Hamamm

Day something…. Hammam… Today we decided to try the traditional Turkish hammam in goreme. Men and women go in separately, and get treated separately. So I wish Elena and priya goodbye and walk into the guys section. I’m told to strip, and put a tea-towel as a skirt, then head into the sauna. The sauna is a pretty typical sauna, bar the four Turkish guys chatting and laughing. They try to involve me into the conversation, but my Turkish is non existent and their English equally so.  We find a common ground in a few French words, and I manage to convey that I’m on a rally and from Italy. He shows md his pecs and biceps. Interesting. He then grabs my moob, which was odd and flexes his muscles again. I’m clearly missing something. Then we arm wrestle… I’m a scrawny guy (who isn’t trying), and lose instantly. Fun over they move on…

I choose to stay on, having had enough socialising.  Eventually, all sweaty I head to the soap massage to be greeted by my four “friends” lying naked in a soap-bubble covered table getting scrubbed down by four other men, also wearing just the loin-cloth skirts. Interesting. I get called in, bathed by a guy with a bowl and turn told to lie down. First comes a sandpaper like scrub, then a soap scrub. I suddenly feel sorry for the ancient Romans, if this was their daily hygiene routine, I’m not sire I would be clean that often.   it hurts, and not sure what to do every time he whacks my johnny walker while scrubbing

oh well. Onwards and now its a naked jacuzzi, my four friends are already there so I opt to skip that

Next I go downstairs and lie down with a cup of tea. Eventually my four friends arrive, turn on the tv and switch to a Turkish oil wrestling channel.

They point, they gesture and say things excitedly… They point at the channel and say more. At that point it finally dawns on me… They’re oil wrestlers! Famous ones probably, as one seemed to be the one on tv… Who know, a field full of half naked guys covered in oil with hands down their pants and I struggled to decode if the naked guy near me was one of them, or just happy to see some wrestling…

Of himself posing, of the other guys, of me… Of all of us together… Very surrreaal…