Yesterday, we had arranged for a guided tour of the area. Peter, from a neighboring boat in the anchorage, joined us. Our tour guide, Saleem, picked us up at 0830. The first stop was a small building in the heart of town, near to the souq we had gone to a few days before. The signs were all in Arabic, so we couldn’t read the full story of the significance of the place, but our guide said it is a holy site where a miracle occurred involving a prophet of God and a camel. We were a little surprised to walk in and find that the building encircled a slab of dirt. The dirt supposedly still carries the marks made during the miracle, and it takes a little concentration to see the marks in the soil. Once upon a time people were allowed to walk on the soil and go into a cave that you can’t see in the photo, but now it is closed off to the public.
Stop two was the gun market. It turned out to be about 30 men sitting along the side of a bank building on a corner across the street from the souq. Most of the men are villagers. Some of the villagers wore turbans that had some material hanging down in back to cover their necks, and a couple of the older village men had on a long skirt and no shirt or head cover. Everyone there was holding a small rifle. There were a few vendors selling rifles, but there were also vendors selling camel skins, hand made knives in beautiful sheaths (pictured below), jewelry, leather goods, and other assorted handicrafts. There was even a guy there selling fruit. One guy came up to us and showed off how well crafted his knives are, encouraging us to touch the blade and point. The guide told us that most days there was a bigger selection of guns. Non-automatic guns are perfectly legal in Oman and do not require any kind of registration. However, it is illegal to shoot a gun in the city, only outside of town. The guide explained to us that guns are an important prop in the cultural dances.
Stop three was the castle/fort in the village of Taquah, Continue reading
