As I thought my trip back was not uneventful, I don�t seem to have much luck with long distance marshrutka rides. I left to go to the bus station early and the roads were blocked off as Shevardnadze was going to work. There were armed guards everywhere; I guess there have been too many assassination attempts. Anyway the bus finally filled with passengers and started south. The bus was old and slow, of course no air conditioning and packed with passengers and bags. Thinking that they were all Georgians (they were all talking to each other in Georgian and Russian), I did not speak to anyone for the first couple of hours. I put my headphones on and minded my own business.
It took 2 hours to get to the border, in fact it�s the worst part of the ride as the roads are in pretty bad shape. At the border, I held everyone up in the bus as I was the only foreigner. I was called out twice, once at the Georgian border and once at the Armenian. It confused the hell out of the customs people since I had 2 passports with me. The whole process took half and hour and we were off again.
Just past the Armenian border, our driver stops and decides that his bus will not make it to Yerevan and decides to lay off passengers in the middle of nowhere. Admittedly, there were 2 cars in sight with a few men hanging around. Everyone gets off the bus and start arguing with the driver and they�re all speaking Russian to each other. I�m just standing back and observing the whole scene. After a while (I lost track of time as to how long my patience had lasted) I found myself yelling �Hayeren�. Everyone turned around and asked me Dou Hayes? Ha? Maladiets. All this time they thought I was German and were not speaking to me, as I would not understand them. German? That�s a first; I�ve never been called that before.
By this stage they are all screaming at each other and it appears that the 2 cars that were present were prepared to act as taxis and take some of the passengers to Yerevan. They wanted to charge $60 for 5 people. Quite reasonable, if the bus driver was prepared to refund the passengers so they could use this taxi service. The problem was that the Georgian driver was not prepared to refund us at all. Some passengers wished to return to Tiblisi and I told them I was not going back 2 hours, when I was only 4 hours away from Yerevan. I stood in front of the Georgian driver and asked for my money motioning with my fingers. I stood in front of him until he gave me 20 Lari back $10 US. I was the only one he had refunded by then so I told all the passengers in Armenian to do the same so we can get on with our business.
Finally an empty marshrutka arrives and this new driver is willing to take us to Yerevan. A new fight erupts, as this poor driver is unaware that the taxis are losing their business. Now it�s the drivers� turn to argue and yell at each other and still the other passengers have not been refunded. By now it�s midday and the heat is excruciating. Finally the passengers are able to calm all the drivers, obtain their refund from the Georgian driver and get into the new marshrutka.
Once seated I started speaking to the Armenians. Most were born in Tiblisi and the grandparents were from Kars. They had moved to Yerevan 12 years ago and some 10 years ago. They again told me that the situation in Tiblisi was pretty bad and that the Armenians were looked upon as second-class citizens. The women said that it was only a matter of time before the Armenians were thrown out. My reaction was how could they just throw out 8% of the Armenians and their reply was that it happened in Baku and Sumgait. They believed that war was imminent and repeated that it was just a matter of time.
A trip that should have taken 6 hours by bus took 9 hours. The whole day was spent with no food, no drink and no toilet break. Everyone was exhausted when we came in to Yerevan, and we all went our separate ways. I was physically and emotionally drained and was developing a headache. Since all the Armenians I spoke to basically tell me the same story, I tend to believe them all. My last comment about my trip is that I�m glad I�m home.
Now that I�m back, I am playing tour guide. My cousin from Rome is visiting for 10 days, a distant cousin from London has relocated for a year and I have 2 Aussies staying with me. Speaking of playing tour guide, I start a new job in a week in the Tourism Industry so it looks like I�ll be staying till the end of March.
It took 2 hours to get to the border, in fact it�s the worst part of the ride as the roads are in pretty bad shape. At the border, I held everyone up in the bus as I was the only foreigner. I was called out twice, once at the Georgian border and once at the Armenian. It confused the hell out of the customs people since I had 2 passports with me. The whole process took half and hour and we were off again.
Just past the Armenian border, our driver stops and decides that his bus will not make it to Yerevan and decides to lay off passengers in the middle of nowhere. Admittedly, there were 2 cars in sight with a few men hanging around. Everyone gets off the bus and start arguing with the driver and they�re all speaking Russian to each other. I�m just standing back and observing the whole scene. After a while (I lost track of time as to how long my patience had lasted) I found myself yelling �Hayeren�. Everyone turned around and asked me Dou Hayes? Ha? Maladiets. All this time they thought I was German and were not speaking to me, as I would not understand them. German? That�s a first; I�ve never been called that before.
By this stage they are all screaming at each other and it appears that the 2 cars that were present were prepared to act as taxis and take some of the passengers to Yerevan. They wanted to charge $60 for 5 people. Quite reasonable, if the bus driver was prepared to refund the passengers so they could use this taxi service. The problem was that the Georgian driver was not prepared to refund us at all. Some passengers wished to return to Tiblisi and I told them I was not going back 2 hours, when I was only 4 hours away from Yerevan. I stood in front of the Georgian driver and asked for my money motioning with my fingers. I stood in front of him until he gave me 20 Lari back $10 US. I was the only one he had refunded by then so I told all the passengers in Armenian to do the same so we can get on with our business.
Finally an empty marshrutka arrives and this new driver is willing to take us to Yerevan. A new fight erupts, as this poor driver is unaware that the taxis are losing their business. Now it�s the drivers� turn to argue and yell at each other and still the other passengers have not been refunded. By now it�s midday and the heat is excruciating. Finally the passengers are able to calm all the drivers, obtain their refund from the Georgian driver and get into the new marshrutka.
Once seated I started speaking to the Armenians. Most were born in Tiblisi and the grandparents were from Kars. They had moved to Yerevan 12 years ago and some 10 years ago. They again told me that the situation in Tiblisi was pretty bad and that the Armenians were looked upon as second-class citizens. The women said that it was only a matter of time before the Armenians were thrown out. My reaction was how could they just throw out 8% of the Armenians and their reply was that it happened in Baku and Sumgait. They believed that war was imminent and repeated that it was just a matter of time.
A trip that should have taken 6 hours by bus took 9 hours. The whole day was spent with no food, no drink and no toilet break. Everyone was exhausted when we came in to Yerevan, and we all went our separate ways. I was physically and emotionally drained and was developing a headache. Since all the Armenians I spoke to basically tell me the same story, I tend to believe them all. My last comment about my trip is that I�m glad I�m home.
Now that I�m back, I am playing tour guide. My cousin from Rome is visiting for 10 days, a distant cousin from London has relocated for a year and I have 2 Aussies staying with me. Speaking of playing tour guide, I start a new job in a week in the Tourism Industry so it looks like I�ll be staying till the end of March.
posted by lena at 11:40 AM
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