It took about an hour to get to the Georgian border, and unfortunately, I was not able to take any pictures of the ride. There were lots of livestock all around. We also passed through an Azeri community on our way to the border. I was told that, in general, the different ethnic groups are separate from each other and keep to themselves. I wonder to what extent it varies from different ethnic communities in the States. I was trying to think of examples of what such separation entails: Does the Azeri community not even speak to other Georgians? They may not speak or read Georgian, but my grandpa never really learned how to speak or read English very well. Does that mean the younger generations will continue to isolate themselves from each other or is it like the states where the younger generations branch out, while the older generations stay relatively isolated? Anyway...
We finally reached the border, and we got out of the car. We had to stand in the line of people pictured in the background below:
Thankfully, the weather was not unbearably cold, so the half hour long wait wasn't too bad. Our colleague said that this was the first time he's ever had to wait, and he's made the trip four times in the past 10 months.
There were many things I found very interesting about waiting in this line. I was really amazed at how nice people were. With strangers, I'm usually pretty no-nonsense. People have told me how cold or even rude I can be with cashiers or people on the train. So, when I felt someone tugging at my bottle of wine that I hastily stuck in the water carrier pouchy thing of my book bag, I instantly got annoyed. But after some confusion, the old men behind me were simply trying to stick the bottle back in to prevent it from falling out. I felt a little ashamed of myself when I figured this out. I should try not to be such a jerk.
But one other observation: all of the men in the line were wearing real shoes, but all of the women were wearing house slippers.
Anyway, after about half an hour in line, we showed the guard our passports, and then walked about 5 minutes to the Armenian border patrol station. My colleagues told me not to take too many pictures, so it wasn't until after I crossed the border that I took a couple. Below is the back of the Armenian border sign.
This is the Armenian car that picked us up:
I didn't get to take many pictures of what we passed, but the driver stopped when I saw this sign and started screaming:
This is the first time I've ever seen one of our implementation projects. I was so excited!!
And then nearby were some stray animals. First time I've seen this type of stray animal.
I tried to get closer for a better shot
And then it started chasing me, so I got scared and ran across the street.
This is the town that is across the highway from our project:
And then if you turn 180 degrees, you see this:
Shortly after this, we got into a minor car accident. It was actually quite scary. We had to zig-zag up a mountain, and there was a sharp turn ahead. The little Soviet car ahead of us didn't make the turn and just went straight, and ran right into another Soviet car and then ricocheted and hit our car. First, about 20 people came piling out of both cars and then there were children in one car and one of the kids' forehead was bleeding. It was so scary. Then, the old man driving the car at fault fainted when the police came...We ended up staying here waiting for some resolution, which more or less came about an hour later.
And around 4 pm, we arrived at Lake Sevan. Lake Sevan is interesting because it is a major tourist destination, and one that many in the environmental community consider a poorly managed area that does not take the environment into consideration. Nonetheless, it was really beautiful:
We ate lunch, which consisted of bread, some vegetables, and grilled fish and potatoes. This was absolutely delicious.
And just when I finished my amazing meal, it was all ruined by this rude visitor:
And we finally arrived in Yerevan around 7 pm.
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