‘Do you come downstairs with me? I want to shower you.’ I’m not awake enough to react when my host asks me this. It’s still the middle of the night. I don’t get the point of why he wants to shower at that hour but there I probably missed the chance for a new intercultural experience. It’s my 4th night in Iran, not the most popular destination in 2013, but the perfect choice for me: a lot of culture, stunning mountains, deserts, friendly people and unexpected questions. I’m sure many of you think of a country populated by women in black chadors and men with long beards, praying most of the time. Both do exist, but they are at times hard to find. And you’ll hear far more prayer calls in Turkey or the Arab World.
Iranians do their best to prove that they are very different from what the outside world assumes: Women invariably tend to throw their headscarves off whenever they have the chance, considering it a form of obligatory decoration. Most men shave their facial hair fanatically, so if you love bearded men, better go to Berlin. Many families distill wine and brew beer at home, but be prepared for the wine to taste different from what you expect. I had a few glasses of shiraz wine in Shiraz in the middle of the day. It was actually the best brandy I’ve ever tasted. So the grapes are still there, but unfortunately the knowledge for winemaking seems to be lost for now.
Another ubiquitous thing is Facebook, officially forbidden, but even the guy who ran ‘hole in the wall’ falafel place in a border town asked us to befriend him. The Iranians are rebellious by nature, always looking for new opportunities to practice freedom. The same goes for the gay scene in Iran. Some people made it sound like I would get hanged upon arrival at the airport. But it wasn’t all that bad. Several gay guys told the same thing: they are not a priority for the government. Many are visible with their face on online meeting forums. And they party as crazy as all other Iranians, behind closed doors of course. It’s quite different from the scene in Turkey, where we are able to organize a gay trip.
One of the most amazing moments of the trip was after we had decided to leave Esfahan. Esfahan is by most tourists considered the prettiest place in Iran, but the traffic in town can be nerve wrecking. After 6 hours of travelling east through the desert, we reached the place of ‘a friend of a friend’. Iranians are one of the most hospitable people on the planet and this family was no exception. To our surprise, he had planned that evening a party in the desert. You would think 20 people and a campfire, right? There were actually 600 people gathering on a salt lake, much further out in the desert. 15 buses in a circle to bock off the light, a great DJ, plenty of crazy, fun people… a complete explosion of positive vibes.
To make things better still, there was a campfire with people jumping over it. It’s a ritual dating back to pre-Islamic times, still widely practiced at Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. It’s a sort of cleansing ritual as far as I understood. Besides of that there were quite a few people performing their acrobatic skills in the midst of the crowds, it was such an expected happening for me.
The weirdest thing was that after two hours the gathering stopped abruptly and a few minutes later, it was all gone, leaving no trace in the desert. Interesting. And what was even harder to believe was that most of the people had travelled by bus for about 10 tot 12 hours to attend this. Several people told me they just want to feel free. And that’s a bit easier in the desert with no immediate control, while being at an awesome party.







































