Thursday, December 08, 2005

ADANA AND THE SENSE OF RAMADAN


After living in a cave in Capadoccia the Oracle of the road suggested I deserved to treat myself to great hospitality of Mustafa and Masut, Hospitality Club members in Adana, Turkey. Their natural kindness was enhanced those days by the fact that we were in the last days of Ramadan. I honestly lost the count of the number of uncles and cousins we visited, and I think it was the first time in this trip that I gained weight instead of loosing it. Having breakfast in the top floor balcony of Masut luxurious appartment facing the lake I frankly asked myself if I hadn’t been mistakened for a Kuwaiti sheik. Maybe I did these guys some favour in a past life. Not happy with feeding me to the red line point, they decided to dress me and presented me with jeans, sweaters and T shirts that my budget would have never been up for. Maybe the most special moment (and funny) was attending the mosque on the Bayran day (the last of Ramadan) following a suggestion by Mustafa who said I should just imitate his moves. Obviously I did everything wrong! Outside the mosque, Mustafa explained me the sense of Ramadan. Festing as a way to appreciate things that we would otherwise take for granted. Quite like hitch hiking. One week in a cave in Capadoccia before landing in the oppulence of these brothers’ hospitality.

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