Shaklawa... Finally

I had forgotten how long the trip from Lalish to Erbil is if you take the round-about road via Akre. Well, we stopped in Akre only to use the facillities and continued on our way down an impossibly small and bumpy, but paved road winding its way around the mountians. After about 3 hours, we reached Shaklawa.... finally! We didn't do much there other than watch Kurdsat News and have a late lunch. After lunch we went to buy honey and walnuts. The pictures below are of some locals we met on the way back to the vehicle.

We made friends with these gentlement while trying to photograph the birds flying to the nests perched in every nestable spot overhead.

Chain Spotting

Me: Where are we going
Mu: I don't know. You want?
Me: Huh?
Mu: Batmas... dinner? Driving... Shaklawa? Cooking... my house?
Me: Which do you prefer?
Mu: I don't know. You know.

This was the conversation that precipitated driving to Shaklawa for dinner. I had never been to Dilan before and it was reasonably good... but not as good as the drive back. It was dark and the entire way home, the scenery ahead was streaked with chain lightning. Shaklawa and Sallahadin are mountainous areas, so we drove quickly through the parts where the view was obstructed by mountains and trees and slowly through all the parts where the horizon ahead was visible- eyes fixated on the spot where the first chain was spotted...

we weren't disappointed.

P.S. As you probably know, the photo is not mine... nor is it even of Kurdistan, but I didn't have my camera on me that night.

Shaklawa

OK, so I am very late posting. These pics were taken on Friday, Dec. 16th on an impromtu trip to Shaklawa.Pic 1 is our trusty driver MU is his Monica!

Pic 2 is of the streetside market where we stopped for almonds, water and beer.




Pic 3 is of the road...










Shawklawa is amazing, although very hard to take photos which really show the contrast of the red earth, the valleys, the green, and....










The final pic fails to show how very cold we were when we arrived and discovered it really was too cold to drink the beer we bought. However, it was all in all a very enjoyable trip. Can't wait to go again! Will wear hiking boots and a warm jacket next time.