I just have to share a quick story about something great that happened today.  We were in Petra for the second day today, and it was every bit as exhausting as the first.  Toward the end of our time there, most of our group wanted to go see one more set of tombs, but I decided to just wait and relax at the little tea shop at the bottom of the hill.  My friend, Trevor, decided to join me.

We had some tea there at the shop, and then we started getting surrounded by ginormous yellow-jackets or wasps or something.  Whatever it was, we agreed that our time at that cafe was finished.  We went over toward some large rocks with plans of relaxing there while we waited on the rest of the group.

As we were walking over, Trevor commented that there was a guy building a fire next to the rocks where we were going to sit.  As we approached the rocks, I greeted the man and asked him how he was (in Arabic).  He responded in Arabic, and then I told him that’s all the Arabic I knew.  We began to talk in English, and he asked us to sit and have tea.

Trevor and I sat with him talking for at least 10 minutes.  He is a Bedouin man that lives in a cave with his family in the Petra area.  He and his family sell Bedouin jewelry to the tourists that visit Petra.  He was extremely friendly, and his English was pretty good after all of his practice talking to the tourists.

The rest of the group showed up, and he offered tea to them.  He asked me if I wanted another glass, and of course, I said, “Yes.”  He laughed and said, “This is Bedouin whisky.”

We ended up buying several beautiful necklaces from him.

It was an amazing experience, and it’s the very reason I wanted to move to this area of the world.  I love just sitting and talking with new friends over a cup of tea.

This is the life!