I'm sorry that the last posts were all in German. But now I'll try to sum it all up and give you the English version of the last two weeks.
Of course it was not easy to get the car out of Turkish customs at Istanbul harbour. It was Friday when we finally could drive our Screelander again after four days of patient waiting, angry phonecalls, nervewrecking situations...
We needed four days to get to the Iranian border. We thought that it would be possible to get the visas there as it is in so many other countries. But after leaving Turkey the Iranian officers told us that we had to drive back to Erzurum (about 300 km or 187 miles), where we should go to the Iranian consulate. They were very friendly by the way. But now they had the problem that we were on the border area, and it was not possible just to turn and drive back. So one of them had to accompany us on Iranian ground to the other side, where another officer had to let us leave Iran again without checking us. But it took us over an hour to get into Turkey again because the Turkish custom officers first made a lunch break and then checked us thoroughly because we came from Iran - what a crazy world!
My mom always said "Who knows what it is good for" meaning there is a good reason for everything that happens.
So I was aware that the reason for all this trouble should come along. And it really did!
When we came to the Iranian Consulate in Erzurum there was an Iranian family - father, mother, mother's sister and a 4-days-old baby - waiting for their papers to get back to Iran. We started talking and they invited us to their home in Teheran. Unfortunately the Iranian officer was very stubborn (or the Iranian burocracy is). He told them that he needed official papers from the hospital where the baby was born to let them go to Iran. And obviously it was not possible to get them by fax or email. But the hospital was not in Erzurum, it was in Van which is 400 km or 250 miles away. As they did not travel by car we offered them to drive them there. We assumed (correctly) that for us getting the visas would take time. So we had nothing better to do than to help these people.
Meanwhile we are back in Erzurum, hope that the family has arrived home safely. We have to wait some days longer for the visas, but are confident about it. And we are looking forward to visit the family in Teheran.
South of Erzurum is a skiing ressort, and it has also snown a bit (not as much as in Buffalo) and it is freezing cold.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen