Corona stories: 03/30/20

The good djinn

Djinns, so ghosts, are important in Omani life. They might not be visible, but they might be responsible for bad luck and good fortune. However, does that also apply to the traveling foreigner?

In January 2017, four of us went down along the coast of Oman in a posh 4x4. It is a spectacular trip. Deserted beaches, breath-taking landscapes, you can camp anywhere and if you need something for dinner, you just buy a fish from a boat in one of the little fishing ports.

Buying fish in a desert port. The ice we got for free

At a certain point, after a couple of sharp turns and a steep descent, we end up on a bridge over a wadi. Below us towards the sea a lake surrounded by palm trees. Such a splendor of green is rare in the desert. Despite the hurry, we decide to take a detour. A bumpy track passes a construction site that is likely to become a parking lot and then plunges into the thicket of palm trees. We leave the car and I continue on foot with one of the friends. We arrive at a greenish body of water, a black Toyota pickup, a smoking fireplace and two Omanis in undershirts, who greet us warmly. They get something out of the firepit, which turns out to be freshly caught and roasted lobsters dripping from fat. After the snack, the men show us the rest of the oasis and the large lagoon. One of them convinces my friend to put on his Dishdasha and turban. Indeed, now he is indistinguishable from an Omani. I take a picture of him and the Omani owner of the dresses in the undershirt with my friends i-phone and after the return of the clothes we say goodbye and set off for the journey.

Chance meeting in a thicket of palm trees

Change of outfit

From the oasis the impressive road climbs through the mountains in hairpin curves until we suddenly drive into a fantastic panorama of the coastline and the lake. My friend wants his phone from me to take a picture and can't believe I don't have it. He thinks since I have taken a photo of him in the oasis I should have it. I know for sure that I returned the phone to him right after the photo. Nor is the phone with his wife. She suggests calling him on her own phone. We hear nothing ring, the phone cannot be in the car. We are driving towards a parking lot on a kind of plateau over the lake and stop…. if the phone is not in the car, we have no choice but to go back and search the oasis for it. Just when I get out to take at least a photo of the coastal panorama, a black Toyota pickup arrives and our two new Omani friends get out. My friend runs straight to them and asks for his phone. The two appear puzzled. Apparently they haven't seen the phone. During the subsequent discussion, someone walks around the rear of the pickup and points at the bumper. And in fact. There it is. My friend’s phone. With a maximum enlargement of the photo of the cars in the parking lot can see it lying there. But the miracle is that it stayed there all the way along the bumpy track in the oasis and on the winding mountain road.