Staying Inside a Remote Village in IRAN

guardians of celery there's so many rocks at the bottom i don't know if i can keep filming whenever i've told someone that i'm about to travel to iran their response has usually been like isn't it dangerous and honestly that is the impression you're likely to have if you've been raised consuming western media anyhow in this vlog i will not be showing you the incredible culture the long history and the rich heritage that you see in the cities of iran on every single step i got to see that side of the country on my trip in 2019 but this time we're gonna go into the mountains i'm gonna take you to the zagros mountains one of the wildest ranges in the region all right ready for an adventure let's go [Music] do [Music] and finally after four hours of driving on rough roads in the mountains we have arrived in the village of hoya right here in this beautiful beautiful valley apparently this village is really famous for its handicrafts and culture so let's see what we can find here let's go [Music] oh my gosh [Music] we just got invited to one of the traditional homes here in the village to see how the ladies who live here make traditional handicrafts but first let's go inside and have a sip of water it's an exceptionally hot day here in the mountains today so the rest is much cleaner [Music] i'm asking if how many years old are these carpets this one is 60 years old that one is 30 years old that one by her mother but the ones outside by hers the family who lives here in this house specializes in making carpets hand made carpets from natural materials and natural dyes and i've just climbed the ladder onto a roof to join this lady who's i guess you call this spitting a yarn you don't really use that phrase anymore these days do anyway let's take a look [Music] georgie [Music] so what do we have here muhammad it's jojim yes i don't know what it means but they use it for blanket for example they put some wool inside it and make a blanket so this blanket here was made by carvener over there still spinning her yarn wow just take a look at this beautiful beautiful blanket the colors here are so bright and vibrant this honestly reminds me of a meadow filled with flowers out here in the mountains absolutely mesmerizing the second step of the weaving process oh we've got it here just 10 meters away from step number one here is magnus who is on the weaving machine and she is now processing the thread into what looks like it's going to be a coat not quite a carpet but a coat anyway it's all handmade it's all manual work that takes a lot of time and a lot of skill [Music] man this pattern is called go which means cow how cold does it look like a taro does it no it doesn't and and these ones are horns yes a rather abstract cow with horns any house in this village if you go there are lots of handicrafts lots of products but there are nobody to buy them [Music] check out the architecture of this village the houses here are super super traditional they're all made out of stone and wood and you can almost in all instances go up to the roof and admire the mountains from here amazing place all right this mission is complete i got a couple of really beautiful traditional things here in the village and i'm gonna show you what i got at the end of this vlog but in the meantime our mission here in the mountains is not complete because we have just heard about a really special place somewhere on a mountaintop over there where that's home to the guardians of celery yes the guardians of celery you heard that right i am just as baffled and just as curious to see what that's all about alright we've got a four hour trek ahead of us so let's go thank you celery yes this apparently is wild celery oh my god just if you've ever had celery from the supermarket you'll know that most of the time it doesn't taste of much but this is spicy pungent flavorful and tastes like the meadow supermarket espandiar espandiar is our supermarket yes [Music] so you mean 60 people are guarding for salaries around here 12 people there which one we are going to tonight 10 people are there my question is why does the salary need guardians it's just celery this pc is very scarce and in danger of extinction and if they use it in the wrong way when it's not completely arrived they gather it it will not grow the next year [Music] to me you guys this looks like a pretty big and relatively intimidating river but these guys have crossed it you know the villagers cross it every day so we better take up our shoes and get swimming [Music] it's pretty deep knee deep and cold or glacial glacial water starts cold there's so many rocks at the bottom i don't know if i can keep filming okay my camera's gonna hold my [Music] that lady is killing it and look at me i can't even manage to get across half of the river [Music] we've all made it across the river safely but i'm completely soaked from my feet to my hips i hope it doesn't become too cold that river was a little bit scary i don't think i would have crossed it if i were on my own no way i guess i have a lot to learn about crossing rivers before reaching these guys level off badassery [Music] totally green inside sour crunchy i like it good [Music] spicy here is another edible plant from the mountains spring onion [Music] good delicious my favorite so far [Music] god [Music] we have finally arrived after four hours of hiking through these mountains here we are i'm exhausted i wish i could just go to sleep i think we gotta go and say hello and taste some more celery from the mountain [Music] that's happening just [Music] foreign [Music] foreign you know throughout the whole journey here i mean it took us three hours on a dirt track and then another four hours of trekking through the mountains up and down and i was wondering all the way through why these guys choose to stay here and cultivate wild celery and the answer they just gave makes so much sense if they don't do it nobody else will this is their sustainable way to make a living for the future generations and that's why they're here for months at a time [Music] and this little hut is where the men stay live eat sleep for months at a time [Music] we have some fresh mushrooms from the mountains of zagros center of the country [Music] we have got a beautiful mushroom omelette cooking here for dinner with mushrooms freshly baked from the forest and also some herbs from the mountains here that grow wild this is gonna be delicious [Music] yes i'm inviting every single one of these gentlemen to join us and having dinner but they say no you are our guest we apologize uh we are not equipped enough here to uh offer you something more and we're not going to join you because that's yours not ours and we already had our dinner you know so but so they won't be joining us for dinner no it seems they are not going to join us okay they are offering us the local duke and we are going to have our dinner there outside we had a bit of an argument here just now but it wasn't over a conflict or anything like that we invited these guys who are hosts to join us for dinner to taste some of our mushroom omelets but they refused we asked them again they refused again we asked them again they refused again so this is part of iranian hospitality [Music] all right first it's bite good delicious oh my gosh the mushrooms are so fresh and their herbs just add this beautiful taste and flavor of the mountains amazing [Music] [Music] that was an incredible adventure out in the mountains of iran and at the beginning of the vlog i promised you guys that i would show you the things that i got in the village of hoya so here are the two rugs i bought and guess what i put them up for sale on my instagram page and all the proceeds from the sales went to local community development projects managed by iran on that tour so two three lessons in there a persian rugs are absolutely gorgeous two iranoma tours are doing really amazing stuff and you should absolutely check them out and three definitely follow me on my instagram for more regular updates from all my adventures alright and i'll see you in my next adventure [Music]

Channel: Eva zu Beck

Views: 643,356

Keywords: iran, iran travel, zagros mountains, iran nomads, middle east travel, middle east travel solo female, iran vlog, iran travel vlog, zagros travel, persian rugs

Id: X88RU_MNtl4

Length: 20min 51sec (1251 seconds)

Published: Sat May 22 2021