The High Place

Situated at the very top of the mountain above the Khazneh and the Ampitheatre in Petra is the Great High Place, the great holy shrine of the Nabateans. We hiked up to it today, and it was quite the adventure. We started off hiking down the back road into Petra, meeting up at the Castle of Pharoah’s Daughter, which is this huge random half-ruined building just past the Great Temple. Legends has it that as Pharaoh was chasing Moses and the Israelites through the desert, he stopped and built the castle to house his daughter, and the Khazneh to hold all his treasure (because when Pharaohs are chasing runaway slaves, they always take their daughters and half the wealth of Egypt, right?). The legend was actually made up when the Arabs came into the area. There are several areas around Petra that are associated with Moses, like the tomb of Aaron (which we’re going to next week), and supposedly the spring in Wadi Musa is the one which sprung from the rock when Moses struck it with his rod. Thus, they assigned stories to other significant places nearby, despite it being totally out of historical context, and fairly unbelievable. But that’s what makes it fun, right?

I digress. We met up there, then began our hike up to the High Place. It was really fun going up the backside, because it’s in the shade almost the entire way, and there are a lot of neat sites there that you usually wouldn’t see. We saw the Soldier’s Tomb, and a HUGE old cistern, met a very friendly cat that kept trying to play with the people that hate cats, and saw a awesome triclinium (An room with a bench on three sides that was used for funerary feasts). Then we went up some stairs… And some more stairs… And some more stairs… My goodness, there were so many steep stairs just zigzagging almost straight up the mountain side. It was killer. But climbing up the final stairs, lungs wheezing from the physical exhertion, legs burning from the sheer height of each step, and finally coming to the wide flat top and seeing the view and feeling that beautiful cool breeze on my face—It was so worth it.

Allison and I took pictures of her pretending to sacrifice me on the great alter (how could we resist?). Then we joined Brittany at the far end, sitting on the edge of the cliff, dangling our feet as we took in the panomara around us. The people below us, walking along the main road from the Ampitheatre to the Palace Tomb and Great Temple were tiny, little specks moving among slightly larger specks (which were the camels). We could see the site where we’re working right now, and we decided it’d actually be quicker to hike to our site then down into Petra rather than walking down the back road. Um Sayhoun made up part of the horizon, sitting on top of one large hill, while to our right we could see all of Wadi Musa spread out. I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Petra. It’s a hard, steep hike, but reward at the top is worth it.

We went down the front path, and came out right next to the ampitheatre, which is right by Al-Khazneh, which is where the Siq comes out. So Brit, Ally and I decided to head up the Siq to the gift stores to do some last minute present buying. We were joined by Josh. It turns out the shops at the very top of the Siq were closed because apperantly a fight had broken out? So the police closed the shops? That’s what one of the workers told me. So we headed up the street into town, and had a very successful half hour shopping trip, complete with delicious Mövenpick ice cream. Then we booked it back through the Siq, flashing our park passes at the gate. I must say, we felt pretty cool, striding through the Siq like we owned the place. It was the third time I’ve been through it.

And I must add, Al-Khazneh (which is the Treasury, by the way) is just as impressive each time you come around that last corner in the Siq and see it peeking out at you, then emerge in it’s full glory. It truly is a gorgeous building.

By the time we made it back to our meeting place, our legs were quite… well exercised, to say the least, and we were feeling it (but it’s that good kind of sore). We tried estimating how far we had hiked, but I don’t know how long the Siq is, or how long the hike to the High Place is. I know it took us just under a half hour to get through the Siq, and we were walking pretty fast. And it took us a little over two hours to get to the top of the High Place. But your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I’ll clock it on GoogleEarth.

Anyway, Dr. Johnson thankfully drove us back, and the cold shower immediately following was very refreshing. It was hot today. That combined with our ambitious walking only served to make today one of the sweatiest of my lifetime. I truly think the only time I’ve ever sweated more was either digging on site, or field hockey practice in August.

Church was at 5:30 today, and I volunteered to give a talk. I spoke about trusting in God, especially through trials, and I think it went pretty well. I used to hate speaking in front of people so much, but I realized today that that fear is, for the msot part, gone. I think it has to do with me making myself bear my testimony every month in church for the last two years. And I don’t write my talks out word for word anymore, just have an outline and notes and follow that and then just add what comes to mind. I liked it.

Dinner was pizza, and I ate waaay too much. But it was so good and I was HUNGRY after the work-out I got today! All in all, it was a really fun day. I love our field trip days. I wish we had more time to just explore Petra. I feel like I know the main city like the back of my hand, and the Wadi Mataha area (where we work), but there are tombs and stairs and canyons that we haven’t even touched. If you ever go to Petra, plan on spending a full, very tiring day there, hiking to a lot of high places and off the beaten track to explore several “lost” tombs. It’s truly amazing.