We got to Petra in the early afternoon, and unpacked before heading down to the Cave Bar (outside, in a cave, under our hotel) for the Happy Hour two-for-one drinks. Nothing like two cold beers to wash away the road dust. Then we walked into Petra, just to the Siq, to see what we were in store for tomorrow.
It was really crowded, which reinforced my desire to start early.
We are staying at the Petra Guesthouse Hotel. It is a really nice, big room, located on the Siq trail inside past the ticket booth. It is the best location for hiking, and has a great bar. It was a great choice and I'd stay here again.
That first night we walked up into the town center of Wadi Musa for dinner and a look around.
I wanted to go to Camel Burger, but we ended up at a brand new place in an old building, called Petra Candels Restaurant. It was fun and authentic, but probably not worth the effort to walk up to it in the heat.
I had the traditional Jordanian dish called Mansaf, made with chicken. Gail had tabula, hummus and pita bread, and we got two 1.5 liter waters.
The food was good but not great. We drank one entire water, and brought the other back to refill our water bottles. The owner gave us a cup of tea, he was so grateful to have customers.
The entire meal cost us 13.20 JOD, or about $18 US.
It was fun to walk around the town center. We are the only westerners here, up in the town. Everyone else is hunkered down in the hotels, eating at their Jordanian buffet and watching the sword dancer, rifle guys authentic Jordanian show.
I made a mistake and turned on the TV looking for world cup soccer. I got the news instead.
How embarrassing. We the USA are in the world news headlines. They show the kids in the border camps, just like the refugee kids in Syria.
I went to the bar for a drink and to catch the game.