28 Nov 1985, Posted by Scott An Chora in Travelogue, No Comments.
11/28 Pamukkale, Turkey
Walked up one of the local hills and watched the sun rise over the valley. Then I took a trek back to the pools to get a few pictures without people climbing all over in them. They were so beautiful and unique. Shallow petal shaped pools with large expanses that had the texture and the look of snow. I expected the crunch of snow but was met with the resistance of rock. I sat alongside them for rest of the morning, just day dreamed and enjoyed the view.
Pools rise up in steps, one above the other, a frozen waterfall of quiet meditation
they cascade down over slopes, like my memories, impeded only by clumps of oleanders
looking out over the deep silence of the tombs lay scattered over the countryside
along side, where Apollo once sat, I pondered where they all went
The mini-bus ride back into town took forever. We picked up and waited for everybody. We stopped at one road where we could see an elderly lady walking towards us. She was about a mile up the road and there we sat and waited. “Why don’t you just drive up the road and save her the walk? She’ll probably die trying to get here.” I almost said out loud. Since we didn’t get sick the last time we decided to eat at the same place as before. We chartered a long bus ride through Ankara into the Nevsehir valley. I had a pillow, took off my shoes and enjoyed the front seat in another beautiful new Mercedes. It was cold outside and the heater at our feet fit the ticket. Buses didn’t get more comfortable than this. We both fell asleep and it wasn’t until the bus driver was shaking us did we realized we had reached our destination.
The two of us stepped half asleep, barefoot, with shoes and pillows in hand, out onto the cold street. There wasn’t snow anywhere but the ground couldn’t have been colder. Neusehii was dead. It must have been three or so in the morning and there wasn’t even enough light to see where we were standing. I had to tie my shoes by memory. Then the silent darkness was broken from the sound of dogs barking in the distance. The square where we were standing gave us no indication of which direction we should head in order to find ourselves a room. It was obvious that those dogs were getting closer and closer and based on the sounds they were making there was quite a few of them. As we turned up one of the streets leading from the square we stood face to face with a pack of aggressive dogs. There were about eight to ten of them. When they stopped and started to tighten up a bit I could sense Jenni was beginning to feel uneasy. I got the impression they wanted us to get out of their way. At that exact moment when we both stopped and waited for the other to make the first move a whistle like that of a band leader echoed through the streets. The dogs on hearing that noise got very agitated and began to act more like a group of scared individuals than a pack. There was an officer behind the whistle and the second he came into the view the dog dispersed like scared rabbits. My first impression was that we had entered Mayberry. That officer was just off center. I suppose anybody who is handed a whistle and told to walk the street at that hour had to be. He attempted to let us know that he and only he had the keys to the city. He gestured that he understood our situation and we should follow him. We ended up walking about a quarter mile into a smaller square. He walked us to what appeared to be a private home and rang the bell. There was no answer and this made him agitated and impatient. He blew that whistle of his at the top of his lungs and began banging on the door. Eventually someone woke up and invited us into their home. It was warm and cozy in contrast to the cold outside. I warmed my hands in hot water before I crawled into bed. It was Thanksgiving back home and I had promised I’d call my mother, let her know where I was and perhaps talk to other relatives who would be sharing Thanksgiving. The difficulty was that I needed to be up in a few hours to catch them at mid-day. The first impression I got of the city told me that it wasn’t going to be an easy task to locate an international phone line. It might also require a long, long wait. I set the alarm and went to sleep.
When the alarm went off it was just too cold to get out of bed and I convinced myself there would be a better time to call home. In that part of the world if we were told there was warm or even hot water we had to act quickly because it went fast. So Jenni out wrestled me for the first shower. The water was at best lukewarm and Jenni was afraid that it too was depleting so she showered through complaints. When it was my turn I had difficulty keeping the temperature below boiling.
