Salalah – Day 3

We woke up Friday morning and headed off only to find a slight malfunction in our four wheel drive. The only remedy was to exchange it. After this two hour delay we began our drive toward Wadi Darbat.

Outside Salalah there are fruit stands lining the streets. We decided to patronize one. I failed to mention the acres and acres of orchards growing various types of bananas, mangos, coconuts, date palms, and multiple other fruits. The fruit man was kind to let our banana-lover have a sample.
He convinced the others to have a coconut. It was interesting to watch him whack off the top and stick a straw in.
It was also interesting to watch their reaction. They were all very polite though. The general consensus (once we got in the car) : It was okay. Not our favorite. I think we spoiled ones are used to chilled milk and I don’t think he had any chilled coconuts available. In the monsoon months of July through September the wadis of Oman are green and lush with many waterfalls. Unfortunately we missed that period. We can imagine that was the time of year Lehi’s family arrived which would convincingly have earned this region the name Bountiful. Apparently in this wadi grew many trees used as lumber for building ships. You can see Nephi's harbor here behind the kids.
We drove around the wadi and found many camels. We had come prepared again with apples. Dano tried again to entice some camels. A few turned up their snouts. He convinced one to smell it and once she did, he jammed it in her mouth.
No, I’m kidding, but that’s what it looks like. I was just waiting to catch the picture of him getting spat on in his attempts. I guess camels don’t spit as much as we thought. She seemed pleased with his offering.Around these camels we drove up to a cave. Unfortunately because I was trying to convince Dano not to make the very steep ascent (the sound of popping tires was just too fresh in my mind) I didn’t get a picture of the open cave. He and the three bigger kids hiked up to the cave. He came down after realizing there was a place to turn around up in the cave. I can’t say enough times how glad I am to have a husband who knows how to drive very well in a variety of conditions. This trip was also a good way to show the kids the importance of learning to drive a stick. We made the steep climb without trouble (although my eyes were mostly closed), but we made it to the top. It was an amazing cave with many crevices, and stalactites and stalagmites forming. There were also smaller caves to be explored. Erin demonstrated from her perch what some of her Egyptian friends have taught her.
As we drove on we saw some beehives tucked under a rock. We had heard about Omani honey and its great value and had kept our eyes out for bees. Omani honey ranks among some of the world’s finest and most expensive. Omanis believe it is a wholesome and nutritious food. I have wondered about that myself as I have many times considered John the Baptist whose food was locusts and wild honey. I’ve wondered if it could have some type of healing or rebuilding effect on our bodies. Some of the Omani apiarists I’ve read about lived beyond one hundred years.Would you believe as we drove further through the valley we passed by more camels? Ethan thought he’d like to try to feed one. Our girls were a little too chicken. (That’s okay. Their mom was, too. I still think they spit…and not just slime…big loogies! No thanks!) Ethan succeeded and came back elated and saliva-free. Only in Oman would we have seen camels, goats, cows, and donkeys all on the same road. I thought we took a picture of it but couldn’t find it. Cows in Arabia are mostly only found in Oman and we saw a lot of them during our week here. It was like being back in Oklahoma.

There was still some water remaining from the monsoon and some green. There were some trees growing in quite opposing conditions…terrific examples of adversity. I’m not sure how these trees stay alive when their roots are wrapped in and around rocks. They’re just amazing.
We saw these signs anywhere we saw water, except the sea. And everywhere we saw the sign we saw people swimming in the water. Dano thinks with the literacy rate being low perhaps people can’t read the sign which makes me sad. When we got home I looked up bilharziasis. It’s not a pretty disease. Kennedy had to stop my reading aloud when I got to the part of the parasite producing between 300 and 3000 eggs per day and what they fed on. Oh, and wouldn’t you think defecating in the water would be prohibited just because it’s disgusting and not just to control the infection?! As it was New Year’s Eve we had a nice dinner at the hotel and hoped for a fun night of games. However, the men in our family couldn’t make it past about nine o’clock.
Abby conked out sometime around then as well. So, Kennedy, Erin and I rang in the New Year playing a fun, new game Erin got for Christmas called Rat-a-Tat Cat and eating smarties and some coveted candy pumpkins I’ve saved from my Halloween stash. It’s fun to say that for the third time we have begun a new year in a different country. Maybe that’s a new tradition we’ll have. That could prove to be a difficult (and expensive) one to keep…