From Aqaba’s heat we went to Wadi Rum and were pleasantly surprised to find it much cooler (35C/90F). Wadi Rum is a dry river bed in the desert with spectacular scenery. We drove around some, then took a 5 hour break during which our "guide"/driver lost his tip, and then watched the sunset from our very basic camp. We slept under the stars and are still trying desperately to get the sand out of our clothes. If you choose to sleep outside in the desert choose brown clothes. 🙂

From there we took the bus to Wadi Musa (Petra). Which just won the competition and became one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It’s a 2000 year old Nabatean city where they carved the buildings into the cliff faces. The temperature here is cooler still and it’s been about 32C/high 80sF but dry. The first day we were able to see way more than we’d thought since it wasn’t nearly as hot as we were afraid it would be. We saw all the highlights and did a hike up to a high site (the Monastery). Gorgeous.

Yesterday and today we did some hiking to get some views followed by cooling off at the hotel pool. We’re staying at the Crowne Plaza which is more like a run down Holiday Inn but it does have a great location right near the park and a nice clean pool.

The park itself is huge – the walk to the Monastery for example is at least 6km/4 miles from the entrance and there’s a big climb too.

Tomorrow we are heading to Amman and we just booked a driver to take us up the King’s Highway. We will see a lot of sights along the way and we can stop for as long as we like. So that should be nice and relaxed. Tonight, since we are gluttons for punishment, we are doing a candlelit tour of Petra into the Treasury (if you’ve seen a picture of Petra it’s of this building).