Wednesday Dolphins and Dressing Up!

The morning dawns bright and clear. Dagmar and I sit and enjoy the peace, watching the small wavelets tumble gently on the stony shore only feet away. Sure enough - dolphins before breakfast again! I wake Lucy, and the three of us swim off out into the sea, escorted by Fallah and his older brother, Jammu. The sheer happiness you feel when in the company of dolphins is difficult to describe. It starts as a slow smile of recognition, and grows to a bubble of warm joy and pleasure thats stays with you. There was a third dolphin too, keeping a gentle distance away while Mapsutta and Olin frolicked and played.

Dolphin photos courtesy of Wild and Free, copyright 2002

We swam with them for a while,and had plenty of time for stroking Olin's lovely spotted tummy.It felt very wild and free just swimming along with them wherever they went. Then Fallah found her a treat. I realised he had given her an octopus, and for one moment thought I ought to keep away (like with a strange dog if it has a bone), then realised it wasnt necessary! She had swum to the sandy ocean floor with it, and I found I was swimming through mist of tentacles and octopus bits, that floated past my mask! Lucy said she swam through a cloud of ink!

We stayed a long while, but being older than the young ones, I decided to call it a day before I got tired. I decided to swim back to the beach alone. I have very bad sight without my specs, and while its OK underwater, when I put my head above water I dont see very far at all. I miscalculated, and overshot!! One load of palm roofed huts looks much like another. I just could not recognise a thing.

I realised I may have gone past our place, but calculated that if I swam parallel and close to the beach I couldnt go far wrong. I surmised that if I got level with the minaret that I COULD see in the fuzzy distance,then I would have gone too far - so I could find my way up to the road, and then go back along to our place. I also realised that it would be cold walking back, and I had no specs, no shoes, no towel! Hmm, it says a lot about the Bedouin and their village that I felt reasonably calm about this!

I came out of the sea and took off my mask and fins. Unbelievably an old man appeared and gave me a towel! He offered me a glass of tea, but I declined his very kind offer of a seat by his fire - I just wanted to get back. I picked my way carefully up through the scrubby ground and onto the road. In this place, noone stared at a near-naked woman walking wet and barefoot. I was so grateful that the only notice anyone took of me was a hoot from a passing lorry! I was also glad the soles of my feet are fairly tough. It felt like a real adventure. Normally I couldnt even find my way around my own house without my glasses!

I felt very relieved to see this view of our place, though I couldnt see the sea or even our hut on the left...I just concentrated on the ground in front of me! The young things are just back from swimming with the dolphins, so I hadn't even been missed! Yvonne and Debbie were still asleep in their beds too! I grabbed a towel and a rug and relaxed in the warm sun and casually asked for a tea. I felt as if I had overcome a hurdle.

I look out to sea and see in the near distance two dolphins leap, simultaneously, one a small echo of the other. A lovely choreographed arc of sheer joy. Noone else has noticed. It seems like a special goodbye for me.

Later on we are invited to go for tea in the village with the ladies, in particular Fallah's mother and Aida who cooks our meals. Its lovely to go behind the high walls in the village and see what's hidden there. A compound of small houses leading off a central area with palm trees and chickens scratching the dusty ground. We sit down on mats in a simple courtyard outside a house, and tea is brewed. Various aunties and cousins and family drop by to note our progress and give shy smiling handshakes.

Then the fun starts! The younger females are encouraged to go into the bedroom and emerge respelendent in Bedouin dresses, much to the admiration and giggles of all around. A neigbour just looks in through the window, rather than come around to the courtyard. There is a genuine friendliness and respect, and a good deal of laughter. They insist that Lucy keep her dress, its brown with beautiful embroidery. We also see a lovely black cloak with bold patterns in silver sequins. Its time for Gillian to make her goodbyes - she has been here since before Christmas, nearly six weeks - there are a lot of tears, but this isnt her first stay and it wont be her last!

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