Starting Again & Petra

Hello, hello … is there anyone out there?

Before I get into the details of what I have been doing for the last couple of months and where I will be going next I want to share with you some pictures of my father and my last few days in Jordan when we visited Petra.  Visiting Petra was definitely a highlight of my fall adventure.  It was so stunning and unique.  It has been tops of my list of my “must see” list for a few years now.  Skip passed the pictures if this is just too much old news!

Petra by candle light at night

Walking the 2.5 km gorge into the Petra site

Dramatic colourful walls of the gorge

The first thing you see is The Treasury which is a three storey royal tomb which was hand carved into the cliff wall about 2500 years ago.

More tombs carved into the walls.

Rock carved dwellings which were inhabited until the 1980s.

Donkey waiting for a passenger.

Inside one of the dwellings – note the red and white stone.

Starting the 900 stair climb up to the “Monastery”

The view on the way up – almost at the top above the rock cliffs

Colourful rock faces

Way up high now!

Still climbing

The Monestary – so cold, windy and tired!

We were so tired after the climb that we rode donkeys back to the beginning of the site.

Camel

Dad’s very dusty shoes after a long day of walking around Petra.

I came home at the start of December to spend time with family and friends over the holidays.  It has been a lovely restful time and it has been great to see everyone.  Eric and I spent a lovely time in Kingston (even the power outage during the ice storm was fun), Toronto, and Ottawa.  I was also recently in Halifax to see my sister and her husband along with their adorable, wonderful and addictive young boys (I miss you guys!).  As it’s been so cold I have also been doing a ton of knitting!

Socks for Eric

So what’s next you might ask? Tomorrow morning bright and early I am heading off on the next part of my adventure.  My plans have changed so I will not be going to Southeast Asia.  Instead I will be going to Ecuador and Peru for the next two months.  I will then come home for a short break before heading the Europe with the primary goal of walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (the Pilgrims trail across northern Spain).

After doing a plan for Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam I realized I wasn’t very enthusiastic about going there.  Given my lack of confidence in being on my own, once again I planned to do consecutive tours.  This didn’t appeal to me as I felt I did that already in the fall.  As this time is supposed to be about pushing my comfort zone and going to the places I have been dreaming about, I am going to challenge myself.  Instead, I by going solo to South America.  This is a challenge because I will be on my own, I speak almost no Spanish, and I have no actual itinerary (translated that means no fixed plan and no reservations except my first few next in Quito).  I’m scared by being on my own and terrified to not have this all planned out.  But this is a good thing I am told and wise people tell me it will result in my enjoying each moment instead of focussing on executing a plan. Or so I’m told – results still to be determined!

So now I am all packed, checkin, and ready to go.   Bearic is strapped to my bag.  I will be keeping the blog more up to date now that I will have more to report and share.  See you in South America!