This past weekend was Halloween and though Halloween is a mostly American holiday we still celebrated it here in Armenia that is the Americans celebrated it. I went via taxi with three others from the capital city. The ride was supposed to be four hours but the weather was bad. First off Armenia is a mountains country after all it’s in the geographical region called the Caucuses as in the Caucus Mountains. Anyways the region we were going to was particularly mountainous and the weather system caused for this past weekend at least the clouds to rest in the areas and valleys between the mountains, so it made for some beautiful if not surreal scenery. As we continued to climb up one side and down the other the clouds turned into fog and laid a heavy layer over the road so much so that we were at times only crawling. Then the clocks turned back recently so it got dark quick and my friend Meghan who actually lives in the region we were headed to has told me more then one scary story about the treacherousness of these mountainous roads so I was constantly leaning into the mountain as if that would keep our car on the road better. It worked because lots of places along the road have little shrines set up marking the dead who didn’t lean into the mountain far enough and consequently went over the edge. So after five hours (remember this was supposed to take four) we got to Berd expecting to have only forty-five minutes left, but our taxi driver decided he was tired and told us to find another taxi. Luckily we were persistent and said if your gonna kick us out of your taxi then you have to find us a new one and pay for it with the amount we agreed on from Yerevan to Artsvaberd. He agreed and after a while we were on our way again. The whole time the fog, mountains and forest are making a better and better Halloween spooky scene then after climbing this dirt road with a lot of slamming the gas pedal to get the necessary momentum to get up the hills we stop. Now this is particularly scary because these cars before going forward again usually roll backwards a little bit which freaks me out! We get out to see that we have a flat tire. Luckily in the middle of no where after not seeing another car for a long time a car pulls up and the taxi driver and them seem to be friends. But this is sort of weird and random and it is Halloween and who’s gonna know what happened to us if we were to disappear out there in the middle of no where. Luckily only us passengers thought up that scheme and soon the tire was fixed and we were on our way again. Finally, after about six hours we get to our destination and find that the dirt roads are now mud but that’s okay because we’re just glad to be there. And we had a great Halloween party we even carved pumpkins. I carved a Texas flag and from where we were we could even see the Azeri border. On Sunday we had to return to Yerevan. We all loaded into a marchutni this time and after about an hour we found ourselves broke down on the side of the road. Luckily another marchutni came through and towed us up the hill and when we rolled down the other side we had enough momentum to get the bus started again. And our final feat was when we were driving down the highway about an hour out of Yerevan this car comes barreling out of no where and without paying any attention and with about a foot to spare nearly side swipes us. Thanks to Sarah in the back of the bus for screaming we all made it back safely. This last part of the story is where I get me title for this week from.
In Armenia it seems that if you have a car you are entitled to whatever you want to do on the road. If you want to smash the gas and fly down the road at a hundred miles an hour down the main road in the city center then do it, if an old lady with her toddler grandson are in the middle of crossing the street even in the rain and your light turns green and their still in your way then lay on the horn because you have a car and all they got is a cane. If someone is walking down the street and it just quit raining and the pot holes are filled with water don’t slow down to keep them from getting splashed in fact its more fun to hit the pot holes full speed (that’s good for the car) and soak the person who has the audacity to walk down the side of the street. So if you have a car apprese because you also hold the world in your very hands.
And the other day I had to turn a form into the Peace Corps office. Well I wasn’t in Yerevan so I had to use a fax machine and of course the one commercial fax isn’t working on the day I needed it. So after going a few places in search of a fax machine it was recommended that I go to the city hall office. I was a little hesitant considering I had never been there, I was going to have to explain my desire in broken Armenian and what person in their right mind actually goes to a office building they aren’t affiliated with and ask to use their fax machine? Well it paid off I got to use the fax and it was free plus the people there were really nice. So when in doubt just do what you got to do.
Shnorhavor Matt and Michelle. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about ask one of them.) And I guess I’ll be seeing everybody next year.
That’s all for this week, oh ya, its gotten really really cold here but I’m told this is nothing to what its gonna be. At least I have warm cloths I can tell they’re going to get a lot of use. Hadjo.
