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When I headed out from Muscat with Vincent, another embassy employee, I assumed we were in for a fairly rough day. We were headed for the Omani oasis/valley combo known as Wadi Shab, located in the mountains to the south of the capital. While travelers’ accounts had suggested that the pools and streams of the Wadi were helpful for cooling off, I didn’t know how well they’d be able to fight the effects of the sun piercing down from overhead. As we drove out through the mountains surrounding Muscat, and along the desert of the coastline, clouds billowed overhead – dust clouds, I assumed. I didn’t think much of them as I concentrated on stranger sights, such as a group of backhoes clawing a path for themselves of the sides of nearby mountainsides. Yet when we arrived at the small, provincial town of Tiwi, we realize that we were, unbelievably, in a cloud of cool mist. This sort of thing is supposed to happen way down in Salalah, during the Khareef rains of the summer, but the Dhofar region was half a peninsula away.
We picked our way through Tiwi, around goats and villagers, asking for directions every so often. Finally, we arrived at the entrance to the Wadi – a low, greenish inlet, framed by the beam bridge veering the dual-carriageway highway overhead. Heading in, the water was low enough that we could easily see the road laid out across the basin of the inlet, only covered by a thin film of tide – just up to the knees. Then we moved further in, and started to taken in the immense greenery of the place. Don’t get me wrong, there are trees in Muscat, but even there the city felt like a sidewalk with holes cut into it to allow the occasional shrub through. Here, though, green was everywhere that water could flow or drip, all the way from slimy algae clogging the Falaj aqueducts up to the palm trees overhead. It was a great hike for Vincent and me – the fog held overhead, meaning that it was certainly warm out but nowhere near the sweltering heat of the city. I imagine this is what the Khareef would be like, if I ever get down there again.
For about 45 minutes we clambered over boulders, found and lost and found the path again, run into dead ends, treaded through water, waded through water, even swam through water (a bit tricky with the camera). Eventually we arrived at the highest pool of the Wadi, at least for the main trail, which led back into a cave hidden by fallen rocks, with an opening just big enough to paddle through, upright and sideways. Inside a waterfall pounded a pool surrounded by rocks, a number of skylights illuminating the proceedings. All very amazing – after 10 weeks of living in the desert, this oasis was a wonderful change, and a wonderful ending.
Of course, this was all a week ago, so it might be a bit much to call it the ending to my time here. Still, the week since then has passed much like the film credits after the final scene, or reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery after the criminal has been revealed (except in the case of A Scandal in Bohemia, but that’s another matter). I’ve gone to work, managed to spin not-very-much-work into an 8-hr day, returned home, waited until iftar, then gone to dinner. Admittedly, my dinner companions have been a pretty cool bunch, from friends at the embassy to the head of security to a bunch of Omani Fulbright alumni (that last one held at the Ambassador’s house). There have been a few incidents of interest, but that interest is probably solely mine. Dinner at the Ambassador’s house was a chance invitation as there were spare seats, my section organized the dinner, and it was thought to be a nice reward before I headed off from the post – of all things, the Egyptian newspaper editor next to me was a student of my Arabic teacher when Muhammad al-Sharkawi taught in Cairo.
And so here we are – the last day in Oman. I fly out of here at 11:40pm, should all go according to plan, and from there back to the United States (with a free 4-day vacation in France en route, thanks to the airlines, but that’s another story). I have really enjoyed my time here. Work at the embassy might range from interesting to frustrating to boring to exasperating to cool, but I’ve loved almost every minute of getting out and exploring Muscat, meeting people here and seeing what opportunities there are when I graduate in <1 year. More than I had thought previously, at least. I have some things to look forward to when I go back as well – I’m set to be a TA for an Arabic class at school this fall, and I might be able to pick up a job in Arabic translation as well.
In any case, I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading a bit about Oman. I’ll try to write a bit when I get back to the U.S. but no guarantees until I return to the U.S. See you around.
