Visiting Petra

July 22

It is Sunday evening and we have just arrived back on a weekend trip to Petra.  There is much to report, but it will have to wait because I am too exhausted to do anything but collapse.  The crowds were thin at Petra because the summer heat keeps most sensible travelers away, making this the off season for tourists.  But our archeological team only has this time available to see the incredible sights at Petra, and the opportunity was too important to miss.  A bus collected us on Friday afternoon after we had finished our dig, and drove us to Petra and the Guest House Hotel right at the entrance to the site.  Exploring the site is demanding, especially if one hikes up to the high places up in the mountains, as I did.  More about that later, but just to report one  interesting item of personal physiology – from the time I walked through the gate into Petra on Saturday morning until I walked out at the end of the day, having hiked long distances horizontally and vertically, in the heat, I had drunk 4 and ½ liters of water.

 I now have to rest up for the 4.15 bell tomorrow morning and get myself in gear for a new week at the dig.