I did not know much about this vast extension of arid territories without oil in the Middle East. Before traveling there, Petra was the only thing that came to mind when I thought about Jordan, also known home of the media queen rania. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the wrong and superficial image of that country.
In the last decades the Hachemita kingdom lived from an international tourism that went into mass to visit the desert, The city of stone, The Dead Sea and certain places of worship on the path of Pilgrimage to Holy Land, Like Mount Nebo. The hotels, Furgonet drivers, The guides, Typical food restaurants with tourist prices, Souvenir vendors, And many more benefited from a sector that was around 25% Jordano Gross Domestic Product.
Only for some specific periods, Like the most media stages of Iraq's invasion, Israel's attacks on Gaza, or the 11S attacks, they made the coming and going of visitors on the roads, cities and monuments descend. After the attack on the Twin Towers, eg, Archaeologists took the peace of mind to continue excavating inside the main temple of Petra.
Archaeologists took the peace of mind to continue excavating inside the main temple of Petra
But, from the so -called "Arab springs", The world economic crisis, and the conflict in Syria tourism in Jordan has fallen around a 70%. Its borders do not help the country to transmit a security image. The Israeli occupation monopolizes the marine breeze in the west. Trucks with Iraq circulate along the Eastern road, A country razed at all levels. And in the north Syria, The one that was almost more tourist than Jordan by cultural treasures such as the city of Palmira, It has been in a war with too many years and a few international interests in between four years. Nothing has happened in Jordanian territory, But people are afraid.
Jerash was a real surprise that is not announced among the country's tourist attractions. Southern Europe is proudly exhibited wonders like those in Rome, But the ruins of this enclave in the northern Jordano have nothing to envy. We walk down the central street or Cardo, that runs between the two main doors, The circus, The amphitheater, The central square, the temples of some gods and the water channeling system. There is so much and so well preserved that I had never been so easy to imagine urban life in the time of the empire. These relics are in the northern Jordano, The Greenst Zone and where most of the country's population is concentrated. Right now we are closer to Damascus than from Petra.
The city is a neighborhood continuum built in a uniform ocher tone
Further south, An Amman, The old Roman citadel is the ideal place to contemplate a panoramic view of the Jordanian capital. From there the city is a neighborhood continuum built in a uniform ocher tone, distributed throughout seven hills. In the middle of the mass, Mosques and some urban art creation stand out that marks a shock in the middle of the monotony. The busy life of the city, set by the songs of the Mued calling prayer from the mosques, invites us to walk through the streets and markets of the center and eat in a street post.
We continue south with the aim of reaching the dreamed Petra. On the outskirts of Amman there are some visibly more humble neighborhoods; improvised constructions and some streets without asphalt. They are the "camps" of Palestinian refugees. Of the 11 millions of inhabitants that the country has, about six million are Jordanos. The rest of the population consists of Syrian refugees, Iraqis and Palestinians. The latter are the ones who have been in the country for the longest, And after decades waiting for a return that never comes, His thirteen camps have become neighborhoods.
There are also migrants from other places such as Egypt who come to carry out little qualified works that the population used to reject. But that was before the crisis. Today, with middle salaries around 600 dollars and with Amman as the most expensive Arab city ahead of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Many Jordanos emigrate and no longer discard any jobs in their country. This situation has also influenced the progressive incorporation of women into the labor market.
It is not possible to access the shore without going through a tourist establishment
Next to the stereotyped images of the queen and the temple of Petra, The Dead Sea is another of Jordan's tourist legends. As in many other areas of the world, The bathroom in this inner sea with a disproportionate level of salts and minerals, has been privatized by great hotels. It is not possible to access the shore without going through a tourist establishment with its corresponding Dead Sea products stores, And the curiosity to know what a sea is like in which it is constantly ends over due to the feeling of disappointment for tourism invasion.
We descend on the map to the south. The vegetation begins to reduce to bushes and the landscape becomes deserted. Small sandy swirls cloud the view in some sections and force us to stop from time to time. More desert. Peoples are scarce, And for many kilometers the only thing around us are camels, Some Bedouin camp with their flocks, and a huge pipe through which the water runs from the desert subsoil to the most populated areas of the country.
A kind of mountains of land and sand also begins to appear in the middle of the landscape, With a hole in its upper part, as gigantic ant. They are phosphate mines, A business that now supplies the losses that has caused the collapse of tourism. It has always been an important resource: Jordan is the third country in the world in the extraction of this mineral after the United States and Sahara.
It was paved by Sadam Hussein during the Second Gulf War
This road that opens the road through the desert to Petra was paved by Sadam Hussein during the second Gulf War. Due to the blockade to which the Iraqi regime was subjected, He requested that Jordan would allow him, In the city of Aqaba, and cross the country to Iraq. In return the Iraqis paved the highway.
End of journey. Wadi Musa is mostly populated by the Bedouins who previously lived in the Petra caves. The government reached an agreement with them to leave the cavities and in return built a town at the doors of Petra to live and obsequy with the monopoly of tourist services within the city of Piedra.
To enter the second wonder of the world, built in the rock twenty centuries ago, You have to pass the lockers first, The bathrooms, Souvenir stores and posters that remind a clueless tourist who should not take stones from the pocket in their pocket, or that it will not be help to give money to the minors who are working inside because, In addition to the poison that involves establishing dependency relationships, They would have to be at school.
We walk into the mountains and, After two kilometers walk through the bowels of a natural cannon, Before folding the last curve, the emotion clouds the view by contemplating one of the most beautiful and famous facades in the world: The Treasury of the city of Petra.
