The Beat of the Desert
By Dan Dominguez
10/17/2000 -- If Cairo is the heart of the desert, then Bahrain must definately be the jewel. Arriving to Bahrain at 630AM local, we caught a glimpse of the sun stretching across the expansive horizon just off the nose. Within minutes, the dark and hidden Arabian Desert below us was transformed to a pastel of oranges and browns and soon the subtlest yellows began to reveal the desert detail below us. As we descended from our cruising flight level, we could see a maze of pipes and roads, connecting refineries, pumping stations, and housing platforms--all for that viscous fluid we've come to depend on so much. The infrastructure is fascinating, and with night quickly fading, the nightlights and sunlight together created a webwork of lights, bright and dim, stretching every which way, an aerial Christmas Tree in October.

The temperature is much warmer than Egypt and so is the humidity. 35-40C is common this time of year and on departure we'll have to fly at night to achieve our best aircraft performance. Travelling at night, through multiple time zones, waking up early, then late, then not sleeping at all, travelling, eating different foods and going from extreme heat on the ground to extreme cold in the air is very trying on the physiological aspects of the body, and we find that it has begun to take it's toll. A few headaches, stomachaches and general fatigue force us to stay in our hotel for the first two days, and well rested now. The ancient roads which once carried silk and spices, the romance of the nomadic Bedouin tribes, beautiful darkened eyes-hidden behind religious veils, and the now dependent production of oil.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to see a real Arabian Band perform. The rhythms, beats, and mid-oriental sounds that came from just a few basic instruments combined to fill the entire room and within a few seconds, the entire crowd was clapping and moving to the eastern beat. Caught between the far east and the west, the middle-east, as it is often called, is not so much a consortium of it's two neighbors, but within its sandy borders exist a flourishing people sometimes found only in children's story books, friendly, intriguing, and mysterious. I closed my eyes--only for a second, and as I listened to the music, I imagined myself travelling the open desert by camel back, many months away from home-returning to a celebration of dozens and dozens of white tents perched on the desert floor, with gas lamps, jeweled ornaments, long robes, song, wine, and the silhouettes of the joyous, dancing under open sky to the flickering light of campfires.