Gobustan revisited

The pictures indicate the flooding problem which Azerbaijan has endured and is enduring still. The first photo is of the sandbag dike along the park in the old city. The water was up to the top of the sandbags. The water level would have been to the bottom of the benches in the park and there are several homes below that level. The second photo is of the ferry boat dock. It is normally about 25 feet lower. The third is of the sandbagging even below a restaurant. The fourth is of a river bank restaurant, and the fifth is of the restaurant last spring.

Linda and I revisited the river bank this week and the water is down by about a meter. The restaurant is now covered with about a foot of silt, but above water. There are still many displaced people and soldiers serving temporarily here in Shirvan.

Today Linda is back in Lahic (pronounced lahuj) with 9 other older women volunteers. They will be joined by 3 more this afternoon. It is the “Mature Women Volunteers” retreat. The retreat was begun last year by the AZ5 mature women which numbered 3. They were also known affectionately as the Golden Girls. This year after discussing with other AZ6’s Linda made the arrangements for this year’s retreat. It will be the only time some of the AZ6 and AZ7 volunteers will meet and spend time with each other.

While Linda was in Lahic, Bill Colcord came to Shrivan to keep me company. We took a group from my Conversation Clubs to Gobustan. I have written about Gobustan on earlier blogs. It is one of the earliest sites of civilization in the world with some of the drawings dating to 30,000 B.C. There were 3 males and 8 females. After the guided tour they took a 2 hour hike into the mountain rocks. Everyone had a great time.

Today was one of those “Peace Corps Moments” for me. Bill, the driver, the mother of two of the girls, and I were sitting in a shaded area, and from atop of the rocks the others were shouting and waving to us. I told Bill, “They will never forget this.” They began shouting “Deni, Deni, Deni…”, and I said to Bill, “And, I will never forget that!”

The weather is very hot here, in the 90’s. It is as hot now, as it got all last summer. We are beginning to wonder what July and August will be like. We had heard stories about temperatures over 110 in the past, but were treated to a very mild summer last year.

We hope all is well in the United States. We are of course concerned about the oil leak and damage to the beautiful coastal regions from Texas to Florida.

Recent events make for political tensions, but Azerbaijan has responded very deliberately and slowly. The official response has been one of national political maturity.

The last big event in this part of the world has been Eurovision. Eurovision is a multi-country musical competition. There were 35 countries participating. Germany won the competition, and Azerbaijan placed 5th. For more information you must take time to visit www.eurovision.tv - let me encourage you to take the time to listen to some of the music and read the history of this event.