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June 25, 2006
At this rate, it'll take forever to get from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo
TBILISI, GEORGIA –- They’re separated by only 107 miles as the stork flies, but getting between the Caucasian capitals of Yerevan and Tbilisi takes the better part of a day. If you were wondering how slow Soviet busses go, consider that it takes 9 hours to make the trip, or an average of 12 stork-miles per hour.
A taxi would do the trip, but not for less than $150. So I ended up on a marshrutka (маршрутка). Marshrutkas are big vans built for 9 passengers, but retrofitted with seating for up to 20. They run a fixed route and leave whenever they’re full or the driver fancies it. (They’re called a dolmuş in Turkey and a collectivo in South America.) A marshrutka makes the trip in just 6 hours and costs about $17.
A marshrutka bound for Tbilisi.
Thus, I turned-up today at the bus zoo and was immediately found by the driver of the Tbilisi van. The sign was in Cyrillic, which looks a lot more like Tbilisi (Тбилиси) than the Georgian rendering (თბილისი). I was the second person there, and I duly hustled for a seat. It was 9.30. I figured we’d leave at 10AM (like the schedule indicated), but there were only 2 of us. The bus next to us, also bound for Tbilisi, rumbled out with maybe 10 passengers. The van was steaming hot as we sat in the sun, windows covered with fabric. 10.30 came and went. The driver changed into a red “criminal instinct” shirt. 11.00 arrived—-surely we must go now. Another 3 people turned up. At 11.30, the driver came, got in, adjusted the windows, and got out. We now had 10 passengers, and I decided to take the front seat, not realizing the terrible case of trucker’s arm it would give me. Some arguing ensued with a passenger and the driver, but no action.
Seen at the bus station: Barf brand laundry detergent gets clothes brighter!
Finally at 11.45, a full 2h15 after I arrived, we headed out. The drive to Georgia took about 3.5 hours, plus a half hour for lunch and a half hour to cross the border. It was the slowest and most confusing border crossing I’ve ever endured, but the ill-reputed Georgian border police were spit-shine-polished and even laughed at our driver’s bribe. (The driver had small notes ready for bribes, including $1.25 we paid to Armenian police running a roadblock.) In the end, I suppose we beat the bus by an hour or so, even including the slow getting-out-the-gate.
The drive north from Yerevan to Tbilisi involves a drive up over the Lesser Caucasus. The Armenian mountain roads are in lamentable condition. Many of the heavy lorries that tear-up the road are from Turkey. Anything from Turkey comes in on lorries traveling via Georgia even though Armenia and Turkey share a land border—-which is closed and heavily guarded. Turkey still refuses to admit that from 1896 to the 1920s, Turkey and their Ottoman predecessors carried out a state-sponsored genocide that killed 1.5 million Armenians. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who is revered in Turkey as almost God-like for so advancing Turkey (like changing Turkish script from Arabic to Latin), was a key player in this nearly-successful attempt to eliminate the Armenian race. With Turkey stubbornly denying this holocaust, despite overwhelming evidence that the Ottoman Sultan and Atatürk committed crimes against humanity, it’s doubtful that relations will improve any time soon. Until then, anything coming to Armenia from Turkey has to first be trucked through Georgia.
The Caucuses Mountains, roughly at the Lori Valley, Armenia
The Lesser Caucuses have a few attractive valleys, but the population is tragically poor, with many living in tiny metal sheds, shipping containers, or even large storage tanks with a door cut out. After a half-hour at the border, it’s immediately apparent that Georgia is on a better path than Armenia, starting with the fact that roads are actually maintained here. Some of the Soviet-era housing blocs have new pink paint. The Georgian attitude towards Russia is apparent from the near total absence of Cyrillic lettering.
Wheat, other grains, and sunflowers grow on the plains a few miles into Georgia.
Coming out of the Lesser Caucasus, Georgia spreads out into large plains with wheat, grain, and sunflower farms. Along with Ukraine, Georgia was the USSR’s bread basket, and the bread lines common elsewhere were not found in Georgia.
Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, is a beautiful city of more than 1 million people. St. George’s cross is everywhere, and the city has large blocks of crumbling but elegant Art Deco buildings. I’ll have more pictures in a few days...
Posted by adrianjo at June 25, 2006 03:56 PM