A very quick shower, breakfast and we are at the ticket office by 6.30, when it opens. We want Petra to ourselves! Hahahaha we are very pragmatic people and we know it’s impossible, but at least we’ll avoid the hordes of people.

Even before you get into Petrá’s valley you start seeing carved temples.

Light plays with rock shapes.

Rising sun casts long Shadows, our early wake up is paying off, nearly nobody in the Siq, the passage way canyon you have to walk to get into Petra.

The Siq is only two kilometres long but with all the stops for pictures it takes quite a while to walk it.

No history for this post. If you want the history of Petra  get into Wikipedia.

The ultra typical picture but this time I like it more, I took it myself!

Camels resting, then they’ll start ferrying lazy tourists.

The amphitheatre matching the colours of the rest of the buildings.

Collapsed columns – As if sliced by a chainsaw

Legend has it that Samson got his strength from his hair… That cannot be true here!!

Stunning walls. The carved rocks are amazing, but the show nature produces is even better. I’d spend another one or two days walking along the different trails of Petra.

Panoramic view of the monastery.

Now.. which rock should I photograph. I’m wearing the clothes I use for the gym, don’t like how they look, but is the best for super high temperatures.

The landscape is amazing, but looking into the micro world pays back.

Amazing colours and shapes in Petra Rock.

Petra is the Greek for Rock. I wonder what the Greek for ‘Stunning’ is??

A very sad ass.. they really work them hard in extreme heat

There are not many trees, this one looks ancient.

Dermot on the ‘highplace of sacrifice’ of Petra.

I love taking self portraits!!!!

More colors.

Just about to leave, the heat has given me a headhache, I´ve drank 2 litres in the last hour. I can only thing on finding some sahed!

We’ve like Jordan, we have left the Red Sea and the desert of Wadi Rum for other time. People are very nice but they have had tourists around for too long, you always have to check prices before doing anything or maybe they try to rip you off. It’s a great country to visit, perfect to rent a car and enjoy the desert drives, and great to get a taste of the middle east.

I go back to Syria after leaving Dermot at the airport. While heading to the airport at 4:30 am we got lost, sleepy minds, bad signs and some wrong interpretations got us there 45 minutes before flight but he made it!

Another shared taxi to cross the border. The guy seems to be quite an asshole but it’s just going to be two hours so I don’t care. We cross with no incidents apart from the fact that he fell asleep driving. I saw he was tired so didn’t stop to pay attention to him, I saw how his head fell over the steering weel and a shouting insult in Spanish came from the inside of me produced by an instant deep hate. When we arrived I got my backpack and didn’t even say good bye, didn’t wanted to see his face again.

It’s 9 a.m. sky is blue. I’m back in Damascus, I’ll probably walk to the souq to have that amazing ice-cream again. I’m happy with myself.

Fernando