Lonely Planet Jordan lists a few hotels safe for women in Wadi Musa. Mussa Spring was the only option in my price range.

Mussa Spring hotel is not convenient to the town center. There is shuttle service to the bus station, so they might also pick you up if you call. Fortunately, with Ahmad Najjar driving, we found the hotel and street parking easily.

Mussa Spring (Moses' Spring) was created when Moses struck rock in the desert to provide water for the Israelites. This miraculous site is conveniently located next door to the hotel. Read about it in wanderluster's entry. LP's listed rate is 6JD for a room without bath, but we attempted to get a double for 9 to 10JD. The receptionist forbade us from sharing a room (despite most rooms having two beds), but offered us separate rooms for 5JD. Foreign couples won't have a problem, but Ahmad is Jordanian. I felt so corruptively Western.

The rooms are tight, with considerable storage and a TV, with Arabic channels of course, plus one that exclusively shows quality English-language films such as Annie Hall, The Godfather, Dr. No, and Kung Pow.

The bathrooms down the hall are clean enough, with the usual toilet-shower set up. The shared sinks are sensibly located outside the toilet-shower area.

Mussa Spring has a restaurant, useful because its location means there's nowhere else to eat. I never ate there because I brought food with me, but it looked good. A huge dinner portion cost 4JD. However, in town, a large falafel—best I'd had so far—costs just 25 piastres. A boxed lunch from the hotel is 2.5JD—recommended as food in touristy, remote Petra is priced accordingly.

The hotel provides shuttles to Petra at 7 or 8am, with pickups around 6ish, but you can negotiate for a different time. I assumed "shuttle" meant bus, but I rode a taxi with just two others. I don't know if this changes during high season, or if Mussa Spring is never that busy. If you forgo the free return ride, it will cost about 2JD to get back. It's only about 2KM but uphill and there aren't many taxis, not a good bargaining position.

The hotel staff is helpful and understands English. Normally the minibus from Wadi Musa to Amman leaves early in the morning, but after my second day exploring Petra, I wanted to move on. For 6JD, one of the staffers picked me up from Petra at 4pm, waited while I got my backpack from storage and repacked, then drove me 30 minutes to Ma'an, where I caught a large bus to Amman at 6pm.

Despite some bad flirting the second morning, I felt safe. I had awoken the receptionist for boiling water. After some sleepy leering and attempted touching, he visited my room to take me to Petra. It was slightly creepy, but no harm was done. It was a good hotel and about 5JD less than the cheapest place in town.

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