Friday Faces-Petra Jordan

When I started the Friday's Face series of posts the idea was to get me to take more pictures of people. It is something I am not good at and often a week would pass and I might not have a single photo I liked. This has not been the case for my days wondering around Petra. I have a number of pictures that I like and I thought about stockpiling them to use in the coming weeks but decided that defeats the idea of getting me to take more photos of people. Because of this I am sharing most of photos of people from Petra in one post.



I talked to these girls every day that I visited Petra. They run a small shop selling souvenirs along the stairs to the high place of sacrifices. They offered me tea on the first day as I pasted their shop which I refused but ended up taking them up on the offer my last day visiting Petra. This photos is from one day I ran into them on their way to their shop.



This is one of the many children selling postcards or jewellery around the Treasury. I usually ended my day setting on one of the benches in front of the Treasury resting and admiring the view before my walk out of Petra. The children are a bit pushy at first trying to get you to buy something but talking to them was a real pleasure.



This is one of the many people offering a ride somewhere on some type of animal. I also found the faces of the animals themselves very photogenic. Donkeys is what is most commonly offered for transport and the speed that they go up and down the steps throughout Petra is amazing. Horses are offered between the entrance gate and the start of the Siq (literally translated to 'the Shaft' or what I would call a gorge). The Siq leads to the treasury and the main transport through it is horse drawn carriages. The camels are on offer in the flatter areas of Petra. I gave a pass to all the offers provided for these beast of burden.



One of the carriage drivers zooms past me through the Siq to get as many fares as possible. I wonder if many tourist get hit by these carriages?



These are a couple of the donkey vendors that are everywhere in Petra.



A boy playing with a donkey.



These children are all from 2 families that are living above and behind the snake monument. I had some tea with these families and really enjoyed playing with the kids a bit.

One of the things I found hard about walking around Petra is sometimes I could not walk more than a 100 meters without being offered tea. The Bedouins in Petra seem to feel that offering tea is a form of hospitality and you are a guest in their country. They do use it to try and sell you something but from all the cups of tea that I drank in Petra I was only asked for money once after tea and I never bought a thing. I did give away a few pens and a number of oranges but received so much more.

I am going to use my face for the last picture. This is me a long ways in front of the Monastery. I have wanted to visit Petra for a long time and am happy to say that it has not disappointed me in any way. It has not been only the amazing historical and archaeological site as well as the spectacular natural beauty but the people I had the pleasure of talking with that has made this such a wonderful experience.



Next week it will be back to a single face if I can get a photo I like.