-Gail Lumet Buckley
Shortly after returning from Syria my parents came for a 10 day visit. It’s been 6 months since we were last in Canada and it was fantastic to see them again.
The first few days were spent getting over their jet lag and re-enacting Christmas dinner here. Under the fine leadership of Tina and help from my mom “Christmas” was fantastic. After that it was time to take off to various areas of the country.
We first ventured into the interior to Nizwa, the former capital of Oman. Very early on Friday morning, after a night’s stay complete with ants, we met Bedouin from the region who were converging on a small goat market. Here they swap livestock in an extremely lively bartering session – goats, camels, cattle, etc are all paraded around and auctioned off. It’s a truly unique atmosphere. In fact, I got so caught up in it I traded Tina for 17 goats. Afterwards we headed to some of the Gulfs finest forts and castles, and wandered through a walled village known to be the home of “spirits”.
Following a few days on the beaches surrounding Muscat we headed off to camp in the Wahiba Sands desert. Driving through the red sand dunes for 40 km we hit our camp for the weekend. A few hikes up the dunes and some failed “crazy carpet” attempts later we shook the sand from our nether regions and departed. On our way back we drove beside a young Bedouin boy running his camel. He was equally as interested in us and for a brief moment I considered his offer to trade camel for car. Having doubts about my earlier trade of Tina for goats I passed.
After a short 10 days my parents were off for Jordan and Egypt. It was great having them here and we only wished they could have been here longer.In a few days Tina's parents will be making their Middle Eastern debut. We are really looking forward to their stay.
On our next blog we will detail Tina’s 4 day trek through the desert with camels.
