Treasure in the Sand (Not Oil)

desert rose

 

Qatar is known as the wealthiest country in the world, per capita. Here you'll find world class sporting events, resorts (under construction), stadiums (in the works), spas and restaurants (coming soon). Qatar is also surreal traffic, tower cranes, nepotism (wasta), prejudice, bias and pollution. Countrymen huddle behind 10 foot walls, no one, it seems, speaks the local language and there's no such thing as a Qatari restaurant.

 

seen in the desert

 

There are, however, remaining pockets of untouched earth. Where no one has marred the landscape with weird steel plates and called it "art," filled the sea with concrete or crumbled porous stone with trucks.

 

behind the wheel in Doha

 

To find this disappearing space you must venture far from the city's desalinated river of life. Past the tower cranes and thirsty trees, water and sand processing plants. Beyond Lagoona's zig zag buildings and West Bay's whacky high rises. Far from roads lined bumper to bumper with SUVs, rumbling concrete mixers, rebar loaded semis and the neon night where stars twinkle from party dhows that drift under strobing towers.

 

Here you'll find the under populated, plaster coated old neighborhoods of early Qatar.

 

(pic taken thru a dirty window)

 

Slide between the houses, majlis tents and mosques and aim for the desert. Continue to where the soft sand is a crisscrossed network of animal, foot and tire tracks. Where hills of porous rock slip into plains of earth and sky.

 

seen in the desert

 

When the only sign of civilization is the persistent trail of power lines and race camel farmers, search the sand for splotches of white sabkha salt flats and scattered amber disks.

 

Mary Anne, Ronita, Samantha, Cindi

desert rose hunting

 

This is the land of Qatar's desert roses.

 

 

"Desert Roses are found in areas of sabkha either lying on the surface or between the layers of wet and dry sand. These roses…are intricate, petal-like clusters of crystals, mostly composed of gypsum…"

Qatar Kaleidoscope, by Frances Gillespie

 

Desert Roses are not exclusive to Qatar; they're found in other hot, dry, sandy places, too, like Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia and Arizona. They are mineral formations, composed of gypsum (selenite) and barite, shaped when fine sand is trapped between mineral fibers and then crystallizes. Barite is the heavier mineral, while gypsum is more fragile and fibrous. A rose occurs when multiple discs adjoin at angles.

 

 

Gypsum roses are more commonly found in the Middle East, Southwest USA and Arizona. Barite roses are found in Oklahoma, England, Italy (and many other places). Because the mineral is softer, gypsum roses are more fragile appearing than barite roses.

 

Some believe the sharp but delicate objects have supernatural qualities that can neutralize bad energy, purify, heal.

 

"…Some of the inhabitants of the Sahara desert believe that what they call the 'Sand Rose' has an internal energy that is used for protection, prosperity and purification…"

Mind Body Spirit online

 

In Qatar, the best formations are found in the desert's salt flats, deep in the heavy sand, where the earth is moist and cool. Dig carefully with gloved fingers and brushes to avoid nicking the sharp, but delicate leaves. The right locations yield an abundant supply of crystals.

 

Qatar National Museum (under construction)

"The (Qatar National Museum's)…striking design was inspired by the desert rose, an other-worldly mineral formation of crystallized sand found just beneath the desert's surface. The pavilion's sand-colored floors, walls and roofs resemble the sharp bladelike petals of the desert rose…"

wrmea.org

 

In Qatar nothing is as it was. There are no more pearl divers. Salty sea water is desalinated, sand is processed, even the sun is filtered to assure arctic interiors as outside temperatures soar to somewhere between hell and death.

 

West Bay

 

Skyscrapers lord over a once vast expanse of camel spotted sand. Grocery stores feature potatoes from Australia, carrots from Philippines, apples from France and cheese from Lebanon. Qataris are a minority here - in fact, many expats have never met a local. Laborers, administrators, engineers, geologists, architects and the cable guy are flown in to mold and shape the environment to accommodate the Qatari vision.

 

It seems that nothing and no one is from Qatar.

 

 

Except (oil and) one rare and beautiful thing: the Qatari earth still shapes its own desert roses.

 

Ronita's desert treasure

Man of Steel, Qatar

East-West/West-East by Richard Serra

 

"…he did not simply set an artwork in a landscape but rather took account of a natural but structured space, paying exact attention to the scale of his addition to it…"

-Qatar Museums Authority brochure

 

You wander the desert, the sun heavy on your head. All around you is an endless field of earth and sky marching toward a horizon marked by strange mesa shaped sand and rock formations.

 

There is color in these mini mountains: reds, yellows and chocolate hued rock bits shaped like burned charcoal. The sand is velvet soft, light and easily carried by the wind. It collects in your ears, fills wrinkles, sneaks into your socks. Sweaty, gritty toes rub against one another and blister.

 

You climb a limestone plateau. Shoes disappear into the soft sand. The top of the mesa is flat, speckled with pockets of low lying green. You can see for miles in every direction.

 

Bob atop a limestone plateau

 

At one end, blue variegates from nearly white around the sun to icy blue at the place where sky meets sea. You look inland toward tiny, barely discernable bumps along the horizon that signal the village of Zekrit. Another direction reveals miles of desert brown fading into the dome above you.

 

At the final turn a dark thread rises out of the earth, streams heavenward. You slide down the mesa and aim that direction. The unfettered sun boils your skin, burns your eyes. You raise your arms and unsettled air shimmers in the textured atmosphere.

 

steel plate appears threadlike from the side

Yeah, it's hot. And there are no - none - trees. C'mon, what did you expect? You're doing walkabout in a (nearly) equatorial desert.

 

desert green

 

You slog toward the dark line and it seems to change: at first reed thin, it widens, opens, closes, flattens, at one point appears almost round.

 

But wait - you must be hallucinating. Two shapes, now three - is that a fourth peeking over the horizon?

 

You alter your approach and see that the forms are rectangular steel plates, one end buried in the sloping desert between two limestone plateau ranges. Each plate measures 4 meters by 13.5 cm. Two rise 14.7 meters into the burning, unforgiving sky while the other two soar 16.7 meters high. Due to the uneven topography each plate stands exactly the same height as the others and the surrounding mountains too. Face the end of a pillar and it's a piece of copper colored straw. Stand directly in front and the plate is wide and flat and the others disappear behind it. As you step to one side or the other, the pillars open like folds in a fan.

 

four plates, one car

 

The plates are a sculpture called East-West/West-East by artist and world renowned Man of Steel Richard Serra. The artist also created "7" - a vertical permanent structure set on a pier behind Doha's Museum of Islamic Art. Additional works are currently on exhibit at Katara and Alriwaq at MIA Park in Doha. (To learn more about Richard Serra and his work, click here: http://richardserraqatar.qa/en/)

 

Bob and 4 plates

 

A streak of rust mars the front and back of each evenly spaced pillar. Sun reflects off the steel, absorbs and transmits heat as it delineates distance in the endless field of rock and sand. On approach, just two plates are visible. Even though plates are the same height as the mountains that flank them they seem to roll up and fall back as you move forward.

 

"…it only takes on its full meaning when we walk its length and grasp its relationship to its site…"

-brochure

 

You walk the length of the exhibit, taking in the expanse of burning sand, basking in the dome of blue above and field of brown at your feet. You consider each towering copper hued structure, careful not to stand too close lest you absorb your limit of hot.

 

limestone plateaus

 

You wonder at the enormity of the project and marvel at the curiosity of four steel plates marching across the desert outback like giant rectangular Bedouins.

 

Finally, after a long drive, strenuous climb and sweaty wander, you shield your eyes and search the horizon. There are no "facilities" in wilderness galleries. Just sand, sky, rock, the stray shrub. You know: nature.

And - at this end of the desert, at least - steel.

 

 

East-West/West-East is located in the Brouq Nature Reserve on Qatar's thumb - a desert peninsula outside Zekrit along the country's Eastern coast. Take the Dukhan Road, exit toward Zekrit. Pass the Cuban Hospital, beyond the billowing oil wells and wind surfers…follow the road until it ends at the tiny beachside town. Now turn right and drive into the desert. Keep going until you see threads rising into the sky.

 

GPS Coordinates: N25°31.019'E050°51.948.