6th of May, 2022.
This is the last text I am writing about my first time in Turkey. Now, this it happened quite a long time ago, and unfortunately, for different reasons, I let to write about it many months after, so my memory about these events is not the best.
I walk a bit outside Rize to hitchhike. But before that, I stop in a small market to spend the last few coins I have. Instead of buying only food, I focus in something I will definitely need in the future, so I get a few tooth brushes and one tooth paste.
I don’t have any record about the guy who first pick me up. It is a bit rainy and I remember he is going somewhere not that far. But I wrote down his name: Nejat. Passing by Rize, I see so many tea fields. They are this vibrant and beautiful green colour. And they are everywhere. There are also tea factories everywhere. You can easily distinguish their chimneys along the city.
I know he drops me off somewhere after Rize. I remain there for a long time until a mother and her son pick me up, they are Asla and Ferit. Asla is a teacher and Ferit is a young man. They are staying in a small town just before the border but they decide to drive me all the way there, just after she pick up some paper work from the school where she works. So that is how I manage to leave Turkey for the first time.
The border is massive! I never had to walk so much inside a border. The foot passengers have to walk hundreds of metres inside the building. It is quite ridiculous. Then at the gates, long queues. I believe that the Georgian Government is quite cautious about the Turkish and Kurdish people entering their country. Why? Well, it is slightly better to live in Georgia, I would say.
I get a bit nervous with so many people and with the fact that they are saying something about PCR test on the glass of the cabinets. Some people get real stuck and some are not allowed to pass.
It doesn’t come as a surprise to me when the police officers don’t know about my Brazilian passport. But after a little waiting time, they finally let me in. Bye, bye, Turkey!
