Turkey. Can't think of a funny title just yet :(

TURKEY- the land of opportunity. Or the land of Kebaps. Probably Kebaps.

Everything was new and exciting about turkey, and new and exciting in a way that I had never seen the likes of in my life. Even more so than being stuck in the dark in the middle of the night on a train and then in a parking lot in the middle of Bavaria with no cell phone and no contacts or map just hoping- hoping that Alex would pick me up. This place is truly exotic, and so much so that I can’t wait, literally cannot wait to get back.

First off, the plane taxied much faster than any I’d seen before. Little things like this. I got off the plane with Brandon, and then we had to purchase a visa before we could enter the country. On top of that, they demanded 20 US dollars, which we didn’t have, and complained when we paid 20 euro instead. Perplexing, seeing how 20 euro is worth more than $20. Then, we had to go through the first real passport check of the trip. After some confusion with trying to figure out how much money to take out, I finally withdrew 80 ytr, or new Turkish lira. Why was this confusing? Because the money here is so unpredictable that there was simply no way to know how much it was worth relative to both the dollar and the euro, which were concerns of our of course always thinking in terms of other currency. After discovering that a lira was worth almost exactly ½ of a euro and 2/3 of a dollar, and that it was no longer measured in millions but instead divided by that amount [8,000,000 lira = 8 ytl] we were on our way, or so we thought.

See Mauricio and us had been communicating back and forth via email for awhile in regards to where we were staying. He arrived a few days earlier and I said call me in italy and explain all this. He responded with call us. So we attempted to call him and hoped, just hoped that the number was correct. Problem was, all I had was large YTL bills and no change to make the call, not to mention it wouldn’t take change and needed a phone card. So, seeing that we got in late and couldn’t buy one at the airport, a nice security guard responded by letting us use his cellular phone. Phew!

Then I went into the wrong line a guard took my passport and got confused. He then walked off with it and took me into an office. Turns out I accidentally got in an outgoing line and was then stamped again for leaving Turkey and then I stamped it again saying I was coming back again, so after being there for less than 20 minutes I had 3 stamps and a visa instead of one. So he writes in Turkish on the form and I got it back. But it was a bit nerve racking to have someone who knows no Spanish and no English take your passport in an admittedly more sketchy country than the one I hailed from.

Finally we found out we were headed to Sultanahmet, a good place to stay after the phone conversation and got a taxi. There were some nice Italianos in the taxi too heading to the same place who helped to split the cost. We negotiated the price and took off. You have to negotiate everything, absolutely everything in Turkey. The guy was driving well over 100 MPH, not kph. Maniacal to say the least. We weaved through traffic and I thought we would get hurt, plus the seatbelts had been disabled. Luckily, after some arguing over directions, we got there much later, but late at night and once again had no reservations.

We found the place and Alex, which let us stay for a mere 12 lira a night. 8 US dollars. Not bad eh? Hostel was packed but nice, and we were guaranteed a room not in the harem room for the second night.

The area of the site was right next to 2 mosques and an ancient church. We headed to one of many bazaars to find Mauricio and his girlfriend Carmen smoking the waterpipe, or hookah as it is called. It’s a popular thing to do, which is basically super weak tobacco flavored with one of many fruits or chocolates and smoked through a long tube through water which cools it down. About 5% of the potency of standard cigarettes and substantially less than cigars, it’s a local custom to be enjoyed on sultan pillows with Turkish tea and backgammon, both popular things the locals do. We were only there for a few minutes though because we were exhausted and it was time for some rest after a very very long day of travel for Brandon and myself. I didn’t get a new phone yet, but Brandon went off to try the payphone. Sketchy service here resulted in difficulties for him. I had some food for a very low price J and headed off to bed.

Next: Turkey impressions and our first encounter with the east. Truly, this is the most exciting destination. Boy is it a wild place.