The best thing about the hotel, besides the air conditioning? A pool. Oh yeah! The group jumped in and like the mature adults they are, played 'Marco Polo'.
Our wake up call this morning was a little bit earlier so we could hit Petra before it reached 118 degrees again. It was my first time to the ruins and in a word - impressive! Before we left home, we rented a National Geographic DVD about Petra (which was another opportunity for the boys to take a nap). I was really glad that we had watched it as the ruins are SO expansive there’s just no way to see them all.
It’s a lot like a southern Utah slot canyon going in and then BAM it opens up to these detailed reliefs in the rocks. By going early we not only missed some of the heat but we missed a lot of the crowds. Never fear though! The 'vendors' were present and ready!
On the way to the restaurant for lunch we got some... interesting... news. I guess Hamas fired 5 rockets toward Eliat this morning at about 8 AM. One hit the outskirts of Eliat, three landed in the Red Sea and one landed in Aquaba. Just to freak out my mother, here is a little map of where we are: (A) is where our lovely hotel is - the one we left about 7 AM this morning. Yes, that is Aqaba... (B) is where the ruins of Petra are. And (C) is the border town of Eliat where we crossed. Today. After those pesky rockets landed.
Some in our group seemed rather panicked and concerned that we were in the area these rockets were landing and exploding. Hmm? Being the comforting person that I am, I reassured them with these soothing words, “Welcome to the Middle East!” (I don’t think it helped much.) I am sure my Mom is wondering about her grandchildren - never fear, they DID NOT get hit by the rockets.
We left Jordan and entered Israel, which is where we got a virtual ‘colonoscopy’ because they are so thorough with people coming from Arab countries - probably even more so today. So out of Jordan into Israel out of Israel into Egypt. Oh, by the way… it was officially 118 degrees outside. You can't imagine.
(Turns out that Jordan has an official tourist exit survey - so they can improve their tourism. David was asked to participate. I think he mentioned that rockets landing in the town you are visiting is more toward the 'unsatisfied' part of the scale than the 'satisfied' part.)
We are staying in Sinai at the Morgenland St. Catherine’s hotel which is a fine hotel in my opinion. Although, others weren't thrilled with their cockroach roommates and spotty A/C, but the other option is... well, a tent? St. Catherine's provided dinner for us and as we are in Egypt now, we must avoid the fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, cheese, dairy and water. Unless you have the desire to become familiar with EVERY bathroom in Egypt.
We had a very interesting discussion before bed questioning just how many times Moses did ascend Mount Sinai. The answer may surprise you. The hotel has a beautiful swimming pool which is oh so enticing, but with a 1:30 AM wakeup call everyone just hit the sack. Yes, I said 1:30 AM.
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