Lets Take A Trip Down South

Martyrs Lane and Flame Towers as seen from the Boulevard

From family, from email, from school-I've been a bit MIA this week.  School is coming to a close and I've got a pretty bomb vacation coming up.  Yet even still I found I couldn't get that far without taking a break or losing my mind.  So Glendene and I decided to pack our bags and take a mental health vacation to the south for the week.

Traveling through my own Peace Corps country shows me everything good about Azerbaijan.  Its incredibly easy to travel around the regions-even when we ended up taking the wrong way when trying to get to the out-of-the-way Saatli we were able to eventually flag down a mushrutka headed in that direction.  Travel costs can add up when tripping around, but its costs like 4 or 6 manat-not like the 30 or 40 dollars that can easily get into a tank of gas.

Additionally, traveling in country really shows how much of an understanding of the culture and language I actually have.  Thinking of my first trip during PST, I was afraid I would either a) not get there, b) be unable to use a bathroom in a time of need, or c) get on the wrong bus.  None of those things happened, and none of those things ever happen.  The same language level that frustrates me in my community is the level that allows me travel with ease and make friends along the way.  Its great.

No region city really has a week's worth of sights and activities to do, but when visiting PCVs you get a nice highlights tour.  Its great to see the best of a city or village, whether its their friends, parks, or surrounding nature, with the American living there.  In Bilasuvar we visited the PCVs beautiful magnet school where he works and saw the Talysh mountains in Iran.  We hiked in the mountains and enjoyed the mineral hot springs before feasting on a southern speciality-levengie chicken in Lenkeran.  We traveled off road for about 3 hours to visit Saatli and saw some of the most extensive rose gardens in Azerbaijan.

And we got to see Baku in all its Eurovision glory on a beautiful weekend.  As winners of last year's Eurovision, Baku will be hosting Eurovision this week and it has spent millions, and possibly billions, preparing a week-long coming of age ball as it unveils itself to the rest of Europe.  They've expanded their boulevard, invested heavily in public art, built new entertainment centers and museums, and renovated hundreds of buildings.  At night we saw fireworks over the Caspian, animated displays on the LED filled flame towers, which tower over the city, and reinterpretations of Baku's Maiden Tower from artists all over the world projected onto the 1200 year old Maiden Tower itself.

To be honest, I was skeptical of Baku's ability to pull off an event like Eurovision in a way that would leave people inspired and impressed with the city, but they've done an excellent job.  Azerbaijan has a lot to be proud of in the way they are presenting themselves and Baku is frantic and beautiful right now.  I hope they maintain some of this creativity as Eurovision ends and I look forward to enjoying the city even more.

Photos coming soon.