Looking for the horses and problems on the way:

January 2022, Steppe FM : Looking for the horses and problems on the way:

A usual week at Ibrahim's, taking care of the ranch and the horses, waking up in the cold and spending evenings around the stove. Except that this week we also had to look for horses to buy to bring them to the South.

We went with Akim and Marie to a horse dealer several days in a row. It's one of the few places in Cappadocia where they sell other horses than the Arab ones which are way too expensive for us. But we have to admit that it's a bit of a miracle court... Most of the horses have a problem. On the five horses that he offers us and that are in our budget, there is a one-eyed horse, who lost his eye last week, a lame one, who had his shoulder tapped the day before, a young horse not really broken in who tries to bite as soon as he is touched, a surly one who attacks all his fellow horses, and a last one who walks very fast and doesn't really respect man.

In short, they are certainly not a panacea but we have to admit that they are really cheap. During two days we are going to see them, to make them walk, to verify that we can take the hooves, and all kind of test to see their behavior. Our choice is gradually made towards the nervous one which does not respect the man and the lame one. For the first one, it's mostly a problem of education that should not be too complicated to solve with a little time. As for the second one, we take a risk but it seems that the shoulder injury is only muscular and therefore would be quickly resolved.

Voilà, we had made our choices, we had found a cheap transport last week, everything seemed to be settled to be able to leave in the South. Except that...

Gasoline has almost doubled in price in one week and the transport is becoming too expensive (more expensive than the horses themselves) and at the same time Ibrahim has a family emergency in Istanbul and asks us to stay and take care of the ranch.

We need a new plan. Akim and Rico go down by hitch-hiking with the three dogs (we don't have the right to put them in the buses) and the minimum of luggage, Marie returns to France for a few days to see her family, and I stay at Ibo's place with all the stuff (and that makes quite a big package) to take care of the ranch. I will come down later to meet him.

So I spend one week at the ranch. It's cold, it's snowing, there is almost no wood for the stove and nobody for miles around except the neighbor who comes from time to time to make pottery. At the same time, I have a mission: to find some money. Indeed, we have recently re-calculated our global budget with the new plan in Turkey and with the recent information about the prices of horses in Kirghizia and Mongolia. As a result, we realized that we would miss funds to continue the adventure, even if we decrease our daily amount from 15 to 10€ per day.

My days are thus regulated by the horses, and by the wood cutting to maintain a halo of heat. Apart from my brief outings in the snow and wind, I work on the computer writing long application files, answering forms... A week not very adventurous but alone. Finally alone ! It feels great from time to time.

Meanwhile, for Aymeric...

Ibrahim drops Akim, the three dogs and me at a gas station at the exit of Nevshehir. Three dogs and two boys to hitchhike... it might be long. Surprisingly we are taken quickly. As soon as we get in the car, the driver takes out a gun. Funny way to explain that he is cop… fine. He takes us about fifty kilometers further and leaves us in front of the police station. We begin to make stop at the red light, a flock of kid comes to speak to us and begins to stop cars for us. This method works, and we leave in a truck for 200 km. The night falls and it rains when we find ourselves again in a highway area. We find a table of picnic under a canopy of wood which is not occupied by a group of trucker. The dogs lie down under the table, us on the benches. All the night, water runs on my unsheltered feet. The night was long, every hour a trucker takes the road again and warns everyone with a blow of horn absolutely not delicate

We continued towards the South. Globally, we had cold and we were often soaked from the head to the foot. Several times, people invited us for a meal. Even in time of Covid and being afraid of the three dogs, the Turks are incredibly hospitable. We drove 500 km down the coast in one go, sitting under a mound of blankets in a pickup truck. I found myself in the complete darkness of a container for two hours with the three dogs.

Finally we arrived in Antalya and the weather is good, we met again friends François and Sandrine, travelersmet in Cappadocia. They rented an apartment. We could spend one evening and one night in the shelter.

We are on the coast, we camp on the beach and the weather is sunny. We are one hundred kilometers of our final objective. The temperature is more than correct and the landscapes are great. This new adventure looks good!