Eastern Turkey

Hello all!

Carter and I left Çatalhöyük on Monday morning took a bus to Ankara and then met up with Kyle and the three of us flew to Van. We then met Carter’s colleague and he showed us around his university and took us to lunch and then we met up with Dan and headed out for our camp site. We visited some archaeology sites along the way so we made it to our lodgings well after dark but they exceeded my expectations as far as camping goes. We were actually camping out in the “backyard” of a restaurant which was a 1 min walk from a giant lake with a fantastic view.

This week has certainly been a week of firsts for me! I slept in a tent for the first time, I used eastern squatting toilets for the first time, I worked 18 hour days without lunches for the first time and I climbed 4000m to the highest point of a volcano for the first (and I assure you, last) time! Other than yesterday when we hiked 4000m up Nemrut Dag this week wasn’t as bad as I was picturing it to be. In 2 days we sampled obsidian from the 3 major volcanoes that we set out to sample and ate some fabulous breakfasts and dinners (Carter is apparently a brilliant scholar but isn’t that great with the planning of anything so he didn’t factor in that people might get hungry between a 6:30am breakfast and an 11pm dinner) . Despite the struggle and the energy it took for me to keep up with everyone else I have achieved more than I thought I could and so I am so happy with myself and my own efforts! Yay for personal bests!

The views I saw from these mountains, especially the caldera of Nemrut Dag were absolutely breathtaking! I tried to focus on how amazing it was that I was able to see what I was seeing instead of how much my body apparently wanted me dead after hiking uphill! I am truly so thankful I am here, but I am finding this part of the experience very tiring and very difficult.

The crew is now in Van again. We are having dinner and drinks tonight with Carter’s colleague and his masters student as then we are heading off to Urfa tomorrow morning. I am told the bus ride is about 9 hours through questionable territory (and very close to the Syrian border). We will be spending 2 days there I believe which will be enough time to visit the incredible museums in this city as well as the bazaar where one can buy pistachios in the very area where they were first domesticated umpteen thousand years ago!

See you for the next leg of the adventure!