The Iranian desert, Varzaneh

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This morning we left Javad’s house and headed to the desert!

He recommended to go to Varzaneh so we took a local bus and we were dropped off in front of a guesthouse that the bus driver picked for us. By then I had already contacted the owner of a guest house that was recommended on facebook that was $5 cheaper so I called him and told him we were dropped off at another guesthouse and he sent a taxi for free to pick us up.

The guesthouse was lovely, it was a traditional Irani house with a courtyard in the middle, perfect for all the guests to hang out.

We were very lucky to show up when we did because there was a tour going out to the desert. I decided to join the one that was going to the sand dunes and the salt flats while Richard decided to go and do sand boarding with another two guys.

I shared a taxi with a french guy, Philippe, and was once again able to practice my french. There was also another bus full of Chinese ladies and they totally entertained us with all the selfies they took.

Our first stop was at some ancient and half destroyed building.

I have experienced both sand dunes and salt flats and to be honest I was far from impressed with the Iranian ones. The salt flats were totally brown, there had been a sand storm therefore the salt had transformed from white to brown. It was quite a sight since I had only seen white ones before.

The sand dunes were nice, we had a lovely sunset on top of one but it was very windy and, of course, hard to climb.

My favorite part was driving around the desert with Mohammad, the guesthouse’s owner and listening to Persian music while he danced on his seat.

Mohammad and his first El Salvadorian guest!

At night it was one of the Chinese ladies’ birthday and we spent some time in the courtyard dancing and learning some dance moved from Mohammed.

Dinner in the desert!

Breakfast... Iranian Style!

The next day I woke up extra early to see the sunrise from the fields near the hostel and spent a couple of hours just walking around the little village.

The sky when I got out, big bright moon.

So beautiful, the sun coming out from behind the mosque.

Varzaneh had no tourists other than the ones in the guesthouse so I was able to really experience a true Iranian village.

The mosque's entrance.

Love love love the tiles!!!!

At one point really early in the morning as I was walking one woman wearing a white chador came to me and made me signs to follow her. I did. She took me through a house and dropped me off in front of some an abandoned building.

I took many pictures and talked to so many locals; well… I tried to talk to them, they spoke in farsi and I repeated their last word, all the training of active listening in grad school paid off!

This guy called me from far away to show me how his machine worked!

I sat and "talked" to this man for a while.. had no idea what we talked about.

This lady was coming my way and started talking, I kept saying that I don't speak farsi... She didn't care! haha

Many of the women in Varzaneh wear white chadors and they look like ghosts walking the streets! They cover their whole body and grab the chador from the inside near their mouth, leaving only the nose and the eyes exposed.

I was almost running late when I happened to see a whole bunch of school girls coming out of school. They all felt like being a little silly and started screaming "Salam, Hello, How are you?" and giggleing like crazy!

They were all so very cute!!!

Oh! Also, I learned that girls need to start wearing a hijab at age 7 when they go to school and then at age 9 they have to wear it all the time while they are in public!

What a great morning in Varzaneh! Now off to Yazd!

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!