Meeting number 2: Bakhtyar

Bakhtyar is a Kyrgyz Uighur. He was resting at a table in the village of Belören, to which I was climbing in the sweat after meeting Max. When he saw me, he smiled and invited me to the table.

- Gavarish pa russkiy? - he ased.

I replied that I actually spoke some Russian, but then he asked another one:

- Do you prefer English or Russian?

Here I answered quite honestly that I prefered English because I simply spoke it better. So that's what we both sticked to.

Bakhtyar speaks perfect English, because he lived in the United States, and besides, he is a web developer, so it also forces him to know Shakespeare's language. It is his fifth time in Turkey, but the very first time on a long-distance trip. That's why he asks me a lot of questions about clothes, equipment and stuff. But we also talk about topics more related to the philosophy or lifestyle associated with trekking.

- Do you have a wife or girlfriend? - he asks.

- Come on, man!

- Neither do I -  Bakhtyar communicates with a smile. - Trekking and a steady relationship seem to be mutually exclusive - he adds.

He says that sometimes he has trouble finding the motivation to walk the next day. Especially when he's resting all sore in some charming town and he just doesn't feel like walking. But eventually he moves on to the next stage and enjoys the journey. Because here every day is a new adventure, or as Bakhtyar says - a gift from God.

I kind of understand him, because although for me this route is very pleasant and light, and also offers great variety intertwining mountains with the sea, I know exactly the feeling he described. Besides, that's one of the reasons why I found myself here instead of continuing my march in the north, where I just lacked the motivation to walk through the populated Pontic Mountains for the next two months.

Today, however, life wrote another chapter in the history of meeting Bakhtyar, when he shouted to me in a square in Finike. I came over. He said that he hitchhiked the last 6 km, and he intends to cover today's rather boring section (20 km along the beach) by bus. Kate Clow herself also suggests such an option in her book.

- I'm going to walk there, I'm not breaking the rules - I say.

- You think it's a cheat?

- No, this is your trip first and foremost, and you make the rules. Or not, whichever you prefer. That's the beauty of trekking. We can go the same route, but everyone does it their own way. I want to walk the whole thing - from Fethiye to Antalya. Even that road along the beach today.

- It will be boring.

- Not the first time! - I add with a smile.

Later, the conversation turns again to topics of a more philosophical and religious nature. Bakhtyar says:

“It seems to me that walkers are often overconfident. They believe implicitly in the power of their body. I don't know what are your thoughts about God, but I think he's the one who owns the game. That's why I'm happy with the fact that I get up in the morning, I have two good legs and I can go on the road again. And I thank him for that.

Yes, I have felt the presence of something, someone on my expeditions many times. I've shared some of these stories from time to time, but they're basically quite personal experiences, and it's hard to even convey their vibe in stories. Anyway, my interlocutor does not expect it, especially since after a while he returns to the conversation about girls we started on Saturday.

- Sure, when we go down to the city all sweaty, dirty and smelly, we're not particularly attractive - says Bakhtyar, making me laugh.

- A good point, although I think it may be a more general thing here. Girls are just looking for stability, and we are hardly the definition of it.

- Haha, we're  completely opposite!

It's time to say goodbye. Bakhtyar goes to catch the bus, but he is convinced that we will meet again on this trail, because I walk faster than him. But just in case, he gives me his American business card with his phone number.

Saturday was a day of interesting meetings. Like in normal people's lives...

Meeting  number 1: Max

Max and I passed each other when I was starting the arduous ascent from Demre, located by the sea, to the massif located at the altitude of 1600-1800 metres above sea level. The Demre-Finike route lasts 2-3 days and leads through mountain wastelands with ruins of former Christian temples. From a practical point of view, however, I was primarily interested in one aspect - water. Although I rarely talk to the walkers I pass first, here I have specific information to obtain, so I ask about water. When the man says he is a Ukrainian from Nikolaev, out of momentum and habit I want to switch to Russian, but I stop myself in time. I know that currently Ukrainians are trying to reduce the addiction to this language, and I'm not going to disturb them in this. However, the matter of the language is resolved in no time when I say where I am from, and Max happily announces, already in Polish, that he has been living and working in Poland since 2015. He is an industrial mountaineer, which sounds fascinating to me, because this is how our legendary Himalayan mountaineers - Kukuczka, Rutkiewicz, Wielicki, Kurtyka and others - earned money for subsequent expeditions.

Max has already visited a lot of our country over the years. He worked in Warsaw, Szczecin, Opole, Włocławek - that's just a brief pointing out. Currently, he is about to move to Legnica.

The conversation must eventually turn to the war, Russia and its eternal need to liberate countries that have not asked for liberation, and finally the Russians themselves. I say:

- Plenty of them here. Have you been to Antalya?

- Come on, tell me about it! You can only hear them everywhere.

Despite this, he tries to treat people as individuals, not as a homogeneous mass. When he met a Russian on the route (me too, several times) he even went through a section with him. He only laughed that they had backpacks here, as if they were going to the tundra for a month. I confirm, because those I passed probably also carried Katyushas in their backpacks.

We exchange contacts, wish each other luck and move on.

- Perhaps see you in Poland! - I say when we are both about to go.

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