Smoked Turkey Homecoming!

Our unsuccessful attempt to leave Syria entailed a four-hour bus ride that cost less than one dollar to get to a place we didn't even want to be! We walked up to the ticket counter at the bus station in Aleppo and asked the guy working if he spoke English. "Yes, yes, yes." was his response. We told him that we wanted to go to Antakya, Turkey. We tried to emphasize the fact that we wanted to go to Turkey to clarify any potential miscommunication. Again, he responded with, "Yes, yes, yes." "Turkey!?" we asked with enthusiasm! "Yes, yes, come.", he commanded.

He led us to the bus, of which, he was the driver, and we found our seats. Four hours of winding, mountain roads pursued. We knew there had been some kind of mistake because the town we left, Aleppo, was very close to the border - and after a couple hours of no border we realized we were heading in a wrong direction. In another country this might not have been cause to worry. But Iraq is right next door and I've heard it's not the most pleasant place to be in at the moment.

Around 8 or 9pm, the bus made it's final stop. On the side of a dark road, in the middle of an unknown city, we questioned the ticket seller/bus driver where he had taken us. "Turkey?", we asked, already knowing well enough the answer. He hit realization like a brick wall and seeing it on his face brought endearment to a frustrating situation.

I wanted to ask for a refund on my sub-dollar ticket, but my cheapness has already started annoying my travel companions so I let it go.

Mr. Driver walked us to a nearby intersection and pointed to something. He was giving us directions. To what, we had no idea. My optimism came into play and told me it must be the border! Then my logic smacked down my optimism, and we followed his directions to... the bus station. Thanks, guy.

We were in a town called Latakia, Syria, which is similar sounding, I guess, to Antakya, Turkey. They're essentially the same place for anyone with an accent. But they're very different places for anyone with a map.

Stuck for the night, we decided to find a cheap hotel and make the best of it. And that we did, with a bottle of wine we'd been carrying around for just such an occasion! Travel Tip #238: Carry a bottle of wine just in case you end up in Latakia by accident.Upon our successful second attempt at getting to Turkey, we discovered prices had gone through the roof! Gasoline is over $10 USD per gallon! Granted, the USD is at a shamefully low value, which continues to burden us greatly, but 10 bucks a gallon?! Dang! Needless to say, there were no more four-hour bus rides for a dollar to be had.

We spent the day arguing with bus companies and traveling to Capadocia. Turkey is sort of a transitional country between "Arab-world capitalism" and "the-rest-of-the-world capitalism." That is, prices become less negotiable and more fixed here. In most of the Arab world that we saw, the price of something depends on how you look - combined with how much you proceed to argue. What I remember of "the rest of the world" is that there's the same price for everyone - with slight exceptions for students, old folks, etc. - and they're generally posted. In Turkey, we saw an interesting combination of the two practices. This, many times, consisted of an exaggerated, written or verbalized high price, which was followed by a "special discount" for being their new friend. And by "new friend" I mean, "the person they're talking to at that moment."

We met our hosts in a town called Kayseri, in central Turkey. For a few days we basked in the glory of Turkish hospitality! It was a fantastic few days and we got to see and experience some wonderful things!
After our first few days of Turkish prices, we decided to make a straight shot for Bulgaria instead of exploring more of Turkey. We took a travel break in Istanbul and then pushed on to Bulgaria - my second home!We immediately went to see my host town, Krichim, where I learned to speak Bulgarian, and "grew up" among some amazing families!I can't describe how good it feels to come back to Bulgaria, to be somewhere I kind of understand, to speak the language, to order a glass of wine with dinner, to flirt with waitresses, and to pay posted prices that are the same for everybody! We hung out with friends, told stories, talked about our project, and had a fantastic time!
It was everything we needed before our next project in Rakitovo with Future Foundation to talk about Bulgaria's accession into the European Union from students' perspectives.