Saying good bye it's never an easy thing. Finally a blue sky with the sun shinning, driving thru the caves as we climb up the mountain and leave Goreme behind.
Kappadokya, Göreme you been too good to be true. I got the first sit on the bus. As the bus drove away from the station Killian and Rosa wave good bye. Even thou I'll meet Rosa in 12 hrs in Fathye the feeling of knowing that one musketeer will not be there is not the same. We couldn't convince him!
That's the tricky part about traveling, you meet people, you have fun, you share unbelievable moments and yet the expiration date is too close. How easy it's to get close to people and let them leave a mark on you.
On Friday May 29 I woke up at 3:30am to go on the hot air balloon ride. The pickup was on time, the breakfast was yummy but by 5:30am we were notified that due to weather conditions we would not be able to ride them. Back at the hotel I slept for 3hrs and woke up at 9 to go on the green tour with Rosa.
At 9:30am we get picked up, there are 13 of us: a couple from Australia in the mid 60, Sofia and Raul (daughter and father from Montevideo,Uruguay traveling together; Tamara and Kimberly two Australian girls who met in Istanbul and are yogis, 2 pair of Chinese friends, Julia from Australia)
The tour was great! We saw a girls monastery, we hike on a canyon. The weather was nice, a bit chilly but the sun was out. By the time we get to lunch we could hear some thunders. After ordering the food it started raining and right after hailing! Unbelievable how the weather changes so fast! In The afternoon we visited the underground city! Totally amazing!
When we got back to town, we decided to hang out in the lounge from my hostel that it's cozy and super comfy!! Julia joined Rosa and myself. Each one had a task: figure out where the next destination was going to be. Personally I had my ticket for Izmir (to see some ancient ruines but after seeing the stuff here and in Istanbul I need a break. decided to change the route and go to the beach.
At the hotel we meet Killian. A guy from France with gingi curly hair. I had seen him earlier this morning (but I wasn't in the mood to talk due to the cancelation). He had such a peaceful aura, a beautiful smile, and radiated lots of positive energy.
After hanging out at the hostel and seeing that the rain has stopped and it's was about sunset time Killian and Rosa thought it would be a good idea to hike sunset point. I was on the phone and got yelled "yo, we are going to sunset point to see the sunset" hang up phone call right away and joined them.
On the way there we ran into Sofia & Raul who were walking down and invited them to joined us. At this point we were 6. Sunset was ok, it still was a bit cloudy.
Julia had been in touch with Bold (the magic carpet guy) and gave him a call. He joined us, he is a local from Göreme. As we discussed the next stop dinner he offered to get us some homemade Kapadokya wine for dinner. We all put $10.
We had a great time at the restaurant!! The food was amazing, the conversation were different: the sound of music, Mary Poppins, work, age, love, family, and some of course traveling.
At 10:45ish we figured we needed to leave the restaurant. Fati called it the night, and the rest of us walked to my hostel to hang out there and keep drinking some wine.
The Red wine: has been made 9 months ago. It tasted like Conagc. It was brought to us in a 1L Coke Bottle.
The white one: been made a year and a half ago. It was sweet and tasted pretty good. It was in a 2.5L Coke Bottle.
The white one was finished and we saved the red one for the following day.
Saturday 5.30
I went to bed at 1am knowing that I needed to wake up at 3:30am for a second chance of the balloon riding. Before going to bed Apo (hotel owner) mentioned that there was a 30% chance of doing it.
Woke up 15 mins earlier afraid of not waking up in time. Got ready and by 4am I was sitting outside. Killian let me borrow his fleece jacket and wind breaker! Thank g'd because it was freezing! By 4:15am I told my self that if in 5 mins they don't come I'll call the office.
4:20am no show up, I open the receipt that Apo gave me and see that pick up is schedule for 5am! With wifi available time went by pretty fast.
5am I get picked up by a small car driven by a Turkish guy with a Korean guy on it. The driver spoke no English and he also had no clue of where he had to take us! He got totally lost! Imagine with my excitement the frustration I was getting by the minute. As we finally get close to the balloon a guy approaches me asking me to pay and when I handle my credit card he says there is no time and we should do it upon landing.
Unfortunately due to the moron who drove the balloon was up with maybe 15 people on it waiting for me. As I climbed in, the balloon starts taking off. Literally I had one leg in and the other outside.
When the balloon is in the air it was sooooo quiet! It was taken from a fantasy book. Hundreds of balloons flying in between the ruins, lots of different colors, sun shinning strong and clear, no clouds in the sky. Perfect morning!
I was taking pics with the selfie stick and I saw the huge smile on my face! It is there when I realized that I had accomplished what I wanted! What a tremendous feeling! Up in the air! Colors, nature, life!
We had an hour ride and we did a perfect landed on a car and celebrated with Champagne.
I got to the hostel thanked Apo for been able to booked it for me, but also discussed the bad services I received.
At breakfast I met Killian who couldn't wake up to see the balloons and because of my smile understood that I did go and it was amazing! We spoke non stop! Shared the pictures, the stories, and feelings.
He told me how my happiness is contagious and how I am able to make other people happy just by sharing my experiences and excitement. (It is very nice and comforting to hear "strangers" complimenting me on very strong aspect of my personality)
We met Rosa at 10 at our hostel and hang out there until 11:30am because it was pouring. We played backgammon and checkers. I convinced Rosa to join me at the beach for 2 days!!! I'm so happy!
We wanted to go visit the Ugashir Castle. We took a bus and 10 mins later we arrived. Well, in my modest opinion it is not a castle and I can't picture how thousands of years ago it was one. What it is worth noting is how much fun we had just spending time, talking and taking silly pictures.
We knew it was a 45 mins walk to town and decided to do it. Half way into down we see a mirador with a beautiful tree full of evil eyes. I might do this at home! There we meet Fati the shop seller. As we engaged in conversation he is a funny charismatic guy. He tell us that we are half way down and assumed that at our pace it will take us another hour. As we are talking 2 busses full of tourists pull in and he asked us to stay and pretend we are shopping for people to buy! Jajaja
As we are about to leave it is pouring! We agreed on hitchhike (hacer dedo) to get a ride back into town and don't get soaking wet. The minute we put our feet on the road and stick out thumbs out and old maroon Renault 19 stopped to offer us a ride!
Kapadokya you been wonderful! You encourage me to get out of my comfort zone, gave me fantasy land experiences, met friendships that enriched the soul, and made me believe that there are nice people out there who wants to meet travelers and help them out.
On my way to Fethiye, where I would meet Rosa to see what the warm weather has to offer.
Ps. New addition to the family: Kapa, the selfie stick
