The nine days I spent with my adopted family in the Bedouin village of Petra in Jordan offered me an unbelievable first hand experience of this magical land. Petra is, first and foremost, a grand display of natural beauty. The huge hand carved temples, which date as far back as the 6th century BC, pale in comparison to the shapes and colors of this region's red rock. Petra is also the living home of a very special group of people, whose generosity and love of life was apparent from the very beginning of my visit.

      
Though two of my rolls of film were forever lost during my time here, I did manage to spend half of my nights with my new friends drinking tea by the fire in their old cave. The other nights I spent sleeping on the roof of their family house, which was built by King Hussein so that these people would break their centuries old tradition of living in the caves. Tourism has increased in this area, which is about 3-5 hours south of Jordan's modern capital Amman. We spent our days far away from the tourist traps. My host Ismael and his friends helped me scramble up and down the red rock to refreshing pools of clear water for a welcomed swim. They were the first young people I met on my travels who preferred being right where they were to anywhere else in the world.

      The last picture in this slide show was taken in the neighboring desert of Wadi Rum. All of the photographs in this slide show and in InnerGardenArt.com were taken with my Canon AE-1. Enjoy viewing and learning about the other magical places in the Inner Garden.