Canadians are not permitted to travel independently in Iran. Similar to requirements for Brits and Americans, travel is only allowed with an official tour guide. I’m not a group tour traveller, I’m a female solo traveller. I find the time allotted for the various sights don’t match the amount of time I need to absorb the sights and take photographs, nor does it allow for flexibility to stay longer, change plans, or only eat ice cream for dinner. But in retrospect, I want to thank Iran for this rule as it led me to book “Tours by Locals” and meeting my tour guide Hojat S.
I liked the concept of tours by locals (i.e. the name says it all) with the ability to accommodate groups of people, families, couples or a female solo traveller. I was looking for a particular tour based on the locations I was seeking to visit in Iran, namely Isfahan, Yazd and Shiraz over an 8 day span. Such a tour was offered by Hojat whose credentials included over 20 years as a tour guide, fluent English and of course he’s a local Iranian.
This was my first private tour and I wasn’t sure what to expect and/or if I would enjoy the experience, but by day 1, any apprehension had disappeared. Throughout the time I spent travelling with Hojat (and some days this was over 8 hours in each other's company) his knowledge regarding the historical sights we were visiting astounded me. But perhaps this is what would be expected of a private tour guide? If this is the case then Hojat certainly delivered.
But then he went beyond that.
You see, Hojat is a skillful storyteller and what became obvious to me, day by day as we visited the historical monuments, or enjoyed a lunch together was that his stories were complex, interconnected, and, over 8 days I had the pleasure of hearing the story of Persia.
Our first stop on the tour was to the fire temple in Isfahan. An archaeological complex dating back to the 3rd century and ancient Persia when the main religion of the dynasty was Zoroastrianism, predominant prior to the Islamic conquest of Iran. As we meandered up the rocky hillside towards the remains of a tall circular building known as the "Tower of Sacrifice”, the story began.
Hojat’s storytelling was classic in that he incorporated all the necessary elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, theme. Hojat lay the stage of each “chapter” in terms of the political and religious landscape, rulers, enemies, wars. But Hojat doesn’t just narrate a story, he becomes the characters of the story.
In Shiraz while we visited the tomb of Hafez, the beloved Persian poet from the 14th century who continues to be revered even though he wrote of romance, wine and other topics that are no longer approved in the modern-day Iran. While standing at the tomb Hojat recited a Hafez poem in Farsi, then repeated the poem but translated the words into English and discussed the significance of the language used by Hafez. Now I don’t just know Hafez, I can feel Hafez.
And like all good story-teller, he included his audience, testing if I recalled what I had previously learned and if I could apply the knowledge: “do you remember where is Mecca?” (asked the moment I step into a mosque); “do you see Faravahar?, what could that mean?” (subsequent to visiting the Zoroastrianism history and culture museum); “where is the water source, how is this significant?” (after learning about Qanāts).
One afternoon while visiting an historical landmark, we came across a group of students learning English and wanting to practice a conversation on a tourist. They were pleased to have found a tourist in which English is my first language and to practice a conversation. One student commented that she had a potential opportunity to live and work in Saskatchewan, Canada. Hojat and I discussed this afterwards, how vast Canada is and the differences between provinces in terms of climate, culture and how incredible different that would be again to life in Iran. I offered that perhaps she thinks the “grass is greener on the other side”, “oh”, offered Hojat, “yes, she thinks her neighbours hen is a goose”.
And despite a significantly different “story” of Canada, during these conversations we came across so many similarities in terms of our parables, proverbs and colloquialisms. We learned that the characters in our respective stories weren’t so different after all.
*If interested in a tour with Hojat, check out: www.grand-persia.com/