Don't take no for an answer

We've spent the last two days wondering around Istanbul like a couple of morons with Salomon back packs waiting to be jumped. Eating a healthy diet of bread, meat, olives and the occasional cucumber or tomato. I've actually been able to see a change in the texture and consistency of my skin...of course that could be the attributed to the weather. It's been a balmy 103 degrees with 137% humidity...unless your are near the water (within 12 feet...we are 2 blocks away) there it's a manageable 98 degrees with 101% humidity. The locals found a former NYC resident a little harder to barder with than the typical US tourist as i repeatedly walked out of a store with money in hand telling them I wouldn't pay half of what they asked. Moments later the merchant emerged from the store with items already packaged in hand waiting for the price I had set. The beauty of one particular transaction was when I just stood their and stared at Jason for a whole 3 minutes mumbling under our breath "just wait him out man..." the price was reduced...and reduced again...then again...a pair of yellow Velcro chucks went from 65 lira to 32 in a matter of minutes...

We met two of the other international teams at breakfast this morning and found out the Spanish team from PER has only one person...apparently the Race Director said "come to Turkey anyway well will find some thing for you". We're being kicked out of our room at 12 and have to wait around till 4 when the bus comes to take us and our gear to Kurtun. It's supposed to be a 12 hour ride and about 1,000 Km to the race area that's up against the border of Georgia...that's right folks I just checked the maps we are racing 100 KM from Georgia, 200 KM from Armenia and 300 KM from Iran, Iraq and Syria! I didn't really understand the geography of the region until I just took a look at the map and realized that we could drive to Bagdad in about 10 hours...Yikes?

So, we are off to the market for some bread, cheese, a pizza for the road and an AK-47 if the price is right.

This will be the last update before the race starts. So, wish us luck, fast and healthy feet and a seat for the ride home (rather than a coffin).

Yacky Out