Last night I ended up staying in that village I mentioned I was in, Kaplanli. I camped out in the mosque garden. Kaplanli is a village of about 250 people. It’s not even big enough to support a bakkal (corner market), so there isn’t a place within 5 miles to buy bread or water. The stretch between Dinar and where I am now, just outside Keciborlu, is pretty sparsely populated. A car could easily cover the distance in 20 minutes, but walking is a whole different ballgame.

I was humbled when one of the villagers in Kaplanli brought me a huge platter of food, much like the one they brought to me in Horsunlu my first night there, even though I had already had plenty to eat before leaving Dinar. I knew I’d be passing through a sparsely-populated area, so I went equipped with plenty of water and a full stomach. But man, that was quite some platter of food!

And I slept really well too — the village was silent, the stars were amazing because there was no light for miles, and it was nice and cool with a gentle breeze, so my sleeping bag was nice and snuggly.

I didn’t take any pictures, because I still feel like it’s already rude and intrusive enough to show up like that unannounced. Maybe that’s something internal I need to get over, maybe not. Anyone have any thoughts on that?