Pokemon Walks

Stephen has had a Pokemon Go account for a while.  Not since Day 1 because he would never follow a trend like that.  But he got one, played for a while then stopped.  Then in summer 2017, his older brother, Michael, recommended Pokemon Go for finding interesting new spots while traveling.  Apparently, both of Stephen's brothers play a lot.  So Stephen downloaded again and played occasionally on walks with the boys.  They tended to do this on Sunday afternoons while I napped, I believe.

Fast forward another year to summer 2018 when I told the boys I would download it to play while in Oman.  Turns out, my dad had an account for himself and an account for E for when they would play together (him on his phone, the boys on his tablet).  So I took over E's account to use as a family account.  Side note:  I wish it wasn't a kid account so I could have friends and send gifts.  Stephen has gotten some cool, shiny Pokemon from his brother.

So we got to Oman, I got an Oman number and small data plan, and we started walking.  Every day we go on walks.  We walk to school.  We walk from school.  We walk to the grocery store.  We walk to dinner occasionally.  We walk up and down the street when my watch buzzes me that I haven't moved enough in the past hour.  And every night after dinner, we go on a "long" Pokemon-specific walk.  It's not that long, just longer than our other walks.  The whole loop takes less than 30 minutes.


Basically, we walk to the shopping center near us where there are 3 Pokestops and 1 Pokegym.  At the gym, we will often battle for control then "spin" it.  At the stops, all you do is "spin."  Basically, a "spin" is a swipe of a circle on the phone screen so that the stop or gym will give you free items like Pokeballs, eggs, and berries.  These items help catch, hatch, and improve catches, respectively.

An example of a Pokestop that you spin.  Also, if you come visit us, the chances of us taking you to eat at Kargeen are high.  Yum!

All of these stops and gyms are at landmarks, which is what makes it useful for touring a city.  They may not be well known landmarks, but they are often fountains or works of art.  Just about all Starbucks used to be stops, but not any more.  So near us, there are 2 fountains, a sculpture, and a mosque.  It took us a while to find the sculpture (though you can "spin" without seeing the actual object).  The sculpture is inside a restaurant, Pavo Real.  Side note:  Pavo Real is apparently good for margaritas (which I didn't order).  I wasn't crazy about the Mexican food I got.  My burrito had mushrooms in it, and it was a bit too dark inside for eating in my opinion.

The Maya stop is a piece of decoration inside Pavo Real.

This is the MQ mosque that is also a Pokestop.

I'd be lying if I said that I just have the game for the boys.  I really enjoy playing it in a weird way.

So there you go, a glimpse into how I get 20,000+ steps most school days.