This is the final chapter of Parts of Desire, and the longest. Once again, I am deeply indebted to Ravenna933 for her edits and her ideas which made this entire story stronger.
It was in a state of naked, harmonious, postcoital bliss that Rania, Khadija and I packed up our campsite on the sheltered cliffside beach on the Musandam Peninsula in the Sultanate of Oman. The previous day's disagreements behind us, we worked in happy silence, rolling up our sleeping bags, packing away what was left of our food, and stowing gear in the back of our rented Toyota Land Cruiser.
Finally, with the car loaded, the three of us turned to face each other.
"I feel like we have so much to talk about", Khadija started, "but for now all I want to do is stay naked. It's so freeing just existing in this state of mind, after a lifetime of feeling like my body was something to hide. I have tried so hard to overcome the cultural messages I was raised with, but a week of living as a free spirit has been worth more than a lifetime of theory. I've never been so happy."
Rania gave her a hug. "It's been good for all of us. I changed, so much, after living in Canada. I hope you can have that too, at least in your own way."
With that, the girls and I dove into our suitcases and started dressing. Our own secluded rocky piece of paradise was its own world, but we were still in the Middle East, in a country that had certain rules of decorum about modesty. I'd been promised hiking for the second half of our Musandam day, and the girls kitted out in sports bras and workout gear under their ever-present
abeyas
and headscarves, while I opted for my field pants, hiking boots, a long-sleeved workout shirt and a wide-brimmed hat to prevent sunburn.
Rania looked me up and down, approvingly, as I dressed. "I don't think I realized just how tanned you've gotten this week", she commented. "I only ever got to see you pale from the winter. Your colour is sexy."
"Why, thank you", I answered. "I'm going to make all my friends and coworkers jealous. None of them had any idea why I wanted to come here; they thought of the Middle East as dangerous or something. I hope that coming back tanned, with the pictures I have of this amazing place, can at least convince some people to ignore the stereotypes and discover the truth."
"Saudi Arabia is more like the stereotypes than Oman", Khadija observed. "But we're not all like the reputation, as you know."
With the 4x4 packed up, I took one last look at our perfect beach, now beautifully illuminated in mid-morning sunshine. "This place will be another one that will hold such wonderful memories for me."
"For all of us", Khadija said, thinking. "I know what I said about virginity, blah, blah, blah. But on some level, this will always be the place I lost it. Someday I'll have to bring my husband back here."
I started the engine, and we negotiated the terrifying cliffside road back up to the main road. In daylight the drive was far more frightening at night, now that we could see just how far down the drop was, and how close to the edge we'd been at times. We'd been foolish even attempting to drive down the incline at night, but in the end, it had been worth it to have total privacy.
As we hit the main road again, for the first time I got a sense of the landscape of the Musandam peninsula. It was a rugged country of massive mountains plunging into pristine blue seas. It reminded me of pictures I'd seen of the fjords in Norway, except without a trace of greenery. The rocky brown and grey peaks towered over us as I navigated up and down the undulating region. It wasn't a long drive back to Khasab, but it still took us time over the slow and winding roads.
When we hit Khasab, we bought a picnic lunch which we packed away, then Khadija directed me around the harbour and into the interior, following her brother's directions towards our hike. After a momentous drive, we finally reached a tiny parking lot with a few cars in it, and a trail heading what looked like a sheer vertical up the mountain.
Khadija let out a low whistle. "This is the hike?" she asked to no one in particular.
We gathered our gear and headed out.
Ninety minutes later, we stood at the summit, sweaty and exhausted. The view below us in 360 degrees was as jaw-droppingly beautiful as any place I'd ever been in my life, with cragged, muscular peaks and plummeting canyons stretching in in every direction and leading down to a cobalt blue ocean. A fjord meandered up towards us as we overlooked it, sheer rock walls plunging a thousand feet straight down from summit to sea level.
It was the most incredible sight yet on a trip full of them, and yet as the three of us posed for pictures on the summit and then ate lunch, I was overcome with a profound sense of sadness. We were done sightseeing. We still had a day left after today, and Rania and I still had one more night together. But after that, the trip would be over.
The three of us trudged back to the car and arrived hot and sweaty in the mid-afternoon sun. I blasted the air conditioning as we drove back towards Khasab and our reservation on the ferry.
Khasab in daylight wasn't anything more impressive than it had been in darkness. It was a fishing village laid out in a gap in the fjords; a small cluster of Arabian-style buildings and docks for the ferry and cargo ships. We parked in the queue for the ferry and remained in the air-conditioned car, waiting. It was the hottest day we'd yet had, so going out in the elements seemed unnecessary.
"People here fish, mostly?" I asked innocently, making conversation. Khadija and Rania exchanged a knowing look.
"They smuggle", Rania finally answered, quietly. "You know how Iran has been under a trade embargo for a long time because of their government?"
I had.
"Well", she continued, "Khasab is just remote enough, not just from any other population centres, but also from the Royal Oman Police. There's a border between here and the rest of the country, there's not much violent crime up here, and we all think the embargo is unjust anyway, so the police kind of turn a blind eye to it. Either that, or everyone in town has ten refrigerators apiece." She grinned.
I wracked my brain through the complicated politics of Islam, trying to pull out a piece I knew was in there somewhere. "Aren't Iranians mostly Shi'a?"
"You bet", Khadija answered. "It's complicated."
I gestured at the ferry, still shut and waiting for boarding. "We have some time."
Khadija nodded. "Going over the entire history of Islam would be unnecessary, but you know Sunnis like us and Shi'as don't get along. The split dates back fifteen hundred years, to the days immediately after the prophet died; his followers split in two on the question of whom to look to for leadership, among other things. There's no love lost between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but Oman, being neither Sunni nor Shi'a, keeps their heads down and tries, mostly successfully, to get along with everyone. Also, if there's one thing all Arabs can agree on, it's not to let something like religion get in the way of a business opportunity."
She took a breath, thinking. "Judaism sees itself as the one true religion. It was the first one to believe in one god, not many gods. Christianity sees itself as having taken the building blocks that the Jews started with and perfected it through Jesus Christ. Christianity is not in opposition to Judaism, at least according to the Christians. They see themselves as following a more complete and more developed form of the same religion. Muslims see Christians and Jews in the same way that Christians see Jews. We believe that Abraham was a true prophet of God. So was Moses, so was Jesus, and so was Mohammed. We use the term
ahl al-kitab
to describe the three monotheistic religions -- it means "People of the Book". Whether a person is any form of Jewish, any form of Christian, or any form of Muslim doesn't matter. We are all brothers and sisters, worshipping the same God."
