Iran - Treasures of Persia
"Miracle": "Iran - Treasury of Persia" 27.9 - 11.10. 2015
Having returned from the next tour, as always, he took up the pen. And suddenly I discovered: there is nothing to write about. Until now, I have paid attention only to what touched my nerves. He described, so to speak, a rake so that others would not step on them. And this time there was simply nothing to cling to, and that's it. I thought: why? And I realized: it was all because of the guide Maryam Sadafzadeh (nee Irina Nazarova, who married an Iranian) host tour operator in Tehran "Eastern Star".
The group is large, 23 people, each of which, of course, is not just a person, but the one and only. And for two weeks, not only a single collision, not even a misunderstanding happened. So Maryam not only spoke to everyone, but in the full sense of the word she fascinated. The deepest knowledge of all the objects through which she led us is far from everything and, perhaps, not even the main thing.
She reported the most interesting during the journeys, a total of four thousand kilometers. During the journey, we learned almost everything about Iran itself. They didn’t just recognize it, but absorbed it like a sponge imperceptibly to themselves. Because Maryam gave all the information on living examples of herself, her children, her husband, his parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances - her entire environment. I pondered for a long time: was it deliberately done, so to speak, by a pedagogical method? And I came to the conclusion: no and no. It's just that Maryam is so in love with her work that she passes it through her own heart. Tourists for her are not faceless personalities, but her family. And in the family - what secrets can there be?
In short, you can write a novel about Maryam, she is such an interesting, creative person. Not just a guide, but a real mother of a large family. Before each departure from the next object or the departure of the bus, he will definitely count everyone over their heads: did anyone fall behind.
All suppers were replaced by lunches. Not only to take under them the hottest time of the day. The main thing is that she managed to take us out every day to two or three additional objects in excess of the program stipulated by the contract. So, before ten in the evening they did not return to the hotel. In addition, it was at lunchtime that she agreed with restaurants to treat us to one or another national food. And that's not it. For the first time in 10 years of traveling, I learned that there is a menu for lunch and for tourists, and not the same for everyone, to make life easier for the guide. Just like mother Maryam, and before she sat down at the table herself, she went around everyone, wrote down who chose what, and made sure that everyone received exactly what was ordered.
Here! Found something to hang on to! How much do you think our women decided to tip such a guide, sincerely admiring her virtuoso work all the way?
Believe it or not: ten dollars for her and the driver, less than 75 cents a day. Note that women are far from poor. In any case, they did not miss a single store along the entire route, bringing out more and more new purchases from almost every one. By the way, almost all women's whims, where and for what purchases to call, were satisfied by Maryam. But this is not a single contract ever provides. Improving the moment, I ask quietly: “Maryam, I think there is no secret in this, how much did other bands tip you”? “Actually, for this route, I and the driver were given 20 dollars each. But never mind: the main thing is that the group was friendly, they never missed the bus and didn’t fall behind at the facilities. ” At the same time, she did not want to notice that she herself was the culprit of the extraordinary discipline of usually completely optional Russian tourists.
Well, now a few words about the route itself.
Oddly enough, the group liked almost all the objects. But this is not in spite of, but thanks to Maryam's virtuoso mastery of the subject. If not for her, there could have been a sea of dissatisfied. Because, in my amateurish opinion, the route is designed for orientalists, Iranian scholars, in the worst case, for teachers of the history of the ancient world, not even at schools, but at universities. How could it be otherwise, if from one ruin, even if it was ancient, we went to another ruin of the same kind, even if even more ancient. From one mosque to the second, third, thirtieth to infinity. Moreover, mosques and minarets are much less impressive than, say, in the same Uzbekistan (clearly, the smoke is thinner and the chimney is lower).
Yes, the Iran through which we were taken is really a continuous waterless desert with all the ensuing consequences, in which, apart from ruins and mosques (we repeat, far from the best in the world), there is nothing else to look at.
Nevertheless, they say that even in the Iranian desert there are many interesting natural oases. If so, we can only regret that we drove past them. Vladimir Antonov