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Still, we were quite tired when we stopped by lake Urumıyeh that night after one hundred Km. But when smiling Reza stopped by the road and insisted that we push forward another 60km to Urumiyeh city where he could take us to a secret and cozy place, we were not so hard to convince. Reza did a great job escorting us and demonstrated a lot of patience (which we understood later, cramped on our seats, seeing how he usually drives) driving behind us at twenty Km/h to lighten up the road ahead.
We had a weird ride in Talesh following diverse locals around town as they were trying to help us to find a spot for the night even though we hadn't asked for anything. By the time it was really dark and the only spot they could advice was the sidewalk of the main street, we needed a spot indeed and two brothers finally offered to take us to the unused office of their dad. We had a good time with them, tasting some delicacies smuggled from Azerbaijan.
Yasser revealed to be a very sensitive and complex character. He has had a terribly hard life loosing his father when he was still young, supporting his family and teaching basic survival to his handicapped sister.
The next day we were heading for a beach to take some crap photos just to mark the spot when Yasser came along on his friend's motorbike and insisted that we visit his home, précising that hosting people and especially bikers was his hobby. We were a bit dubious at first about such a spontaneous invitation and because it was only midday but we decided to go along and it was a great choice!
The ride itself along the Caspian sea was not so exciting as the weather was covered and the Caspian’s shores make a popular tourist destination only for Iranis and nobody else understands why, but the fact that we were riding along the biggest lake of the world (yes the Caspian is a lake, its geopolitical definition is still being discussed by the countries along its shores only because littoral resources are shared differently for a lake than for a sea) and 25m below sea level was enough to keep our twisted spirits high.
The next day when we woke up, it was snowing on the fortress and the rest of our road had disappeared in white mists. Imagining carrying our bikes for more than a day under the snow on invisible slippery paths and the memories of Luoji were enough to make us give up our hopes of reaching the Caspian through this route; but we were already thrilled that we had reached and camped in one of the fortresses of the Assassins, in the middle of winter!
A few kilometers after Rasht we knocked at a door of a farm along the road and despite our messy looks and the clock reaching almost midnight, three brothers let us in and showed us their videos of the clandestine bull fights they organize. We were a bit shocked by the violence of these events (they sharpen the bulls’ horns before the fight…) but the next day when they showed us their huge bull proudly, sticking to our principle that a good guest should put aside his ideas and go along with the fantasies of his host, we pretended to be impressed.
The sky was almost clear, temperatures not so far below zero, and our hopes of making it through the pass to the Caspian were good.
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