Not to get STAN!( Iran 22-06-2008)

I spent my last morning in Teheran in a taxi looking for Uzbekistan Embassy. Two hours looking for a building, hidden, until I found it. My first visa from a Stan. The Stan are the five countries of the Old Soviet Union in Central Asia, I will cycle through: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kiryiguistan and Kazahastan.

To get a visa you need to know the city well and to know when exactly you want to enter that country. If you make a mistake you get stuck. If China does not let me in I will have to go round Russia or find another way round. It seems that after Olympics China will start giving visas in October. At that time I hope to be cycling to Tibet, Nepal and India. In December I will be in India.
Not much to do in Teheran, so I went to Isfahan. It is in the south and on the way of the Silk Route, with one of the most beautiful squares in the world leading to Jame Mosque. The biggest and most misterious mosque of tthe Muslim world. At night, families gather around the square, with their gas cookers, blankets, sweets and ice creams. The moon shines from one of the corners off the square, the only lady that shows her face in whole Iran. In Isfahan I met again Daisuke in Isfahan, he is the Japonese guy who has been cycling the planet for ten years. I wrote an article about him for Bike a Fondo. See article
I also met Salva, a guy from Granda, I will cycle much of the Silk Route with him.
Shiraz has another hidden beauty: the city called Persepolis. Dario started to build it but did not know that his son would finish it. It used to take longer to do things because people wanted to do it well. For just half a dollar you can see the beauty. There is little foreign tourism and locals prefer to take pictures off me.
Bargaining is important at the local markets. Nice ice creams and sweets all around, until sunsetting. Prices have gone up lots in the last year and you cannot buy much for 3 dollars. Backpackers are not here yet so there aren?t many cheapy hotels in the country of Homeini.
On Monday I will go back to the visa business, Turkmenistan, Tuesday to rest, Wednesday Tayikistán, and so days pass by in one of the most overwhelming areas in the world: the Pamir highway.

Visas hunting (Iran 16-06-2008)

A country full of mountains and few trees. Wind blowing westwards. My legs are now used to pushing the 85 kg upwards. It is not easy to overcome 2,500 m. suffering is my every day cake.


Mountains never end, one after another, most cars and trucks take over sounding their horns. The smoke from their cars is just enough!. One stopped to offer some water and take a picture. In Iran everybody says Hello to me. ?Hello mister, how are you, I am fine thank you? they say it all. But one day one of them stopped me and showed me a picture, it was me when climbing the other day. We ended up having lunch together. In Iran it is best not to make many plans, one never knows...
After more than 185km by bike I arrived in Qazvin. It was all flat and the wind stroking my back. 7 and a half hours biking. i was tired. A boy stopped me and ended up putting me up in his house, first he phoned home for his mother and sisters not to show up. After a good shower he took me to dinner. He told me a mortal secret: I am a heroin addict. Before going for dinner we had to buy his daily intake to overcome the crisis. . Enjoy it, I said. I did not know what to say.
He said, no my friend, I am suffering, this is my medicine.
After many days climbing up, I was now ready to go down. But Kogadonga had a problem and I had to travel the last 25km by car. Some days seem to be endless.
Finally, I entered Teheran. It was Friday, Bank Holiday, lucky me. Streets almost empty which was less risky.
Now I am spending some days here but with no bike. The Embassies of the countries I have to cross are too far. They only open a couple of hours a day. It will take me three days to get the visa for Uzbekistan. Then, I can apply for one for Tajikistan, JUST 2 weeks more to wait for it, the one for Kirzigistan will be applied in Dushanbe, capital off Tajikistan, and Kazahastan?s in Bishkek, capital of Kirzigistan. This is how I am preparing my futre.
As for the shows, no good news. ACNUR has not obtained the permits to perorm at the Refuggee Camps in Afghanistan. Some officials of Spanish Embassy in Teheran have tried hard, things may seem easier in Iran.
Thanks very much to the family that has welcomed me. Incredible to see the ladies wrapping up when the go to the street.
I will visit Isfahan and Persépolis while waiting for the Embassies to give me the visas. I will tell you about these beautiful places when I come back
Day 1306, Peace and Well Being, the biciclown

M-iran (Iran 11-06-2008)

Not only that, they don´t brake to overtake, they stop to take a picture with their handy. No matter if you are suffering to cycle up the 35 degree slope. You are just another tourist, they think. I am not. A tourist travels to reach destination, I have already reached mine. I don´t care the country I am in. My intention is to go back to my starting point one day, but I won?t be the same person. You cannot be the same after having seen so many sunsets, having kissed so many different women... having seen beauty so close passing by

Like when I went into an old tent close to the road to find a grandfather with his grandson inside. They sleep there till they finish off their honey pot. The grandfather teaches his grandson to look after the bees, to wash in the river, to make a fire.
I will never forget the sunsetting in Kandovan. My tent on the other side of the village, observing the lights of the houses lighting up. A warm light giving an extra dosis of magic. At more than 2200 m of height, the night is clear and cold.
The day I arrived, the cars were flooding the air with their pollutants, a huge traffic jam. Nobody has had the brill idea of building a parking plot outside the city. Last week there was a bank holiday because of the anniversary of Homeini?s death: tea time by the road. I saw a guy getting off the car and dropping a rubbish bag into the river, incredible!.People in Iran have no behavioural codes whatsoever. Another threw away a paper, I picked it up from the floor and gave it back to him, he threw it again, bins are useless here.
Streets are full of black flags with Homeini picture on them. People are not that happy with the government, annual inflation rate at 30%.My friend X, I do not give his name to avoid him problems, has been hit many times. The police want him to have his hair cut. Women should wear a scarf and let only one eye be seen, but even that eye is hidden. They are covered in black clothes. Perhaps they are pretty, but I have not seen any yet.
Life of a bike traveller in Iran is cheap. Bread is given away at the bakeries, they do not charge for the use of internet at internet cafes. Although I insist and they end up accepting some money (for the shop owner).
I left the main route and headed towards the mountains. More than three times above 2500 m high. Up and down non stop. But putting up the tent up here and observing the stars is undescriptable. Even if there are hard days, like today, once again I have reached my target, good enough. It is already 6 pm and I am starving, I am falling asleep.
I will try to reach Teheran by the 14th June.
Day 1301, Peace and Well Being, the biciclown.

I had been told... (Iran 04/06/2008)

After the event of the passport, scary, I started to enjoy Iran. I haven?t got many plans, just see things day by day. In Germi I found the first internet cafe, although in fact it was a bookshop, they let me use internet for free.

After checking mails, impossible to answer all of them, I continued cycling. Landscape relaxes the spirit. The owner of the shop invited me for lunch, first and seconds just meat. Nasser is 26 and is the owner of this modest bookshop. After lunch he asked me to stay at his place for a night, I had not cycled much but he was so kind....As soon as we arrived, women of course disappeared, genders are really separated in these countries. In the afternoon I did some magic tricks for them and for the kids of the suburb, but they did not understand my sense of humour, magic with humour and Coran are like water and leather, they do not get on well.
People in Iran are so warm and nice that my plans of 100 km a day were not possible. When I arrived in Meshigini it was getting dark. I found a hotel, 20 euros a night, I went near the market to find something cheaper and that is when I found the owner of the internet shop gave me the solution, you sleep in my house but first we will go for dinner (meat of course) with my friend and for an ice cream.
Houses in Iran do not usually have beds, people sleep on a mattress. Next day, put away the mattress and off to work. But, that day the back tyre was losing air. One of the glasses I came across in Georgia had done its job. That is the good thing about Iran, there is no alcohol, although my host, 43 and still living with his mum, had his alcohol bottle hidden behind the sofa!.
I changed the tyre and set off. I came across 5 guys on their bikes. They had just passed by Ahar and a man invited them for lunch and to use his shower, I also met that man but could not accept his kind invitation because Ali had invited me before. Ali, an engineer student in Teheran helps his brother at the supermarket, he took me for lunch and did not do anything else for me because I did not let him do it, it was far too much.
From Tabriz, tired and burnt by the sun and the wind, happy to keep on going, Peace and Well Being, Alvaro, the Biciclown