Our patient continued to do well and, with my pride barely in tact, I left the hospital. With several hours until my flight to Kuwait, my local host, another Palestinian pharmacist, took me on a drive around Riyadh to see the sights. Architecturally, Riyadh has many world-class building. The only problem is that one can rarely see them due to the orange dust from the desert that continually shrouds the city. As a westerner, I saw many familiar chain restaurants and stores. But there was nobody in them…or anywhere. The streets are deserted. Sporadically, one might see a man walking on the street to a store, but you’d never see a woman. Never. I wondered where all the women were hiding.
We stopped in the corporate office to pick Wissam up before he and I were to go to the airport and onto Kuwait. The office was in a nondescript building in central Riyadh near several restaurants and clothing stores. Upon exiting the elevator, we encountered several men, none Saudi, smoking cigarettes in the corridor. They were very friendly and we exchanged pleasantries. I don’t think they were used to seeing Americans there, as their protracted gazes, though friendly, betrayed their confusion in seeing a Westerner at their work place. They all invited me in and were anxious to tell me about what corporate division they worked for.
On the way to the airport, we stopped and got a coffee. Strong and aromatic…delicious.
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