Val and I were hiking through the valleys of Goreme National Park when this old man, wearing a wool suit and leading a donkey, walked over to us and started saying, “Photo? Photo?”

We were immediately skeptical of his intentions, thinking he probably wanted us to give him some money for letting us use his donkey for photographic purposes. We didn’t really want a picture of either of us on a donkey anyway, and that day we had decided to take a break from trying to capture things in digital format so we didn’t even have a camera. We told him so, and then we think he asked where we were going, so I pointed toward the Rose Valley, and he shook his head and started walking down the hill, beckoning for us to follow.

Val and I just looked at each other and followed him down the path. He tied his donkey to a tree and then ran ahead. The terrain was a little slippery so it took us a minute to catch up. I tried to tell him again that we wanted to go the other way, and he kept shaking his head and pointing the way he was going. I figured at this point he probably knew a better way and we might as well just follow him.

After Val and I were all caught up, he started climbing up a steep hill and rummaging around in the foliage until he pulled out a bunch of wild grapes. A huge grin split his face as he placed them in my hand and I mumbled my best “thank you” in Turkish (tesshekur ederim). He kept smiling as he searched for more, giving us three or four bunches. We thanked him again, then he pointed us in the right direction and said, “Hot, hot.”

When we left him, he insisted on shaking hands and then I think he tried to kiss me on the cheek, as is the local custom, but instead he just kind of pressed his to mine. But he definitely gave Val a smooch on the cheek as he sent us on the right way to where we were going, wild grapes in hand.