Then we met Sam(aneh), whose energy, friendliness, strong opinions and penetrating questions gave us a new lease on life. She sorted us out with a local simcard, showed us a mean combination of carrot juice, icecream, and some sort of noodley stuff, and led us ducking through the low arches of ancient bridges (Sam didn’t have to duck) which form the social hub for local Esfahanis.
The next night Sam took us to meet her friends, who had us in stitches for hours. Fardin - a personal trainer - would explain that he preferred girls who were fuller in figure - because it was good for business! This statement alone gave the others enough ammunition to tear him to shreds for close to an hour. We couldn‘t understand everything that was being said (often translation was hindered by raucous laughter) , but the intensity and animation of the others meant that our cheeks were sore from laughter by the time we went home to his place. Here Fardin showed me the ropes of Backgammon, as my Sensei he would help me along just enough to win the odd game and spur my competitive spirit into agreeing to “just one more game”. Needless to say, I am still definitely the student, and he the master, but it took until 3am for this to become evident.
With a solid two and a half hours of sleep behind us (the girls had none) we went to meet more friends at the mountain - it’s what Esfahanis do on a Friday. Arriving at the base of the mountain at 6am, the streets were already lined with hundreds of cars, and people were thronging at the gates to the park. Our crew of fourteen spent about 4 hours climbing and walking all over the mountain, with a break for breakfast in a secluded nook about two thirds of the way up. During this time we found that every single one of the group shared the kind, open, intelligent and hilarious qualities which we found the evening before, but all in their own unique way. Some were loud and argued passionately, others discussed things quietly, while at least one person was always making sure that laughter was in the air (not naming any names!). A great morning with an incredible group of people - the sort who you wish the world had more of - finished with a relaxing (non-alcoholic, peach flavoured) beer under the trees at the base. Ahhh.
That afternoon we said our goodbyes and went to the most famous of Esfahan’s bridges, where on Fridays men will sit among the arches under the old stone bridge and sing the afternoon away. There is something very calming about sitting under a 400 year old stone bridge with locals, listening to melancholy songs of Persian culture - you don’t need to understand the lyrics to appreciate it.
I would have loved even more to have experienced this a few years ago though - before singing (by women) and dancing (by anyone) in public were banned. According to the stories, there were some great times had under that bridge!
After a quick runabout on the river in pedal boats with fellow mountaineers Mostafa and Ahmad (where we raced, and beat, a boat of local guys - perhaps bending a rule or two), we jumped on a bus with them to head North to their home town of Kashan.
Other highlights of Esfahan include:
- Sharing music with Mahsa, adding a dash of much wanted Persian flavour to my iPod
- Discovering Abgoosht in the bazaar with a local named Ali - a classic Persian dish where you get to drain the liquid from a chunky soup and down it with a liberal amount of Iranian flat bread, before taking to the remaining chunks (split peas, meat, veges etc) with your very own masher, and demolishing the pulverised product with yet more bread, yoghurt, and raw onion. My favourite dish yet (perhaps because it requires you to play with your food, and really get to know it before eating it).
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