Brian learned two new things about me today. First that my whining has a whole other level beyond what he's experienced, and second that I can push myself to do things that no one thought I was capable of when I'm really determined!

We crossed the border relatively easily though not only did they stamp our passports on the Israeli side, but they did it without a date, so we had to go back and get a second stamp. There's no mistaking where we've been traveling! We then took a taxi with a couple of lovely French girls (hooray for free places to stay in Paris!) to Petra, checked into our hotel and went straight to site. Holy crap it was an expensive entry fee! We weren't quite prepared for the $100 admission, but when you've come all the way to Jordan to see a special place, you don't turn back at the last minute so we forked over the money and in we went.

We took our time wandering through the first area until we got to the famous treasury that everyone knows from the pictures. At this point we couldn't understand why people would choose to stay for two or three days; it was very pretty, but not so big…then we turned the corner…apparently we had misread the map and were not nearly as far through the place as we had initially believed.

At this point, two things happened- Brian went into man on a mission mode, and it started to rain. Neither of these things was good for me, and so the complaining began. I managed to slow him down and find overhangs to duck out of the rain which made things a little better, but the combination of small injuries I had sustained, a nasty chest cold and being completely out of shape made things very difficult.

To reach the end of the site, we had to climb 900 stairs to see the monastery. And I had decided I was going to see it! Every few minutes, Brian suggested I might want to take one of the numerous "taxis" that were being offered (these came in the form of sad, Eeyore like donkeys), but I was going to get up there if it took all day…which it pretty much did. We were amongst a few of the last people out of the park and well after dark. It was cold and wet, but we were both proud of me for making it all the way in and out on my own steam.

After a quick bite we ran off to bed. Because as any logical person who was unwell on vacation would do, we decided to take a trip out to sleep in the desert the next night.