The Bus Ride from Hell & the ATV Tour from Heaven

When at first I heard my dad’s description of the bus we would have to ride for 12 hours it made me excited; he explained how there was a personal entertainment system and how we could sleep most of the way because it was an overnight ride-- that got my hopes up.

 As I got on the bus I looked around and everything seemed to reach my expectations until I pressed the on button on the entertainment system and it wouldn’t turn on. My dad got help but we were told it was only in Turkish and we wouldn’t want to use it. That started my ride off bad. They did turn it on later, and after a desperate viewing of the new Karate Kid in Turkish I tried to fall asleep, which I found almost impossible with all the bumps and noise. I hated the juice I got so I got some of my mom’s tea and then kind of succeeded by getting about five hours of sleep. Shortly after I woke up we stopped at a bathroom (water closet as they call it) break area that actually costs money to use in Turkey. A couple hours later, I finally reached my destination and crawled off the bus into Göreme.

Today I had to get up at nine in the morning; back home that would be a miracle, but 10 hours of jet lag is still affecting me. The good part about getting up early was that I got to go on an ATV (ATM as my dad would say) tour with my family. As I reached the rental place I saw the two ATVs my family were going to ride, parked on the side of the road, their black coating shimmering in the sun. Soon our tour guide Isa rode up on his electric scooter with his dog Ugly and my family and I headed out. Ugly was riding on the floorboard of Isa’s motorbike, which gave my group all quite a laugh. My mom and I decided that it was best she got used to the ATV’s controls before me so I could examine how to operate it and so we could start out with one trust worthy driver.

            Our group’s first stop was a basic village of cave houses, which are carved-out rocks turned into living areas with shelves and whatever other things you would want. The last time people lived in most of the cave houses was in 1965 because a law was passed with the thought that the houses would collapse, maiming or killing the residents inside. You can get a permit to live in them now as long as they are modified to a certain extent.

The second stop appeared to be almost the same as the previous one, but once I learned more I found it a little bit more interesting. This area had churches from decades ago carved out of pure rock, but that wasn’t the coolest part. When I was in another cave house my guide explained how this stone creation had seven stories and was about three rooms wide, the Mansion of the Rock as I called it. One challenge to it was you had to use small handholds in the wall to climb up to the next room, and the wall was more than vertical.

            When my family and I reached our last destination, it seemed that there was nothing to do until Isa showed us the ruins of a village-like castle towering above the community. I got my dad to buy me ice cream to fight the heat and began to ascend the fortress. It seemed to take hours to reach the top of the citadel, which it probably did, but it paid off with an amazing view. After my brother and I struggled to get my parents to come down, we waited for Isa to return and once he came back I hopped onto the ATV and got to drive all the way back to the rental shop.