Petra, Cooking Class, and Night of Magic

I lack the words for today. While I have enjoyed the canyons and parks of Utah, Petra blew me away today. Neither is better, but I don't believe I had any idea of how spectacular Petra would be. 

Our guide, Zuhair,  explaining the Nabataen sites to us and what we will see. 

I could show a million photos here and still not do this place justice. 

We were the first ones in the canyon this morning. It was a good thing because it got really really hot as the hours passed. 

These narrow, steep passages are breathtaking. 

And then suddenly through the canyon you get a glimpse of the Treasury. 

Group photo!

Perhaps my favorite photo of the whole trip, lol. Selfie with jackass. This could be a whole Instagram feed with so many possibilities! ;-). This guy cooperated so well for our photo!

Hiked the 800 steps (yes carved into the mountain) to the Monestary. Even more spectacular than the Treasury. 

View at top into the next valley. Spectacular place, Jordan. 

Walked back down through Petra and took an extra little hike up to the remains of a sixth century Byzantine church. 

A kind man told me about the mosaics. I said, "marhaba" to him, which means hello, and he asked me if I spoke Arabic. I laughed. He said many Americans don't bother to learn any words at all. In my travels, I have learned it is so helpful to know how to say hello, thank you, you're welcome, good morning, etc. Many will appreciate even that small gesture. 

Some of the mosaics remaining in the church. 

These represent the seasons.  The woman with the basket is Autumn. 

There was also an old baptismal font attached to the church. 

I had not been truly hot until this point because we left so early, but at this point I still had almost two more miles back to the hotel. When done, this is what I did for the next 2.5 hours after a good shower. 

We had a cooking class at a nearby hotel. We made a traditional Jordanian dish called makloobeh, which I had eaten my first night in Jerusalem. It means "upside down," because you take the mostly cooked chicken and veggies and then cook rice with spices over the top. You turn it upside down when cooked before serving and eat it family style, with no utinsils. We Westerners used utinisils. :-)

We also made a few varieties of salads. 

Taking the chicken out of the stock to put in the bottom of the pot.