Jordan (continued)

After the treasury at Petra (where the grail is in Indiana Jones), we walked down the canyon and saw everything else. There is a whole cliff side full of the same type of architecture as the treasury. I will have to find some pictures. I can't describe it. Later, we went to the top of a giant mountain and saw another building cut out of the sandstone even bigger than the treasury. The Byzantines used it as a monastery, but it was originally built as a memorial of the Nabataeans defeat of the Greeks. We went to a few overlooks after that where you could see the desert for miles.

In Amman, the capital of Jordan, we went to a mixed salad place where they make ice cream mixed with fruit. We met up with a student studying abroad in Jordan from BYU. She knew a bit more Arabic than we did. We went to Hashem's, an Arabic McDonald's that served Falafel and french fries and hummus. Our BYU student guide said they eat practically nothing else and have a 60% rate of diabetes. We also had some delicious sugary cheese stuff. We ate a lot that night. I felt a bit sick the next day.

We went to Jerash the next day and saw the "best preserved Roman city in the world". I have actually seen quite a few Roman cities now, and I believe them. We saw a live gladiator show with a chariot race and roman legionnaires. We learned a lot from that show about the ancient Roman warfare. I saw a very well preserved theater there. I could imagine Romans sitting in a packed theater listening to Greek plays. The whole city still stood because no one ever built anything on top of it. When the Roman empire moved their capitol to Constantinople, the trade routes changed and Jerash became pretty much useless. Most of the buildings still remain in fairly good condition.

One of the most interesting things about Jordan is their close involvement to the Palestinian conflict. Over 50% of Jordan's population is made up of Palestinian refugees. The queen of Jordan is Palestinian. Jordan held the West Bank until Israel took it in 1973 (ish). A King of Jordan was assassinated in Jerusalem because of the conflict. The Kings of Jordan have attempted to negotiate a settlement for the Palestinians for over 30 years. It was interesting to hear our tour guide, our BYU guide, and locals talk about it. They all love Jerusalem, but they don't even say the word Israel.