Ras al Jinz

We leave the city of Muscat Oman today in three comfortable Toyota SUVs along the coast of Oman. Our final destination is Ras al Jinz, famous for its Green Sea Turtle nests but we have some stops along the way.

First stop is at a sinkhole – Bimmah Sinkhole. I have many sinkholes back home so I am familiar with the concept but I guess they are rare here and this one is close to the ocean. It is formed from a depression or collapse of the limestone. A lake of sorts has formed and the sea water mixes with fresh water. The water level changes with the tides. It is a refreshing place to dip your feet in the water, or swim as we saw others do. Just a warning that your toes might be fish food. I had many little fish nibbling on my toes as I walked in.

Next stop is to the village of Wadi Tiwi (We kept hearing it pronounced Waditouille like the movie with the cooking rat). Our guide and one of our other drivers is from this area. Even though we are close to the coast it is desert-like. Wadi Tiwi is very green since it is in the valley between the mountains. We are in a very charming village with lots of fruit trees; in fact the big crop here is dates. We visit a date farm and talk with the farmer about his farming practices. Our guide shows us how they sometimes have to manually pollinate the dates because there are not enough pollinators. They talk about how all of the date tree is used. Some of the mesh like material is used to make rope; we are given a demonstration. The branches and palm leaves themselves are used to build shelter to hide from the harsh sun. Afterward they give us some Omani tea and some thin samosas for a snack; I especially enjoy the cheese ones. We take a long walk down hill to see the town at a slower pace. As we walk many SUV loads of children passed us by. They are coming home from school. Instead of school buses, they travel in style by SUV.

We eventually get to our destination for the evening. If you remember I wasn’t too happy with our last hotel. Apparently neither was any of my travel companions. In fact, of my not so great room it appears I had the best of the rooms. We are all very curious about our next hotel choice. We are pleasantly surprised when we end up at a seaside resort. It is nice and clean. We are on the beach and there is a nice pool to take a dip. The rooms are designed like shacks but inside are decorated like comfortable tents. We are all very pleased with this hotel choice.

We get a break and some of us sneak off to take a dip in the ocean. There are loads of dead puffer fish on the beach and floating in the water; no other fish but the puffer fish. We all blow it off and get in the water anyway. It seems to be fine.

We meet for a nice dinner buffet at the hotel and then we are off to see nesting sea turtles. It is not always guaranteed a turtle will be nesting but we try our luck anyway. It is a popular night and there is a large crowd waiting already. They only let a few observe at a time when the female is laying eggs so we have a very long wait ahead of us. Finally around 10:00 PM our group is called and we head out what seems about 1km toward the sea (hard to tell the distance for sure since I am very tired at this point). I almost regret coming because the wait is so long. When I finally see the large turtle I am glad I came.

She has already laid all her eggs for the evening and now is covering up the holes and creating the diversion holes. More people can observe her now since the tricky part is done. She seems tired. It seems like a good amount of work to bury those eggs.

After we see a newly hatched turtle. It follows the guides light into the ocean. They tell us that only 2-3 baby turtles of 1000 eggs actually make it. There are so many predators and some get confused and cannot find their way to the ocean.

I am so incredibly tired by the time we finally make the walk back to the visitor center. I felt almost like I am sleep walking back. The moon is full so our path is well lit. It seems like the center never gets closer until it finally does. When I arrive I realize that half our group was split up into another group that is still out observing. I am sad we still need to wait around for them.

I can already tell tomorrow is going to be tough because I am not getting a full night sleep tonight. I hope I don’t regret this turtle outing.

Muscat day tour

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

In 2020 the Sultan Qaboos bin Said passed away. He had ruled from 1970 and oversaw the country in a great transformation. He made sure the people were well taken care of, built infrastructure and most importantly brought peace and safety to the region. In 2001 he dedicated a great mosque to the country, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It is a large and very nice mosque that we were able to visit. This is the only place in Oman where I really felt the need to cover up – Cover body and hair completely.

Opera house

We next stop at the Opera house but we don’t pay to go inside. I am not sure why, perhaps because of time. It is a very nice building.

Fish market

Fisheries are very important to the Oman economy. We visit the local fish market in Muscat. We see where fish salesmen sell their daily catch. It surprisingly doesn’t smell too bad in the market. The people who run the market do a very good job at cleaning. A cat or two wanders around waiting for pieces of fish guts to drop on the ground. They might have better luck at another market.

Back to souq

We return back to the Mutrah Souq. A few of us visited yesterday but the rest of the group did not. I am not in the mood to shop so I spend the time reading and walking around the market and surrounding areas.

Palace and forts and old town

We drive by some old forts and stop in front of the palace for a short stroll. This palace is the palace that is used for official visits. It is not a place of residence for the Sultan.

Meal with Sidab women’s group

Part of what makes Intrepid tours so great is that they carve out portions of the trip where you are able to meet with locals. Today we have lunch with a women’s group that helps support other woman and uses sewing and other skills to sell things to make money. One of their efforts is to sew interesting shopping bags to replace the disposable plastic bags used in the country. It is an uphill battle because people love their plastic bags.

We also learn about frankincense. Oman is said to have the best frankincense in the world. Now I know what those small rocks at the souq were.

Many stop at the museum but I head back to the hotel to rest for afternoon because still jet lagged. Some are meeting for dinner again at a nearby restaurant but I am still full from lunch so I skip the evening dinner.

Tomorrow we head down the coast to Ras Al Jinz.

Back to Medellín

M and I head to Medellín Colombia today. It is the second time for me and the first for her. A couple weeks ago I spent some days leisurely around the city. I hope to see more this time around.

The flight to Medellín from Cartagena is only around an hour and ten minutes so our travel journey is not long. The flight is in the morning and I order a cheese and ham toasted sandwich to hold me over before my journey.

When we arrive we check into the same hotel I stayed in prior, Diez Hotel Categoria in El Poblado. It is a good choice. Our room has two beds and a hammock that overlooks the neighborhood.

I wasn’t sure how we would feel when we arrived so we didn’t have much booked on our first day in Medellín. Luckily we are early enough to take a free walking day tour with Real City Tours (pay guide by tips).

Fortunately I already navigated the metro during my prior visit so we took the metro to meet our tour.

We are a little early for our tour so we stop for a beer in a old charming bar called Salón Málaga. Most were not drinking, in fact we thought we were getting a sneer from the table next to us but we ended up chatting with the girl and her mother instead. They were Spanish speaking but actually live in the USA and were tourists in Medellin as well. We made plans to share a taxi with them to Guatapé the next day but plans fell through when they had to leave town early.

We meet up with our tour guide who then takes us around the city and points out different landmarks.

El Monumento a La Raza (sculptor Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt) – bronze sculptures symbolizing the culture of Antioquia

At one point we sit by an old train station (Edificio Antigua Estación del Ferrocarril de Antioquia) where our guide gives us a “real talk” about the history of Medellin – tells us the history of all the factions that caused turmoil: the government, the military, drug lords, right wing militia, left wing militia. The losers are the ordinary people who had to live through the war and terror.

We are taken to a shopping district where there are lots of pop up stands you can get cheap goods (Carabobo pedestrian street).

National Palace Mall

Sex workers hang out in front of this church.

We are told where to go to get some great empanadas

We end up at the Botero park where we can see lots of Botero statues.

Our guide talks about the metro and the pride the locals have for their train.

We are told the area under the train is where people go to exchange goods. We don’t have time to watch but we go back later to see it in action. Mostly men take items to exchange (belt buckle, watch, coins or whatnot) and engage with conversations with others to see if a deal can be made. It is interesting to watch and seems to be a sport of its own in the city.

We walk by some musicians playing outside at Parque Berrío. People are dancing to the music.

Church across the street from Berrio Park

Our guide talks about some local fruits. I finally get to try that weird looking fruit (guama) from my first visit to Medellín.

Finally he takes us to the Parque San Antonio where he tells us the story of the bombed statue.

At the end there is a question and answer session about the city. Some was asking about seeing a futbol (soccer) game while in town. The guide tells us about the upcoming El Clásico Paisa game. I don’t listen too carefully because at this point going to a soccer game in Medellín seems too intimidating to me. Plus I am not sure we’ll have time. M pays attention though and is able to talk me into attending the game. More on that later.

Arrived in Bogota

I just spent a couple days in Santiago Chile getting over jetlag from the time zone change. I wasted all those days in Chile but fortunately I am rested up for the beginning of my travels to Colombia. As it turns out Colombia will be the last country on my world tour. I will be returning home at the end of the month at the same time as my friend who is coming to travel with me the last part of the trip. I want to keep traveling but I really need to get back to the USA to take care of business. The world ends up shutting down two weeks after I return home (due to COVID) so my timing couldn’t have been better….more on that later.

Now I am in Bogota, my first stop in Colombia. I can’t visit everywhere I want while here but I hope to experience a large part of the country during my travels.

Growing up I learned to fear Colombia, with good reason: Colombia was a very dangerous country until recently. I longed to visit as a child after the 1980’s movie Romancing the Stone that is based partially in the country (which wasn’t actually filmed in Colombia I later learned). Doing research for my sabbatical I wanted to visit a couple different South American countries I had not yet visited (I’ve already been to Brazil, Peru and briefly to Venezuela for business). In my research I settled on Ecuador/Galapagos and Colombia. Unfortunately I cut Ecuador because I didn’t want to rush my travels. Plus I have a friend who is willing to meet me for part of my trip in Colombia – decision made!

After researching the different parts of town of Bogota I end up staying in the upscale Chapinero. I book an apartment hotel room for my time in the city. My booking gets switched on me last minute which seems suspect but the room check into is pretty nice. I am in an apartment/condo building where many of the apartments are actually vacation rentals. There is a restaurant downstairs that I could visit but I decide to eat out elsewhere or in my apartment instead.

I later learn about the neighborhood from a tour guide and how some higher priced zones have a higher tax structure to subsidize living in poorer neighborhoods or favelas.

I am in Colombia so naturally hesitant to just start wandering around; however I am more intimidated about public transport at this point so I head out to walk down the street to find a place to eat dinner. I settle on something that looks friendly to tourists Andrés D.C.- Bogotá. The walk seems safe enough. I take precautions like not being flashy but I feel like crime really isn’t a big issue in this part of town. The restaurant is fun and flashy. As expected my server does not speak English. My Spanish is really rusty but this is the perfect time to practice. I seem to be much better with remembering nouns over verbs (especially food) – grammar is hard but I get by.

The food is just ok at the restaurant. It is what to expect at a chain. Hopefully soon I’ll get to try some local stuff.

Did I mention that I love the temperatures so far in this city? I am hitting my sweet spot weather-wise: sunny and cooler.

I head back early to my room to rest. I end up booking a pretty expensive day tour through the lobby. The tour is with a private driver so I would have control over my day. I don’t feel like researching and organizing other plans so I book the tour for tomorrow.

In the morning my driver picks me up and our first stop is a local market.

First I get introduced to Colombia coffee and get to try some.

Next I am taken to a fruit stand where I am introduced to many new fruits. I should be more hesitant to eat them (the whole thing about eating raw produce in other countries can cause stomach issues) but I try them anyway. Luckily they have no affect. I later find that water in Bogota is quite good due to its elevation. I don’t risk drinking tap water but I also don’t have to be as cautious.

After the visit to the market we head back on the road. On the highway there are many pedestrians walking along with luggage. My driver tells me about the Venezuelan refugees and how they walk along the highways from Venezuela to find a better life since the country of Venezuela is in pretty bad shape right now. Colombia is very accepting of the refugees, mostly because Venezuela was very accepting of refugees from Colombia when their own country was dangerous and war torn. Many of the poor you see on the sidewalk trying to sell handmade goods or even Venezuelan bolívar (not really worth much) are actual refugees just trying to get by.

My driver also points out Butterfly favelas I see off to the distance. It is a project to beautify the poor area of Usaquén. It is quite visibly appealing. I didn’t snap any photos but here is a good representation.

My driver heads to the Guatavita region. Guatavita is a town where I learn about the history of Muisca (the indigenous people of the area) and their plight before and after the Spanish invasion. The Muisca were quite crafty at hiding their gold from the Spanish. I learn a story how they hid their gold in the nearby lake.

My driver takes me on a long dirt road and stops to talk about some of the plants along the way such as this Frailejón plant which adapted to the high humidity by absorbing moisture in its furry leaves. It is also said to live up to a hundred years.

**Frailejón**. Things seem pretty dry today.

We get a view of the town of Guatavita.

I then head over to the Laguna De Guatavita where I await for my one way tour through the nature preserve. Unfortunately for me the tour is in complete Spanish. I can understand some Spanish but not enough to pick up information about plant descriptions and history lessons. I understand some of the tour and my driver helps fill in the gaps as much as possible afterwards. It is a beautiful nature hike anyway.

*Brugmansia versicolor* or “angel’s trumpets”. Plant can be used for drugging individuals.

The guide speaks for a long period of time in the ceremonial house. Unfortunately I only pick up a little bit of what is said. I really need to brush up on my Spanish.

I reach the end of the tour and my driver is waiting for me. He takes me to a restaurant where I get some BBQ samples and order some delicious trout.

After lunch I am heading to the Salt Cathedral. More on the Salt Cathedral later….

Pineapple Update

If you remember what happened to the poor pineapple I have good news for you. The plant has been relocated to a part of the garden that will get slightly less rainfall (no roof runoff). The resulting pineapple was cut up a couple days later and it was delicious. The size was small but the fruit was extra juicy and sweet. A big win in the backyard fruit category. The leftovers from the pineapple are being used to make a new pineapple plant. My attempt at doing this in the past was not successful but I am willing to try once more.