the high place of sacrifice

In the early days, around the second century, they do sacrifice humans here. It was reported that once a year a young boy's throat is slit here and his life bloond offered to the Nabataen god. Besides this there were regular animal sacrifices. Here were found raised altars and drainage for the flow of blood. It is a huge complex and I can imagine in its hey days, the gathering of priests and worshippers for each sacrificial ceremony whether of human or animals. Anyway the clim up here was exhausting. We could have gone down the same way but we didn't. Instead we chose to go down the back way.

We are almost there

It was a hard slog getting up there. The younger visitors were passing us and we could see this tiny figure up there ahead of us. It was s terrific day for that climb. That was our last day.

Another bedouin family

On the way up I came upon this Bedouin family having breakfast. This beautiful girl greeted me, offered me this huge chunk of homemade bread that her mother had just baked in that rudimentary fire that they call 'kitchen'. I protested, I couldn't in all clear conscience take their meager victuals, I ate a small piece and handed the chunk back to her. I said, 'I just had a big breakfast at our hotel'. I did share a cup (or glass) of her tea. I took her picture, a beautiful girl, she didn't show her teeth because some of her front teeth were missing. The Bedouins we met in Jordan has touched our heart so much. They contributed to the stories I brought back from this trip. It's not places but people also that add that extra element to all my trips.

Another climb

The climb to the high place of sacrifice, though not as long as the climb to the monastery, was just as steep. It took us quite a while to climb up on our own two legs. We had to stop every few steps to catch our breath. But we passed some incredibly beautiful views. There were others climbing up with us, so we were never alone. One is never alone even though the place looked empty and desolate. Bedouin families are encamped at various strategic places everywhere and there are lots of encounters with them. They depend on the tourist trade for their livelihood.

the arched gate

At the end of the colonnaded street is this massive gate, partly destroyed by earthquakes. It had originally three arches and once formed the entrance to a Nabataean temple. Its beautiful friezes can still be seen on what is still standing. Today bedouins trek through this place with their camels hauling tired tourists. It was once a sacred place.

Qasr al-Bint

The constant earthquakes in the area has destroyed most of the built places, this one suffered the least damage among them all. The rest has been reduced to rubble, as said in the Bible when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed 'not one stone laid on top of the other', in other words, 'flattened'. Also known as 'the palace of pharoah's daughter', it is a Nabataen structure.It still retained some of its beautiful friezes though I wasn't able to photograph them because it's fenced in and I couldn't get any closer.

The way down

It took us an hour to walk down. We walked past some incredible places. The steps were cut out of the same stuff and were so beautiful. There was no bad view. Everywhere you look was beautiful. They say there is no God, there was a big bang and everything became like what we see today. I wonder.

Me and my donkey

Even growing up in Borneo we never had access to big animals. We didn't use donkeys or buffaloes. But a trip to Cairo just 3 years ago led us to access to big animals. This is unusual in the 21st Century, in modern Cairo where donkey and horse carts mix in with modern cars are found in city streets. We were surprised. Our encounter with donkeys would not end there, in Morocco, we rode on donkeys and here in Jordan, again, we rode on donkeys. We've come to be comfortable with these beasts of burden.

Further up

Just enjoy the view.

Lunch at the top

One thing about the bedouin culture, they share all they have with guests and being a toutists you are regarded as guests. They share their food, they don't sell food. So all we could get up there were tea or coffee. It's a good thing we always pack snacks and candy bars with us when we travel. We brought the Twix bar with us. That was lunch.