Mutlu Yillar (Happy New Year) !

1 January 2022, Steppe FM, Mutlu Yillar (Happy New Year) !

We take the opportunity of this newsletter to wish you all a happy holiday season! Happy new year, good health (inch'allah the Covid leaves), in short all the best, journeys and discoveries for the next year!

And also, many thanks to all of you! To all those we met along the way, those who support us and helped us before we left and to those who follow us.

On our side, we are still in Cappadocia. After several weeks of fighting with bureaucrats, endless corridors, endless visits to the notary to get our Ikamet (residence permit), we finally received it. And fortunately, because we got it two days before the expiration of our visa, that is, two days before being illegal in Turkey.

And as a good news rarely arrives alone, we have just learned that our parcel containing our tarpaulin material has just arrived on the Turkish territory. In other words, we are soon ready to head south again, to buy a horse and to ride on the Mediterranean coast where we hope it will be a bit warmer.

Because at the moment in Cappadocia it is really cold! So yes, it is nice, there is the volcanic rock, the frozen puddles, the horses in the snow, the cats who play with the flakes... But at night it is a little chilly and we don't have any heating systeme! So in the morning it stings!

Our daily life at Ibo is quite quiet: taking care of the eight horses, the boxes, the dogs, the cats, the two pigeons and managing to find wood in the valley to heat during the day. The rest of our time is spent in the "office", a small room with a table, a couch, a stove and above all a wood stove where we stay quietly in the warmth drinking tea and listening to the stories of the countless people who come to visit. Nevertheless, the best stories are certainly those of our Turkish uncle Ibrahim alias Ibo.

Ibo, we had met him while we were accompanying the horseback ride. He is the Cowboy of Cappadocia. He speaks five languages, is a guide on horseback, kayak, mountain bike, high mountain hiking. He has lived with horses all his life and spends his time being heartbroken over girls. He consoles himself by surrounding himself with animals who are, according to him, far more interesting and beautiful than humans. He has a thousand stories to tell and at least as many tips on dating. In short, Ibo is the allegory of the lonely cowboy. And on top of that, he takes very nice pictures!

On the rare occasions when we leave the "office" and it is to go to the notary, we continue to visit Cappadocia. Last time, with our friends Maris and Akim (with whom we plan to go down to the south) we met two other bicycle travelers, again French, who have been traveling by tandem for two years. The six of us rented a very small car and spent the day visiting the underground city of Derinkuyu: a 13-story underground city that could accommodate up to 20,000 inhabitants during times of siege. And then, as a proof of the maturity of the French cyclovoyageurs, after one hour of wandering in the underground rooms, we found the access to the electric meter and decided by mutual agreement to cut the juice on a section to be able to quietly play hide and seek in the complete darkness! The best moment will remain the head of the tourist illuminating Marie who signals her not to make noise for fear of being discovered.

In the afternoon we went to visit the valley of Ilhara. It is an immense canyon of about fifty meters dug in the lava. In the middle flows a mountain stream. 7 km in an incredible landscape of volcanic gorge, huge scree and fantastic churches dug in the rock...

Finally this end of the year in Cappadocia is great even if we can't wait to go down to the south to continue the adventure with a horse!

Thanks again to all of you and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR !