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Trickle of U.S. tourists warmly welcomed back to Iran
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran -- Inside the Islamic Museum in Tehran, Mimi McLaughlan of Chicago was studiously taking notes, a tuft of gray hair protruding beneath the scarf she wore to comply with Islamic laws.
The low hum of conversation in the darkened hall of Islamic art treasures mingled with camera clicks. In a corner, Katherine O'Hara of New York was taking snapshots of a 17th-century book cover with signs of the zodiac.
The two women moved on with their group of American tourists, led by guide Peter Morgan of Britain, who stopped to extol a section of an early 12th-century mud wall engraved with brown cursive writing in a stylized form of Islamic calligraphy called Kufic.
"I love Islamic art," says McLaughlan, 62, leaning on her cane.
Overcoming nearly two decades of Iran-U.S. hostility, people such as McLaughlan and O'Hara are trickling back, drawn by the cultural and historical grandeur of an ancient land that many Americans have long associated with Islamic fanaticism.
They are coming despite a U.S. State Department warning against traveling to Iran, where militant students stormed the U.S. Embassy in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
Amid the bad blood that flowed afterward, America became the "Great Satan," and the slogan "Death to America" was a virtual anthem for many Iranians.
But time is healing mistrust on both sides, and a potent balm has been applied by President Mohammad Khatami, a moderate cleric. After his election in May 1997, Khatami proposed cultural exchanges between Iranians and Americans.
"Americans are missing out so much on an incredible country and incredible people," says Meghen Fife, the tour coordinator.
According to Iran's Tourism Organization, just over 2,000 Americans came to Iran in the past year, only about 0.1 percent of the total tourist arrivals. In contrast, 130,000 Western Europeans, 182,000 South Asians and 312,000 people from the Caucasus visited.
Despite more relaxed social mores under Khatami, Iran does not exempt Westerners from the Islamic dress code of modesty, requiring women to cover every part of their body except the face.
"I found it strange the first couple of days, bothersome the following couple of days and then got used to it -- until it gets too hot," says O'Hara, a thick black scarf pinned under her chin and a long skirt and shirt draping her tall body.
"That's the one thing I don't like. It's inconvenient," says McLaughlan, a retired social worker whose obsession with Asia and the Middle East started with a visit to Japan 30 years ago. From Japan she began wending her way west during vacations, but the revolution preceded her to Iran.
For now, McLaughlan and her friends, back in Tehran after a 10-city tour, were too delighted by the friendliness of Iranians and the sights to bother much about having to wear head coverings.
"People have been nice to us. Their faces light up when they find out we are Americans. They said 'America is good,'" McLaughlan says.
The only hostility the Americans encountered was a "Death to America" sign at the Homa Hotel, where they stayed in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.
"We were not offended because we were overwhelmed by people's friendliness. I haven't seen this kind of friendliness anywhere else. The hotel staff apologized profusely for the sign," said O'Hara, a 40-year-old lawyer.
The few grouses she had were typical of tourists everywhere.
"It's not an easy country to travel in," O'Hara said. "Hotels are in need of upgrading, renovating. There's a lack of western bathrooms. All signs are in Persian."
One big gripe was that she couldn't take any Persian rugs home with her because of a U.S. trade embargo against Iran.
Still, there were enough memories and pictures to take back.
Iran's tourist sites are a smorgasbord of Islamic mosques, Persian palaces, houses where exquisite rugs are woven, and bazaars on the crossroads of ancient trade routes still abuzz with commerce.
The group arrived in Iran Oct. 12 on an 18-day tour organized by Distant Horizons, one of the three U.S. companies to offer group or individual trips of up to 24 days.
Their itinerary included Mashhad and Isfahan.
Mashhad is the burial site of Imam Reza, a Shiite Muslim saint whose tomb is a magnificent complex of gold domes, blue mosaics, mirrored walls and bubbling fountains.
In the central city of Isfahan, they spent two days and three nights soaking in the beauty of the Imam Mosque, whose peaked arches and intricately cut mosaics have enthralled visitors since the 17th century.
Isfahan scored highest on their favorite city list.
"I could spend the whole day at the Royal Mosque and absorb the harmony of proportions -- almost like it floats," said O'Hara.
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