Petra/Aqaba/the final days in Jordan...

Went to Aqaba and Petra this past week. Now I am sitting in a lonely office because school is on break, so I guess it's about time for me to leave (arriving in London tomorrow 20/6).

Aqaba is the only coastal city in Jordan so it's pretty much a beach resort town... but the city is pretty gross... it's kind of like any other city in Jordan only with the tourist aspect counted in. We went to the Royal Diving Club to use their beach and snorkel a little bit. When we arrived, though it was really windy so we sat on the beach and fell asleep... needless to say I'm a little toasty right now, but I put on lots of sunscreen... just never fall asleep under the Jordan sun. My sister and I snorkeled around and she swam very fall out to look at the reefs. I lifted my head up to find her, only to hear her asking for help.... turns out she ran out of energy and didn't have enough to swim against the waves and back to shore. Tried to pull her with me, but then ended up turning into a cheerleader ("only a little further") and before we know it there's an Arab in the water with a diving mask on pulling her to the bridge. And hotel guests staring. And hotel staff staring.
A little drama for the day...

Later on, we bought some mixed nuts for my sister's friend we were to visit the next day and the man at the counter was trying to make conversation with us... "ahh, Americans, where are you staying" and although we were staying across the street and could see him from our window, we lied... then he says "can I spend night with you?" without ANY shame. Just blatantly asks... and doesn't even apologize when we refuse!
ugh... I'm not sure what kind of tourists come to Aqaba, but they must be giving the rest of the Westerners a bad name! perverted peanut salesman...

Petra is really pretty... I wish I could post some pix but it's not looking good right now. It's an ancient city previously featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (the place where the Holy Grail was). Yes that's right I walked the same paths that Harrison Ford walked before me...
The site's a bit touristy and filled with Bedouin vendors, kids begging for you to ride their camels, donkeys, horses, etc, and Westerners making me ashamed by wearing traditional Bedouin headdresses.

We walked A LOT. The path to the Monastery had 800 stairs (which makes the Devil's Millhopper Sinkhole in Gville look like a walk in the park). I'm glad we were hardcore enough to do everything w/o donkeys because it was quite a challenge. Lots of climbing, stepping, sliding through sand. Some kid told us that a spring was located 15 minutes away so we walked only to be walking through stones from a river bed for 15 minutes and a dried (nonexistent) spring.

For the past few days we've been chilling... listening to American music station (yeaahhhhhhhhh Bryan Adams) and playing card games and stuff. Everything's really dead here although I think tonight we're going to a graduation ceremony. Then tomorrow I'm off to England so hopefully everything will go smoothly.