Muscat Love

What can I possibly say to describe the weekend we had? I will post the photos and they will tell you the story for the most part, but I will start with those that tell the most beautiful story of the vacation. On the morning of our full day (Friday) after we had been to the old Muttrah Souk again finding most things closed, and tried to get into the Museum of Natural History only to find that it was closed (it being the holiest of holidays, the Friday of Eid weekend), we were driving a little aimlessly when we came upon a little pull-off park at an overlook area of sorts (the view was not great but it was high up). We were not even going to stop and get out of the car until Beth spotted the most beautiful bird flying from one tree to the next. So we started following it with the intention of getting a photo (which we never did). As we kept following it from tree to tree it led us to the back of the park and some girls said hello to Beth which led to the father and mother coming over to us and offering us some food. They were having a picnic. It is a tradition going back as far as history in Oman that on that particular Friday the family gets dressed in the nicest clothes and eats traditional food consisting of khawa (coffee with cardamom), halwa, and fresh dates. When we were offered the khawa we couldn’t resist joining their picnic because we had been searching for the real thing since arriving and being disappointed time and again with Nescafe which is unfortunately slowly becoming the new traditional Arab coffee. The dates were picked that morning from this family’s backyard and they were amazing. We had only had dried ones until then. The Halwa was like nothing we had ever tasted. With these wonderful flavors lingering on our tongues we engaged in a little bit of conversation. Beth complimented the one daughter on how beautiful her clothes and jewelery were. The girl put her necklace on Beth for what we thought was just a fun temporary exchange but when Beth started taking it off to give it back, the girl took Beth’s hand and wrapped it around the necklace and made sure that Beth understood that it was now hers. It was really a beautiful gesture. We all got up and headed out of the park together as a group since the family was off to the beach next. As we walked on clouds back to the car we decided that we had to give the girl something and as luck would have it, we had one of Tricia’s “You = Love” necklaces in the car. Beth gave it to her and the girl put it on and Beth explained as best she could what it meant.










Later Beth found a feather on the ground that is almost certainly from the same bird that led us into the park. It’s that distinctive bright blue color. The rest of the photos are in a sort of chronological order and they tell the rest of the story of the weekend of Muscat Love…






























(that’s a goat up there looking down on everything from its castle)



























































OK. I’m going to have to continue this later. Stay tuned…