about the deadly desert and the generous beduins

Asalam*alaykum,


I hope this post finds you in good times. Today I want to tell you more about the country Oman.

Last weekend we went to the Omani desert - 50 degrees, endless rocks and sand, camels and still a beautiful place. Jihad (one of our Omani friends) got an invitation from his Beduin friend Hamdan, that we are all welcome to visit him and his family. So we did :-)

After several hours car ride, several time that we got stuck in the sand, that the wind blew sand in our eyes we reach the Barsma, an Beduin village in the desert. The Bedins gave up their nomad life quite some time and settled. But still they are trying to keep their traditions and way of life alive. So are hospitality and generosity major pillars of the society. Although we were 14 people, Hamdan's family invited us all for dinner, breakfast and lunch without hesitating and presented us amazing meals. They even slaughtered one of their goats for us for dinner. And they took their best one. I never met these people and still I didn't felt like a stranger.

Having some fruits as a starter for dinner and selecting our main dish (the goat) -we build our camp in the desert under a beautiful sky. Lightening up a camp fire we shared stories and drinks and enjoyed the mild 25 degrees :-) Who wanted to have an extra experience could watch some of Hamdan's friends slaughtering and preparing the goat.

After a few hours of sleep we got up at 6:00 am to see a camel race nearby. I have to admit that not all camels have an elegant running style :-) The most funny part for me were the Beduins who followed the Camels on their pick-up trucks to cheer / horn for them.
After that we had a nice breakfast at Hamdan's place and went on to hunt lizards in the desert. The Beduins developed an interesting technique. They search for holes in the sand, where the lizards live. Than they pump the exhaust fumes into the hole to suffocate the lizard. After a few minutes the lizards comes down by himself or you can easily pull him out. But the meat didn#t taste that good.

Having a nice lunch nap at the Beduin house and some chicken and rice we headed back home with full of memories between extreme heat and wonderful generosity.

Having arrived at home I decided to watch the new Batman movie (The dark night) in the movie theatre and had a great ending of the weekend by doing that.

So I hope you guys had a great weekend as well and hopefully the you some time here in Oman.

Hajo