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V2N3

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women in Iran must cover themselves from head to toe in swaths of cloth is the flip side of the same scenario. The Islamic culture edges the power of a woman's sexual appeal and reacts by hiding source. I was fascinated my fi rst morning in Tehran watching these mysterious, shapeless si lhouettes moving down sidewalks, into shops, across streets. Many are wearing a chador, a black length of material that, literally translated, means tent. Picture clusters of tents moving swiftly across a shopping mall, stopping to admire the display in a store window, then continuing to sweep onward toward a tea house. Some of the women instead wear a menteau-a tunic that resembles a lightweight housecoat-a more modern way of covering up. Paired with this is a scarf-silk if you're stylish, plain cotton if you're practical. Either way, it's sweltering beneath these clothes in the summertime. I was in Iran to rock climb in the Alborz Mountains, just south of the Caspian Sea. My climbing companions were AI Read, of Geographic Expeditions, Hooman Aprin, a friend and mountain guide from Jackson, Wyoming who grew up in Iran, and Abbas Jafari, one of Iran's best alpinists. Our trip, an organized mountaineering trip to Iran, was a first. Since 1979, when Iranians stormed the US embassy in Tehran and Americans were held hostage for more than a year, the Iran and US governments have hated each other. There is no longer a US embassy in Iran and a long-standing travel warning has been issued to US travelers. Only recently, under the rule of their new president Hojjat-ol-Eslam Seyed Mohammed Khatami, have Iran and the US begun to heal their wounds-through sports. Fi rst wrestl ing, then soccer, now adventure travel. Iran needs to stimulate its economy. Adventure tourism is a smart way to do it. I spent the two weeks prior to my trip rushing to prepare my visa, update shots and pack. I gave little thought to anti­ American sentiment, terrorism or how the laws of Islam affect women until I was changing into a long trench coat in a bathroom -0 :I: 46 � � l> r o

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