Saying Good-bye to Turkey...

'Yes, we left Hopa this morning sir,' Tim explains over the phone. ''We were taken in by a kind man named Osman and slept at his gas station. We met him at the Ogretmen evi {Teachers House}.'' It was the Rize police again. They wanted to know where we were and where we had slept the night before. They were polite and we had grown accustomed to talking with the police at least once a day. Serdar and his partner had said good-bye to us after we left their county and had handed us over to their colleagues in Trabzon who had handed us over to their colleagues in Rize and so on all the way to Georgia. We might have been followed, who knows, but we didn't mind the phone calls. Nobody stopped us from walking and that was the important thing.

"It always rains in Rize,'' ''Only 69 days of sun in Rize.'' We had been warned many times but we hoped that our good luck with the weather would hold up. It really would have been a miracle though if it had not rained in Rize, a city famous for percipitation and tea production. We were soaked to the bone when we finally made it and were in no hurry to continue until we dried out after a few days. We had grown tired and were slow, the three months of walking had taken their toll and I felt a chronic tiredness which even a 15 hour sleep could not shake off. We had to be smart and make it to Batumi, Georgia soon and rest for at least a week. We crossed more towns along the Black Sea and our steps were slow and silent. The sea was calming and we were both preparing ourselves to leave Turkey - the great country which had shown us so much hospitality...a place I will always cherish and miss...a nation of 'brothers' and a culture which now flowed in my blood...

"This is a brothel too nigger.'' It was no surprise, Ardesen, Arhavi and Hopa, the last cities in Turkey towards the Georgian border were infested with prostitution, crappy bars and liquor stores. We were in Hopa, only a mere 30 km from Georgia and it felt like I was in a Turkish version of Las Vegas, or a Laz version to be precise, since the inhabitants of this area were not Turks at all but belonged to an ancient people - the Laz, who spoke their own language and did not share any physical features with their Turkish countrymen. They were very European in appearance but dressed in pointy shoes and fake Armani jeans like Turks do. The women were more open here as well and I was surprised to see them look me in the eyes. We were entering a new culture and I was excited.

"Nyet" I replied in Russian to the three Georgian prostitutes at the door. I was tired and in no mood to entertain money-hungry hookers. "I just want to sleep, nye zena {no women].'' I was starting to use the Russian I had begun to learn the week before. Unfortunately I would use it mainly for warting off dirty old Georgian prostitutes. It was late and I noticed Tim tossing and turning in bed. He was also having a hard time falling asleep. We would cross into Georgia tomorrow and we were excited. We had no idea what would await us and a million thoughts were racing through my head. I also anticipated some problems with my visa which had probably expired and had no idea what would happen at the border. "Lets get a beer man.'' And so we dressed, got some Efes Pilsen and sat down on a Turkish beach for the last time.

We crossed the second tunnel towards the border. My heart was pounding hard as I walked and thought about all the great people I had met on my trip - Onur in Gebze, Omer the baker in Duzce, Baris in Istanbul, Franz, Halil bey, the muhtars, Mustafa and the wedding, the endless number of vendors and tea shop proprieors, smiling kids, passerby who would wave us over for tea, rest and a kind word...hundreds upon hundreds of kind souls who I will never forget....I was sad to leave and surprised to realize how attached I had become to Turkey....I was also both scared and excited about entering Georgia, an ancient country and culture which would be a whole new world to me....Tim and I hugged and smile at each other, the border was in front of us and a large Turkish flag flew above our heads. I took a deep breath and passed the gate taking my final steps in Turkey....I look back teary eyed, ''Tesekkur ederim Turkei {thank you Turkey}'' on my lips...