Tales from Iraq

I must confess that I had a bit of fear when I decided to go to Iraq. I must confess I am a chicken sometimes. I must confess that even though I don't believe all what the media says, I thought a lot about it.

I went to Iraq via Turkey. After being some days in Turkey and meeting lovely people, I decided to take a step forward and visit this mysterious land (at least for me). My Kurdish host in Erzurum (Turkey) told me not to go, and while we were chatting, the news talked about 5 bombing in the same day in Iraq, he looked at me and asked... do you still want to go? And I said...yes.
Having a local friend is a blessing, he went with me to the bus station and asked for discounts, hours later I was leaving this beautiful country for another beautiful country to discover...
The bus that waited for me was so brand new, packed with services, excellent on board customer service and obviously...air conditioner! The journey was long and men and women were sat in different places. Water was service every hour. Personal Tvs on board, ear plugs, a good service like I never imagine before!

The 5 am Sun...

The last houses...

After many hours and because I googled the route, I knew I was near Iraq - Kurdistan... and gosh...my heart started to beat so fast. I remember stories...so many stories... and I can see the last Turkish - Kurdish houses... and I know I am near a place I never thought of knowing...

The digital clock tells me it is near 6 am in the morning,,, and the outside temperature is 44 degrees Centigrades... and I get more and more excited... I cannot sit quiet in the bus... I can see the last faces in Turkey... until I get to the last Turkish border crossing, then I can see a lot of faces again... They finally check my passport and they cannot understand why an ARGENTINIAN is going to Iraq, so they send me to another office, and they ask me some questions... we talked about Maradona, Messi and they let me go... (Maradona... if you are reading this... GRACIAS!) I sent the last message to my mom (my cel is not going to work in Iraq). The text is..."Mom I am leaving Turkey, in a few minutes I will be in Iraq"

The bus takes me through a bridge... and I can see the flag of Iraq!! oh gosh!! As I write I get excited again! They take all the passengers to Ibrahim Khalil Border Crossing and we get it there... this place doesn't look like what I thought!! Air conditioning in the big hall, shining floor, coffee served in the waiting room, really polite and kind people.
I see that everybody leaves the room and suddenly I am the only one there... they call me, they ask me where I come from (I am using the Spanish Passport here and I don't have a Turkish stamp as I was using my Argentinian passport in Turkey). I explain this in detail and they say... "you have to go back to Turkey and get a Turkish stamp," so I start to walk back and it is already 51 degrees centigrades... and a soldier stops me, he asks me what I am doing, I explain, he takes me back inside, he talks to another officer, they send me back to Turkey, another soldier stops me, the same sequence is repeated twice.
Finally they ask me for my 2 passports, they take copies, and they stamp one. They apologize and wish me a nice stay in Kurdistan... I really like this and I am ready for Iraq...

First people/houses in Iraq

Waiting room...Welcome to Iraq - Kurdistan Region