Day 20?of 104 | Muscat, Oman

The population is Oman four million and 70% of those people work for the government. Desalinization plants provide water from their long coastline.

Achet, my 29-year-old Omanian guide shared a few facts while driving to Nizwa Fort. Muscat is a very strict city. One example he gave was your car was taken away for two weeks if caught speeding and on the fourth ticket it was taken away permanently unless a family member would sign for it. A man can get a second wife if his first wife cannot have children or she doesn?t obey her husband or has a bad attitude. However, a woman can divorce her husband if he is mean to her, and receive support from him till she marries again. Women can work and go to universities.

The walled souq of Nizwa encompasses dozens of sections for the sale of specific commodities like fruits and vegetables, fish, dates, cattle and goats, and handcrafts. In the center of the souq, or marketplace, is the Nizwa Fort. Bordering the main selling stalls are rows of vendors, artist workshops and a palm-shaded arena for parading livestock to sell. The souq of Nizwa is much more than a trading place as it reaches far beyond the local community to promote interchange between distant villages, mountain settlements and the Bedouin tribes of the desert territories. Within its wall, artisanry flourishes. Alliances are formed and the latest news is exchanged through the ebb and flow of industry and daily commerce. The souq retains its original structure of communal ownership, designed 100 years ago to ensure political independence. Committee-appointed agents take responsibility for the day to day operation and funding for maintenance is obtained through a system of taxations.

Touring the fort takes hours as displays are set up in dozens of rooms with artifacts and posters explaining the use of tools, clothing and jewelry.