Mountains and Apricots

If you have not noticed yet, Kurdistan has a lot of mountains. Most of it not grassy, since the climate here doesn't really support natural grass. Instead they are dotted with green tree's that use very little water to grow. In the area of Kurdistan I am at, it does not rain almost at all from April until late August, but there are many plants and crops that dont need water to grow.

My cousin Hamawand is one of our favorite people here in Kurdistan, he is always willing to take us around and to explain things that we dont understand here, like business and the customs. He is one of the heads of a land mine action group, and has up until now helped removed over a million mines. He regularly goes to Europe to give lectures about mine removal and the like.

He told us the road will be very mountainy, its all climbing up hills and mountains, going up slopes, going down slopes, and all on the edge. This is one of the roads:

Even though you cant tell from here, at one point we were up at such a high altitude that we were level with the crows:

We had to cross a certain mountain chain, and as soon as we did, the tree's and life on the mountains tripled, I hadn't seen so much green since we left the U.S.!

My cousin was taking us to an orchard of his friend, where he grows apricots, pomegranates, berries, walnuts, and vegetables like zucchini, onion, okra, peppers, and eggplants. The apricots and berries were the only fruits in season, so we picked those. The orchard was in a very beautiful place, surrounded by mountains and dotted with creeks and wells with natural spring water. The road to the orchard is not even a dirt road, and its between other orchards, so the ride down there was bumpy and rugged:

The "door" to get inside the orchard:

My cousin "opening" the door:

Grape vines to a ton of organic grapes:

Apricot tree:

Biggest zucchini I'll probably ever see:

Can you see the lizard?:

Onion Picking!

Red berries

Mountain break:

Premature Pomegranates:

Fresh watercress (a mountain/water grown green for those who dont know):

Pepper plants!

Mountains!

On our way back, we saw the smoke from a mountain on fire:

Kurdish flag in a town just outside Silemani