As I mentioned before, a car with decent A/C and tainted windows does a great job for your impression about the country you visit. And with positive attitude comes an over all happiness. We moved that day mostly around Yazd, first discovering interesting places like this abandoned village which name I have already forgotten , but I will forever remember that our guide refused to walk through it with us fearing the fleas there. Mom enjoyed tremendously being there with just the two of us and with all bets off, the scarf went off as well. With most villagers gone, only a few elders were still working in the fields managing ancient irrigation/water distribution system of canals and aquaducts- one of the oldest ones in the country. What a feast to see Le Pont du Gard of Persia.
Slowly, steadily, we become almost obsessed with everything they did about the water like qanat system of underground canals easily 50 miles long bringing the water to the fields, villages and towns. Their storages for water and even ice production make you envy what those people could accomplish to live comfortably in the climate where water is scarce, and the temperature is high. NASA infrared satellite measured 71C (159F) in one spot in Iran I do not want to know where, in the summer of 2005. That is really too much my friends, even for people hating cold winters in Central Europe like me.
So what did they do? They build large Adobe style water houses serving whole communities and; of course people with money could built their own and one notch better quality so the poor people could not mess with their water. During the winter, they even poured water on the adjacent plaza next to the water house. After it got frozen during occasional freeze overnight, they cut slabs of ice sheet and stored it in ice houses for all cooling purposes (people, perishable food, you name it) making life in this country summer hell oven as comfortable as it could get. Those towers on the perimeter of the dome were actually ventilation, kind of natural AC devices, lowering the air temperature where and when needed.
When I see what Persians could do without electricity or nuclear energy for preceding thousands of years, no wonder the world got scared and tries now to clip their wings before it is too late. But it is still not enough. Their cities and towns are so pleasant and comfortable to visit and stay outside. Gardens and parks are one thing, Adobe style housing another and if streets are not lined up with trees and their merciful shade then narrow alleys and corridors do. And no matter where you are there is always a mosque nearby where women can always find solace for body and soul no matter how hot it is. It would not be mom, if she would not join them. Just trying to mix with the crowd for a morning prayer in Yazd.
