Taxis, Pictures, and a new friend

Last week Linda and I made a day trip to Salyan and the bus you see was our bus. I must warn you that the inside is not near as nice as the outside. The trip was for 40 miles and took 1.5 hours. There were many stops as people waited in the villages to go to Salyan or get off at one of the many villages along the way. The return trip was in the same bus and took 1.1 hours with fewer people wanting to stop.
The cows eating the trash off the street is a random shot while walking to work this morning. As we walked I took a picture of one of the apartment buildings. Look closely at the wider picture and right in the middle is a woman, hanging her head out the window passing the time watching people walk by and life in the street. Note the utility pole with the satellite dish in the background in the lower left hand corner of the picture. That is the same utility pole with another woman watching the world go by. Women who are housewives watch TV or hang out the window for hours on end each day.
The last picture is of a marstruka; one of the small buses that holds 15 – 20 people. Linda and I are planning to ride a couple around the city just to see where they go.
In the last posting I mentioned taxis. The PC discourages using taxis and asks us to opt for a cheaper means of transportation. To go anywhere within our city of Shirvan is $1. If the ride is one block, one mile, or several miles within the city - $1. We can take a taxi to the next town about 10 miles away for $1 each. We can take a taxi to Baku for $5 each, but must share the cab with 2 others or pay $20 for the entire taxi. The Marstruka is $3 a piece to Baku. The taxi takes 1.25 hours and the bus 1.45.
The method of driving a taxi is go as fast as you can, pass everyone you can, and slow down as fast as you can for bad places in the roads which are numerous. If a driver needs 30 feet to pass and there is only 20 feet clearance with a vehicle speeding towards you, go for it.
The noises most often heard while walking down the street or riding in a bus or taxi is the grinding of gears and the squeaking of metal on metal as brakes are applied. I initially thought that a good mechanic could make a fortune with a brake and clutch repair shop, but then I realized he would go broke because no one seems to fix the clutch or brakes.
On a more serious note I would like to introduce you to a young man I met this week. Men have an activity called going for a walk. A man meets a friend or two or three and they walk around town together. Just walking and talking. Finally, after a while they stop at a Chaihana (Tea House).
I was invited to walk with two young men who have become my friends, and a mutual acquaintance whom I will call Sam. Sam is a fourth year student at the University in Baku majoring in Chemistry and hopes to be a chemical engineer, and he speaks English fluently.
Sam is obviously intelligent and very likeable. He told me about his family and his studies. He is quite active at his university. Over tea he shared that he had been arrested 3 times for political demonstrations. When Russia invaded Georgia, he organized a group and made signs supporting Georgia and asked for donations for medical supplies. They raised over 70 dollars. One young man stopped and said he was from Oscetia, but he supported his country of Georgia and gave them $10. They tried to protest in front of the Russian embassy and that is when they were arrested, but do not worry, the police were very kind to them.
After the demonstrations and being released Sam was walking alone down the street wearing a tee shirt with "Russia Must Go Support Georgia" printed across the front. Three rather large muscular men would not allow him to pass and made a comment Sam did not understand. Then one man asked him why he was wearing the shirt was he from Georgia? Sam answered he was from Azerbaijan, but supported the rights of Georgia. The man stepped towards him, hugged Sam and said he was a Georgian.
Corruption is prevalent at all levels of education and government. A student is sometimes asked to give money if they want a good grade. When Sam takes an exam, he sets his cell phone on top of a card provided by an anti-corruption group funded in part by USAID. The card is a list of phone numbers to report educational corruption. Sam earns his grades, he does not purchase them.
Democracy will be successful in Azerbaijan because of a generation like Sam. It is a privilege to speak with him and now call him my friend.