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A Little Help from my Friends
I slept a full eight hours again last night despite the sound of the traffic outside. This town has turned out to be just the relaxation that I was looking for. I woke up and had another leisure breakfast on the house. The owner provides tea, Turkish pretzels, and cheese for me and a couple other older guys that are here every day. This morning's conversation had something to do with how the price of hazelnuts failed to go up this year and what that does or does not mean for the region. I really don't understand what they are saying, but it is fun to watch a really animated conversation. Around ten, the oldest guy with the faulty hearing aid and Coke-bottle glasses escorted me to the minibus place. He set me up with a ride to the Cambasi Plateau.
Dolmus
As I said before, the idea of a dolmus is to wait till it is full, so we had to wait nearly a half hour for more people to come. It turned out that the driver only got about eight people for the 58km trip. At US2 each, I am not sure that he makes much of a profit. The road to Cambasi is not too smooth, so I would expect it to wear out his minibus pretty fast. The driver seemed to enjoy the drive, though. Most of the road was unpaved. Some of it seems to be undergoing some upgrading, but for the time being this means only that there are huge piles of dirt and rocks all over the steep ascents. The whole trip was pretty dangerous as we ascended 2000 meters of winding road. The view was great, though, making getting there much more than half of the fun.
Cambasi Hosh Geldiniz
Much of the Turkey that I have seen is quite dry. In the summer it is a big hot yellow country with plenty of beaches where you
can dip in the water. Some friends in Ankara recommended a yayli in the green mountains of the north. They described this paradise as an upper plateau with serene beauty and unusually cool weather even in the summer. Cambasi is just one of these yayli. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I came on their advice.
It turns out that Cambasi is colder than I had thought. Although I brought a sweatshirt and some warm socks, it was almost too cold to walk around in the hills. Then it started raining. There is not much to the village itself. A few butchers, some tea shops, and a couple stores selling cookies and toilet paper. After I finished the tour, I settled in at the tea shop below my hotel. They lit the stove for me and I wrote some letters.
Evening
It cleared up a little just before dark. Although it was still quite chilly, I decided to explore some more. I made it up to the top a hill that overlooks the city in time to see the sunset. After a little break, I walked back down the hill. The whole meadow and side of the hill is covered with cottages. I don't think that anyone actually lives up here through the winter, so there are no real local people. However, some houses were clearly just summer homes for people who want to relax. Others are farm houses where people live while they tend to their fields up here. I met up with one city man for dinner. He took me around for some great lentil soup and tea afterwards. The village was full of middle-aged men at night. Everyone hanging around playing cards, backgammon, or dominos. I turned in early.
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