Re: hi

I'm in Goreme now (notable for where they filmed Star Wars). Besides climbing through underground cave churches and looking at rocks shaped like sexual organs (this is the place where the "penis rocks" come from, as per all those forwarded jpegs we're all so familiar with), I am having a wonderful time getting dirty, climbing into rock formations on my hands and knees and teasing camels.

Oh yeah, and I got to swim in a thermal pool too.

Selcuk was great. Met some wonderful people (hi Jack!), hung out with bullshitting Kurdish carpet salesmen (hey, at least I got free tea out of it!), explored Ephesus and the temple of Artemis (one of the original wonders of the ancient world, now reduced to a single broken column with a stork's nest on top) and discussed Michael Jackson and Aegean topography with other guests.

The highlight was climbing an ancient mountain in the pouring rain at Parmukkale, searching for St. Philip the Martyr's 4th church. Absolutely incredible.

Why can't we have stuff like that home?

I'll try to post all the pictures when I get back to Romania.

And as a sidenote, it snowed on Monday and it still hasn't melted yet. Yess, I'm in the middle of Turkey and it's snowing.