Iraq has been our most adventurous and interesting country visit so far! Summing up all we saw and experienced is impossible. A few pictures and videos will hopefully help to share a taste.
We entered the country without much of a set schedule. Basically the organizers didn't take us seriously until they saw the whites of our eyes. Once we arrived in Duhok, however, things were set in motion. A nice hotel and all meals were provided for us by the president of the city and a wealthy business man. They kept us busy with newspaper and TV interviews and promotion, banners, armed security and transportation, plaques and presentations.
We had 2 events in Erbil. One for 1,000 students and another in a city park. Our Duhok event was in the city center and open to all, but surprisingly the entire audience of 1,500 was male.
Over and over again the municipality and other locals told us that nothing like our program of illusions, unicycling and dance had ever come there before and they were so thankful. We were able to share openly and thousands heard good news.
We have had to show our passports more times than we can count in the past few days. Our government escorts (that liked to drive in the 100+ MPH range) helped greatly at the numerous, heavily armed Iraqi military check points along the roads. A special letter from the president of Duhok helped cut in half our border crossing back to Turkey. It still took us 3 hours but we had military escorting us to the front of every line. They are extremely thorough and scan and search everything in, on and under the vehicles.
It was definitely a ground breaking trip and we hope to return in the future.
(If you are viewing this in FB please go to our blog to view the videos)
1 comment:
Wow, thanks for posting; it helps to see a little of it. Dave Sinclair
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