Now that we were out of cash and had learned the day before that we could only withdraw 2 million rial a day from the ATMs of a certain bank, we thought about how to remedy this particular situation. Fortunately, we had both studied courses with a more or less economic background and are sometimes clever when it comes down to it. So it happened that we went on a little “shopping tour” after withdrawing cash from the ATM. Andreas begged cash in several stores by buying a “little something” for several million Rial with the card in the respective store and then the cash of the merchants from the cash registers wandered over the counter. A little we felt like criminals who did something illegal – perhaps also due to the fact that Melanie waited with running engine of our “escape vehicle” in front of the stores.

After this successful cash withdrawal we started our today’s tour to Shiraz – smaller stops we wanted to make as usual at gas stations and at 2 waterfalls. However, even before we arrived at the first waterfall, we had another near-death experience. Several vehicles parked in the middle of the highway out of sheer boredom – since a truck was driving in front of us, this dangerous situation couldn’t really been seen before. Only through Mel’s cat-like reflexes and a hard left-right combination with a slight skid did we escape an accident. On the streets of Iran are just 95% only insane drivers on the road (confirmed also by Iranians themselves).

Today it was again particularly warm and the sun was burning on our skin while we were looking for the right way to the waterfall at our first stop – Boragh Canyon. At first we had relied on maps and statements from the Internet and had parked our getaway vehicle inconspicuously above the waterfall. However, we had somehow ended up in the middle of a wild climb, always close to the rocky precipice. After a while, we gave up trying to find our way down – we couldn’t get any further without climbing gear. So we decided to return to the car and drive down to the valley to try again from there. This attempt went better. We found an official parking lot and a parking attendant/cashier who even took us personally up to the waterfall, so we could have a close look at the waterfall. The area around the waterfall turned out to be a recreation area or campground of the locals and so we could actually observe local men for the first time, who even bathed topless.

After the Boragh Canyon we drove on to the Margoon Waterfall At the sight of the “parking lot” (a dirt road at the cliff edge, which ended in a narrow dead end) we already suspected evil. And so it came. After we had made our way over gravel roads, smooth soapstone and over countless stairs, past smaller waterfalls, we stood in front of the main waterfall. Unfortunately, it was so full of people and again only waterways led further to the waterfall, so that we also stayed here only relatively briefly.

After another 2.5 hours of driving, we finally arrived in Shiraz. The evening traffic was really terrible. There was an unholy chaos on the streets and so it was not surprising that we actually needed a little more than an hour for the 10km from the outskirts of the city to the hostel.

We went to eat something else in a traditional restaurant. The food was excellent and there was a traditional band playing live music. Only the service and the employees struck us very sour – in the restaurant worked among others children, which were treated by the owners of the restaurant like slaves. Somehow this destroyed our mood to stay longer and so we quickly returned to the hostel to plan our further trip and to chat with a cyclist from Switzerland who, together with his girlfriend, was traveling by bike across Iran.