#9 - An Evening Cycling in Iran
Just a random evening of kindness from my time in this beautiful country
In these crazy times, I often think back to special moments in my travel. For the past few days, an evening during my cycling journey has kept coming back to me, just for how nice and peaceful it was, so I thought I would share it with you all!
This was close to the end of my two months in Iran. I had experienced the most amazing displays of kindness, warmth, and friendship from Iranians.
I had been fed lots of good food - too many times to count. It was all amazing, but it was also a bit much, and I had started to look forward to evenings when I wasn’t staying with a warmshowers (it’s like couchsurfing for cyclists), or where someone hadn’t invited me to stay with their family for the night.
On this day, I climbed up a pass that seemed to take forever. Every time I thought the climbing was done, the incline started again. False summits suck. Two times, locals asked me to stop and have tea with them. The first were some really fit ambulance drivers from a nearby town. The second was a bunch of kids near the top of the pass who were collecting wood for their farm. They had a lot of fun failing to ride my bike. They would get on, struggle to find balance with all the luggage, and get off.
I zoomed downhill from the pass and found a nice spot close to the snow by the side of the road. I had just started to set up camp for the evening when a villager called to me from the road and invited me to stay with him. He was concerned that it would be too cold to sleep inside my tent. I refused, saying I would take him up on his offer later if it did get too cold.
When he saw me struggling to get a fire going, he came down to where I was and helped me start it. He left only once the fire was going. A few hours late, he came back again, and I refused his offer for accommodation again. He told me I was crazy and risking my life in the cold. As he left, he made sure I understood where his house was, in case I wanted to take him up on his offer later.
As I ate my dinner, I wondered if I had offended him by refusing. But then, the full moon rose up from behind the mountains, lighting up the clouds with silver halos. The mountains themselves were bathed in a soft and eerie glow. The fire crackled in front of me as I ate my hearty dinner of undercooked rice and overcooked pasta.
Good call, I thought to myself. This is why I cycle.
The next morning, as I packed up my stuff, my friend showed up again just to make sure I was okay. It was a wonderful world.