For several days during Passover vacation in April, Joe and I visited Petra in the southern part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The days that we spent there were arguably the most amazing during my entire time in the Middle East. The desert country of southern Jordan is unbelievably beautiful and remote. Jordanians are a wonderful people, who love their King Hussein (now deceased, but still loved and revered as ever). Jordan is ruled by the Hashemite family, said to be direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammed. Most of our days in Jordan were spent in Petra, an ancient city inhabited roughly 2,000 years ago, and consisting of numerous caves cut out of the colored rock cliffs in southern Jordan. The caves, used originally for tombs, are decorated with the stunning facades pictured below, and were made famous by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Jordanian countryside near Petra at sunset

"The Monastery" of Petra. Joe, at right, on the tip of the facade, gives scale.

The facade seen in The Last Crusade. People and camels below give scale.

Three Bedouins (nomadic people of Arabia) in Petra; one sincere, two mischevious.

ABSOLUT PETRA (courtesy Joe)

Joe and Vanessa, peacing out on a Jordanian bus (errr.... VW van). Vanessa is a professional singer who was in Israel learning Hebrew. Joe and I had the unparalleled pleasure of listening to our own private concert inside the Petra caves, where her beautiful voice echoed everywhere off the rock walls, adding harmony. The acoustics made her single voice sound like an entire choir. Vanessa doesn't horse around; she doesn't bore herself with modern music. Rather, Vanessa sings all those old 13th Century and 16th Century classical songs by Bach and Venezuelan nuns and Benedictine monks. Simply beautiful.

Joe and Vanessa (top left) at the Roman Amphitheater in Petra

	^ Two dollar a night accomodations in Jordan: a rooftop balcony five stories high. Thank the Lord it rarely rains there. European tourists still asleep to the left. < Vanessa, Jordanian truck, and a feather duster hood ornament. Mercedes should rethink their icon, don't you think?