Lucky Day

Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014—Batumi to Tbilisi

Today was my lucky day, I guess. It was supposed to be raining all day, and we had some heavy rain last night. However, when I left to walk to the bus station, it was dry all the way. Then, just after we left at 8:00, it began to rain hard again.

It was scary riding in the rain, because the mini-bus (marshrutka) drivers speed. Not only that, but they turn two-lane roads with no shoulders into 3-lane highways—passing with oncoming traffic. About an hour after leaving, we saw lots of stopped vehicles. As we slowly went by, we could see an overturned marshrutka resting on its roof among the trees to the side of the road. It was a bad accident. It's likely that people were either killed or very badly injured. Just 5 minutes after that, the rain stopped again, and the sun came out.

Along the way, I saw things that brought back memories of my previous trip to Georgia—people traveling in two-wheeled wagons pulled by a single horse, people tending sheep in a field, etc. We passed through towns and by places I had visited before—Kutiasi, Gori (where I saw bombed out buildings from the war with Russia 6 years ago), Mtskheta Monastery (which I visited by climbing from the edge of the highway 6 years ago--a steep and scary climb), etc.

The trip took 6 hours as expected. They dropped me off at Didube where there is a metro stop. I caught the metro to Freedom Square, bought some gladiolas for Elena (whose husband Eduard insisted on paying for the coffee and dessert last night in Batumi) and made my way to the apartment. Both Elena and Alla (prounounced “Aya”) were here. Alla is renting me a room, since Eduard's sister is staying in their extra room.

Wanting to see the changes here in Tbilisi, I went out immediately to explore. I walked up and down Rustaveli Avenue, the fancy main street of the city which is lined with government buildings, museums, theaters, and nice shops. I went into the Old Town past the Jewish area with its synagogue, the Islamic area with its mosque, the old Turkish bath area, and the old hilltop walled fortress. The city has greatly improved over 6 years. Almost all of the major old buildings have been restored that had not yet been restored before. There seem to be lots more tourist facilities and more tourists than when I was here, too, but maybe the war with Russia that had just ended kept them away at that time. Anyway, it's a pretty and a lively city these days.

Having said that, I feel so sorry for older people and those who cannot find jobs here. All of the old USSR republics have the same problem. There are very limited social welfare programs to assist the elderly. If they don't have children to help them, they beg on the streets, try to sell anything they can make or buy at a low cost, etc., to have money for paying bills and buying food. And many of the young people, the children who would be normally helping their aging parents cannot find decent jobs, either. Lasha, the 27-year-old son at the place where I stayed last night is desperate to try to find a way to make money. He applies every year for the green card lottery for the US, he was asking who can join the US military (because he had heard about Mexicans who are not legal residents joining it to try to earn a way to get permanent residency). There are a lot of desperate people all over eastern Europe wanting to find a way to live elsewhere and make money or trying to get by where they are living.

It's only about 20:00, but I am tired and ready to go to bed.  Tomorrow is another travel day with another 6-hour marshrutka trip.  I'll be off to Armenia.