The Stecherbush Abroad

  After our cave tour and some lunch we visited Jabreen Castle. " Jabreen Castle  was built by  Imam  Bel’arab bin Sultan Al Yarubi. His father was  Imam  Sultan bin Saif Al Yarubi the  Imam  who removed the Portuguese from Oman" from OmanTripper.com I opted to tour the castle with the audio guide and there were so many fascinating details. The Imam who built the castle and lived there was very interested in science and art. He funded the education and living expenses of the students that came to study at the castle. Because it was built in a time of peace in the 17th century, the castle is very unique and charming. I love the palm farming that surrounds the grounds. Although it was built in a time of peace, the fortifications included spouts to pour boiling date syrup on attackers and stone holes used as jails. The women's jail was a bit more civil. This is the date long-term storage. The juice from the dates would run into those pits. Dates are ...

We met up with friends from church and drove the 2+hrs to tour Al Hoota Cave and see a castle(see next post). The teens and little girls had a great time visiting on the drive. At some point there was a train to take you to the cave but nobody I know remembers when it used to work so we walked on the track instead. Omanis speak good English but the accent can be challenging as they roll through their words differently than I'm used to. I enjoyed the tour but I definitely missed some of the information.  The cave is 3+miles long and has water. It has flooded on many occasions and been damaged. I love these pits in the ceiling where, from what I understood of our tour, the water travels in a circular direction. This natural lion structure with a tiny elephant perched on his head came complete with roaring. Although the guide assured us twice that the only living things in the cave are spiders, bats and blind fish, Samuel is convinced that there are insects in that water that eat that...

What I think when i see this picture is how the humidity was so incredible that we were soaked. It wasn't necessarily horribly hot-93 or something, but the humidity was like a sauna. Something I've not experienced before and I know about humidity. The sun is also so incredibly glaring off the white tile so that's my excuse for the bad picture! In case I haven't mentioned it before, Oman has the most wonderful doors! So many lovely details to look at. This is a stock photo because one is not supposed to take photos inside. This Mosque was built to honor the last Sultan. It took 6 yrs to build it and it's quite a work of art. It held the title for largest rug and chandelier until the Emiratis and Qataris came, measured and stole the title. Deets on the light: " The chandelier is located in the center of the men’s prayer hall and measures a staggering 14 meters and weighs 8,5 tons. It holds 600,000 shining bright Swarovski crystals, 24 carat gold plating and took ...

Fridays are the Sabbath around here and sometimes we try to go out for a drive and sometimes there turns out to be a flood but not this time. We attempted the lookout point again and while it was still hazy, it was beautiful still. Maybe she was channeling her inner Maria Von Trapp or maybe she was just that happy. I only know that if we hadn't been stern she would've just kept climbing down that mountain. The rocks here are sharp and will skin you alive. Matt almost never takes pictures of me but he must've been feeling the ambiance or maybe he just loves his state phone but here's me. After the sun went down we drove down to Yiti Beach in the dark so Samuel could scope out insects. The giant long-horn beetle in particular. He didn't find one but there were lots of darkling beetles running around. Elise has no hesitation about finding beetles for her Sammy. It was a fun way to end our Sabbath Day.  

  So, I have been holding back on the goat pictures because really the goats deserve a post of their own. I couldn't help slipping this one in because that goat! That giant goat. I guess it's a different variety and word is they're very expensive but it was almost a horse or at the very least a donkey. Wherever you drive outside Muscat, there are goats running around. They walk across the road, they climb trees, they climb mountains. They come in all sorts of shapes and colors. Apparently they all belong to someone but how that system works I don't know. Matt has been quite anxious to take me to the Wadi Tiwi waterfall pools. Since the turnoff to the Wadi was on the way home, he wanted to "just drive up there". I originally voted for Tiwi beach but decided to humor him. I mentioned in a previous post about my nameless phobia of cars breaking down. How about I name it strandedexpensivephobia. Well, this drive. THIS.DRIVE. This drive is not one I plan to repeat....