Azkenik Iranen!

Armenian mugako herria den Meghri atzean utzita ibaia jarraituz Irango mugara iritsi ginen, azkenik horren polemikoa den herrialdea bertatik ezagutzeko garaia iritsi zen. Mugan paasaportea pare bat aldiz erakutsi ondoren gainean generaman dirua Rial-etara aldatu genuen (Iranen dauzkan santzioak direla eta ezinezkoa da atzerriko txartelekin dirua ateratzea beraz egonaldi guztirako dirua ekarri beharra dago hasieratik). Iranek errepideetako heriotz taasarik altuenetakoa izan arren bertako gidariak gu bizikletan ikusita mantxotu eta distantzia  on bat mantenduz aurreratzen gintuzten, beste batzuk berriz aurrerago geratu eta Iranen atzerritarrek gehien entzuten dituzten bi esaldiak errepikatzen zizkiguten; Nongoak zarete eta ongi etorri Iranera. Bertako biztaleak etzitren izan baakrrak gure joan etorrien berri izan nahi zuurenak, lehenego hiru egunetan poliziak hiru aldiz geratu gintuen pasaporteak ikuskatu eta Iran zer egin behar genuen galdetzeko.

Arreneko bi asteak Irango Azerbaiango probintzian menditsuan igaro genituen, bertako hiriburu eta zetazko bideko gune garrantzitsu izan den Tabrizraino. Probintzia hontako biztaleak ez dira persiarrak “turkoak” baizik eta Farsia hitzegin ordez  Turko Azeria hitzegiten dute.

Tabrizen egin genituen lagun berriei esker egun bateko egonaldia izan behar zuena hiruko egunkoa bilakatu zen, Erfan, Reza, Hadi eta beste hainbesterekin hiriko txokoak ezagutu eta Iraniar kultura bertatik ezgutzen hasteko aukera izan genuen.

Iraniarren  eskuzabaltasunak mugagabea dirudi, agian honen azalpena Iraniarrek oso barneratuta duten “taarof” abergikortasun kodea izan daiteke, adibidez gonbidatuak dituztenean hoinek esaktutako guztia eskaintzera behartuta daude, alddi berean gobidatuan eskainitako guztiari ezetz esan behar dio, tira bira honetan pixkanaka jarraitzen dute baikotzaren benetako intentzioak argitu arte. Halere askotan eskeintza egiten dizutenean “no taarof” esaten dizute eskeintza benetazkoa dela adieraziz.

Iraneran iritsi aurretik hainbat aldiz emakumeen eskubideak urratuta daudela entzuna nuen, esan beharra daukat bidean bixitatu ditudan herrialde batzuetan baino askatasun daukatela hemen; 1963tik bozkatzeko eskubidea dute (europako herrialde batzuetan baino lehenago), errepidean kotxeak gidatzen nonhai ikus daitezke eta lan munduan ondo integratuta daudela dirudi, unibertsitateetako ikasleen %60a emakumeak dira. Egia da kalean ilea estali beharra daukatela baino ezagutu degun jendeareen etxe askotan atea gurutzatu orduko zapia kendu eta ilea agerian utzi dute.

Gobernu sitemarekin ere desadostasunean bizi direla dirudi, uste baino bildur gutxiago erakutsi du jendeak beraien eritzia emateko garaian. Askok reboluzioarekin  Sha garaiko bizimodua hobetuko zen esperantza zuten baino etzen horrela izan.

Dena ondo izanik Irango bisadoa beste hilabetez berritzeko aukera izango dugu, hurrengo sarreran idatziko dut gehiago. Gaurkoan argazki batzuk eta Fernando eta Veronikak egindako bideo bat zintzilikatu dizkizuet.

Meghri - Tabriz from Fernan_ci on Vimeo.

Finally in Iran!

Leaving Meghri in Armenia we cycled along Aras river for some kilometres until we reached the bridge that connects both countries, after almost 10000km on the road I was eager to get in and find out more about this controversial country.

Our Passport was checked twice at the border control, customs police also ordered me to open a pannier, once the official was satisfied he said “welcome to Iran” and we were in! First thing we did  was to Exchange currency, due to international sanctions no foreign card works in Iranian ATM´s so travellers have no choice but to bring all the cash for the entire stay in their pockets.

We slowly started Cycling up into the mountains, despite Iran ranking as one of the most dangerous countries when it comes to road safety, we found drivers to be very respectful towards cyclists slowing down and giving ample space when overtaking. Some drivers would even stop ahead of us to greet us with probably the two most common phrases to foreigners in Iran; where are you from and welcome to Iran. Not only villagers showed their interest in us, the police also wanted to know about our whereabouts and we were stopped and questioned three time on our first three days!

On the first two weeks we travelled through the northwest of Iran in Azerbaijan province until we reached the capital Tabriz, people from the region are not Persian and instead of Farsi they speak Azeri Turkish.

Iranian people have reputation to be one of the friendliest bunch in earth so when we reached Tabriz it didn’t take long before we made many new Friends. Erfan, Reza, Hadi and many others showed us around the city and gave us a good insight into Iranian culture.

Iranian hospitality is really incredible, I learned that they have a hospitality etiquette called “taroof” that is deeply rooted in Iranian culture, for example a host has to offer anything a guest might want and equally the guest has to refuse anything the host might offer, and this goes on until both parts find out the real intentions. But this is not always the case, sometimes they would say “no taroof” meaning that the offer is genuine.

Before visiting Iran I often Heard about women’s right being violated (and population in general too) while this might be true I have to say that I expected this to be much worse than actually is. Women have the right to vote since 1963 (before tan some European countries), 60% of the university students are female they seem to be well integrated in the workforce, also it’s common to see them driving cars. They head scarf is still mandatory but I found that that quickly goes off a soon as you enter their homes.

People also have openly showed their disagreement with the government policies. After the revolution many have hoped for a better and fairer system but based on the accounts we have heard this is not the case…

All going to plan we should be able to extend the visa for at least for another month so I will publish another entry when get to know more about this fascinating country, in the meantime I uploaded some pictures and also a video that Fernando and Veronika made about our first few days in Iran. 

Meghri - Tabriz from Fernan_ci on Vimeo.

Armenia EUSKARAZ

Tbilisin atseden hartu ondoren armenia bidean jarri ginen, bi herrialdeak ortodoxoak diraeta kulturalki nahiko antzekotasun dituzte, zorionez gidatze kontuetan antza gutxi dute eta Armeniarrak askoz lasaiagoak dira Georgiarrekin alderatuta, bertan egindako kilometroak bidegorri batean eginak dirudite.

Mendate txiki bat pasa eta bi herrialdeak banatzen dituen Debed ibaiaren arroilari jarraituz Armenian sartu ginen. Ibai honen kutsadura maila harrigarria da, bidean jarraitu ahala laister jakin genuen zergaitia,  Debed-en bi aldeak kobre meatzez josita daude eta Alaverdi hirian izugarrizko galdategia dago Sobiet garaietatik ia ladaketarik izan ez duena. Hirian geratzeko asmoa genuen baino bertako aire grisa ikusi ondoren aurrera jarraitu genuen (galdategiko tximiak inguruko mendi bateraino luzatu dituzte kutsadura murrizteko baino ondorioz mendiko basoa desagertzen hasi omen da).


Fernandok egunean zehar maiz begiratzen du mugikorra eguraldia kontsultatzeko, 25 graduko tenperaturarekin lasai gebiltzala hurrengo egunean elurra iragarrita zegoela esan zigun! Zoritxarrez iragarpena ez zegoen oker eta egunean zehar termometroa etzen 3 gradutatik pasa, hurrengo egunetan eguraldia askoz hobea etzelea izango ikusirik atseden egunik hartu gabe hegoaldeko Meghri izeneko herriraino iritsi ginen. "Presa" puntu honek bertako jendearekin normalean izaten ditugun hartuemanak murriztu egin zituen nolabait, halere Armenia dan bezelako herrialde menditsua izanik bertako piasaia aldakorretaz gozatu genuen; mendi harritsuak, belar motz horidun goi-lautadak edo herrialdearen %5-a okupatzen duen Sevan laku ikusgarriaren inguruan ibli ginen.

Bidean gauetako hotza saiestu nahian aterpeak bilatzen saiatu ginen, automobil-garbitegi baten barruan lo egin genuen eta baita baztertutako tren bagoi batean ere.

Orain Irango mugara  iristeko 10km besterik etzaizkigu geratzen, bertatik datozen bidaiari ugari ezagutzekko aukera izan degu, denek oso ondo hitzegin digute bertako jendeataz eta irrikitan nago bertara iristeko! Internet sarea oso kontrolatuta omen daukate eta ez dakit handik bloga eguneratzeko nola moldatuko naizen, izango dezue nere berri!

Hurrenarte!

Armenia EUSKARAZ from lander on Vimeo.

Armenia ENGLISH

After resting in Tbilisi we set off towards Armenia, both countries share the same religion and have many things in common, though  luckily for us,compared to their Georgian neighbours, Armenian drivers are much more friendlier towards cyclist and we felt like riding along a bike path.

We crossed the river Debed which forms a natural boundary between both countries and entered a canyon full of copper mines, the water coming down the river was really polluted and when we reached the industrial city of Alaverdi we understood why, there is a huge copper smelter in the town centre, releasing a vast amount of toxic fumes into the atmosphere. This factory has seen little changes since the Soviet times, they have extended the chimney into a nearby hill however the town still has smog all over it.

Fernando who is very organized always keeps good check of the weather forecast, after few days of sunshine he announced that we would have snow on the following day. As hard as it was to believe the forecast was correct and next day we woke up to a freezing morning! Armenia is very mountainous and we had to cross several high passes on our way south so we had to rush a bit before we got into trouble. This has translated in less interaction with the locals who they all are very friendly, however we've been able to enjoy the ever changing scenery very much; going over rocky mountains, grassy plateaus  or  around the immense lake Sevan which takes up 5% of Armenia's land.

We now in the southern town of Meghri, just 10km away from the Iranian border. We've come across few travelers who just visited Iran saying nothing but great things about its people, we feel very excited about going in and I think it will be one of the highlights of this trip. On the downside they do have some internet censorship so I'll have to try to find a way around it, don't worry if you don't hear from me on the next two months:)

Cheers

Armenia-ENGLISH from lander on Vimeo.