouin women.  They called out very special offers such as "look for free." On the way up, we were moving too fast on the donkeys to be the targets of the sales pitches, but we were not moving very fast on the way down.  Now we were dodging the donkeys and trying to avoid the gaze of the jewelry sellers.

We got back on our donkeys when were were near the bottom of the mountain, and had a relaxing ride back to the place we started. We were tired and sore, but we were all still alive and glad we made the journey up to the Monastery and the End of the World.