THE ROCK GIRLS OF PETRA

One of the greatest joys of traveling to foreign countries are the personal interactions with the local people. Those are some of my most favorite memories. And one of those special memories happened when we visited Petra, Jordan.

Petra, Jordan, is a historic and archeological site, dating back to around 312 BC, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were staying in the small town of Wadi Musa, close to the entrance to Petra. The day we arrived we made arrangements to go to Petra at night, for the candlelight ceremony.

That night a huge crowd walked quietly along the candlelit path. At times the path was very narrow, other times it was quite dangerous walking in the dark over gravel and loose rocks. When we arrived at "The Treasury" the famous rose colored carved stone facade featured in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," everyone sat down on mats on the ground. A musician played the most hauntingly beautiful music on a wind instrument. It was a magical and mystical event, sitting on the ground, in the dark, with candles flickering everywhere listening to the music.

The next day we entered Petra once again, only this time the path was much easier to navigate during daylight. It was a very, very, long hike through the canyon in the heat, and I wasn't feeling too well that day. By the time we finally reached the end of the path there was the one and only restaurant inside Petra, where we had lunch.

On the long hike out my husband decided to hike up a side trail to see some ruins but I opted to sit on a bench and wait for him. There were two young Bedouin girls selling small rocks to the tourists and when they saw me they came and sat next to me on the bench. They spoke English so we were able to have an interesting conversation. They told me about themselves, their families and school, and sang songs for me. I told them about myself and sang a few songs for them. When my husband returned from his hike about an hour later he took a few pictures of the girls and I together. They each wrote their names on a piece of paper which I still have along with my favorite picture of the three of us together. But my best reminder of Tiamam and Magda, the "rock girls of Petra" are the two rocks I bought from them and keep on a table in my sewing room.