IF THIS IS TUESDAY WE MUST BE IN PETRA

This is now the second time I have written this part of my story. My computer genius erased my first draft while trying to help me to add pictures. So.......right now we are at a guest house at Kibbutz Hagoshrim, in the upper Galilee. Yesterday though was the most spectacular day so far. We were awakened early boarded a bus to the Jordanian border where we surrendered our passports to Israeli official for stamping. We walked through a gate, then about 100 yards where we went through another gate into the country of Jordan. Again they checked our passports. We boarded another bus with a guide from Jordan who took us two miles to the 1800 year old Nabatean city of Petra, recognized as one of the Ten Wonders of the World. We first walked about one kilometer to an area called the siq which is a pathway between tall cliffs which are very tall, very beautiful and very interesting. Emerging from the siq in another kilometer we came to an area called the Treasury. This huge building is carved with different, interesting designs from different eras.
From here we went a little further to see more interesting wonders. There were also vendors selling trinkets. I bought two small bottles with sand designs inside. The man wanted $8.00 a piece. I was able to bargain him down to 2 for $5.00. Who knows who the next guy paid, maybe a dollar!
Those in our group who were not able to make the hike down took chariots, small carts pulled by a horse, holding a drive and two passengers. Those without back problems before sure had them afterward after going over the cobble stones some dating back thousands of years.
After the hike up, we had lunch at a local hotel, and then raced back to the border so that we could get across before six o'clock. Jordan is a very poor, very brown, very dry country. We were near the town of Aman, near the Mediteranean Sea. It was quite a contrast to Eilat, where our hotel was, a very affluent city.
I was so tired last night, that I didn't even eat dinner, just showered and into bed by 9:00.
This morning we were again awakened early for a flight to Tel Aviv where we again boarded a bus and went to Caesarea one of the Land of Israel's most important cities during the Roman Period. . .more archeological ruins.
We had lunch at Zichron Ya'acov. one of the first communities extablished by the early Zionist pioneers.
After lunch, on our way here, we stopped at another Kibbutz that had a shoe and sandel outlet. We do have to help the Israeli economy, after all.
Tomorrow it's off to the Lebanon border and a jeep ride along the Golan Heights.
Please look up Petra on google. I can't explain it throughly enough. Until later. . .