Last week Linda and I traveled to the village of Ilisu in the region of Qax. We were just a few kilometers from the Russian border. It will be the final traveling within Azerbaijan except for our necessary excursions into Baku for Peace Corps requirements.
We met the other mature Volunteers and said our farewells, and enjoyed one last adventure together.
Leslie from Salyan spent Thursday night with us, then we left about 10:30 for Hajacabul to catch a bus for Qax. I had gone to Hajacabul that morning to find out what time the bus would leave for Qax and was told 11:00 a.m. and to be there by 10:45 a.m. We arrived via taxi to the bus stop around 10:40, and the bus to Qax arrived at 11:15 and we were off.
Traveling in Azerbaijan is always exhausting for us. It is the worry about making sure of the times and destinations with our limited language skills. The bus was very nice, 55 passenger, about 10-15 years old with working air conditioning. We stopped once for a break and made it to Qax about 4:30 p.m.
We were immediately met by a taxi driver willing to take us to Ilisu and our resort, Ulu Dag. The other Volunteers had already arrived and were in their rooms. The taxi driver drove at about twice the speed that would have been sane, and somehow we made it safe and sound.
Ilisu is called mini-Switzerland by the Lonely Planet travel book which is a bit overstated. The views were lovely. We hiked about a mile to a waterfall and were greeted by workers harvesting shale. The workers were from Georgia, and they were taking the stone for walls. The truck was to travel back down the trail and all the way to a coastal city in Georgia. They say Georgians are very optimistic people.
I will share more about Ilisu next posting, but we did have an interesting experience while hiking on Sunday. We were told to bring our passports, because of the proximity to Russia there are soldiers in the area. We started out hiking along the trail parallel to the river to visit some hot mineral baths in the area. (note: Linda and I were along for the hike only.) We had proceeded about a kilometer when we were stopped by 2 soldiers who asked to see our passports or documents. Now, Linda and I had faithfully brought our passports from Shirvan and they were safely tucked away in our hotel room. 5 of the 8 had their passports. One soldier radioed in our names, and told us to wait for the soldier in charge. Sure enough in about 10 minutes 2 more soldiers came walking up and wrote down a few names, examined documents, asked a few questions. Then they told us it was too dangerous and we must not go that way. We had seen many local people walking the trail which is why we ventured out. The resort personnel said if we were Azerbaijani, it would have been OK, but they were being protective of the Americans.
This experience was the first time we had been asked for our passports outside of the airports. It was a bit unnerving in that the soldiers looked like such young men. They were very polite and friendly, and we never feared anything, but just a little nervous. It is too close to the end of the adventure to be calling the Peace Corps security officer for help.
We are under 50 days, and have scheduled our final medical exams for the first week in October. Our dreams are filled with home, and our memories are filled with our dear Azerbaijani friends.
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