Shushi.. and a time to stop and think

I know I haven't written since August, but I really want to keep this blog. I want to continue form where I left... The Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, as I have friends there, and people like family. This post will be short but I hope it will be the first in many in this new beginning.

I stayed in Stepanakert, and I couldn't have asked more hospitality than the one I received, the people who hosted me were amazing! But I really wanted to go to a landmark to know more about this beautiful place. So I went to Shushi (Armenian name) also know by Shusha (Azeri name). They told me that in that place the Armenians won one of the most important battles against Azerbaijan. So I took a bus, a crowded one... and I went. When I told my host family I was going back walking, they warned me not to do so, it was a bit more than 3 hours...anyway I thanked them and went.

I arrived at Shushi and I started walking, I was the only foreigner and I couldn't escape from the eyes of everybody on me. Until this point I was used to it. I took my camera out of my bag to take some pictures and I saw 2 kids running towards me, when they came they said hello and walked with me for a while, and then they asked me for money...only if they knew I was Argentinian...I gave them some coins and continued. My soul was touched when I saw ruins of the past war, it was only 21 years ago and there are things that cannot be rebuild, (mainly lives...). My time in the Caucasus really made my soul to move, I didn't know about these places and know I guess I know something I can share.

I wanted to go to Ghazanchetsots Cathedral also know as the Cathedral of Christ the Holy Saviour, I felt the need to connect my soul with the divine, maybe a church could help me. I finally arrived and gosh, I don't know, I had a mixture of feelings. Churches often do that to me, I saw this huge beautiful building in contrast with little houses and ruins, and my soul felt uncomfortable. This building was build to resemble Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia, the oldest Cathedral in the world. I have to be fair here, people here are devoted to their faith, and when Shushi was under Azeri governance it was used as granary, garage and even as a munitions storehouse. So rebuilding the church was something very important for people in Nagorno-karabakh. I entered and I tried to connect with God, I could... but I have to say it was after a lot of effort. I didn't feel anything special, I just suffered inside me.

Time was playing against me so I decided to go back to Stepanakert, it was near 7pm and I didn't want the night to catch me while walking. So I started walking back to the capital and gosh, this place really captivated me, I saw a tank on a hill and I went there, as I left the town behind and entered in the route, many cars that were passing slowed down to look at me walking, they didn't say anything and the continued. After 40 minutes I arrived at the tank and it ended up being a memorial "the Shushi tank memorial", it is a T-72 tank that commemorates the capture of Shusha, while I was there, a family arrived there to see, kids were playing on the tank and I just wondered if that was a proper "toy", something that really shocked me was a cross on the tank, I never knew the meaning...

I left the memorial and I have like 2 hours and a half to get to the capital and it was getting dark already, but I wanted to walk, again in another heroic-stupid thing I wanted to do. But after walking 5 minutes a car stopped opposite to me, I recognised the faces, they were the family that were at the memorial, the man driving asked me if I wanted a lift to Stepanakert, I didn't want, but I couldn't refuse that. They told me they were from Yerevan but were on Holidays and decided to go there, they quite like their freedom, they quite enjoy not being slaves, I think that is normal, isn't it?

We talked for about 8 minutes, I was the first Argentinian they met, they wondered why I was there... I just am. I arrived at Stepanakert and we said goodbye. I walked "home" and the lovely family that was hosting me where waiting for me. My head was full of things, so was my heart. It was a day to rethink many things in me. A day to try to heal my heart

Leaving Shushi....

Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (yes, it is a country!)

As I needed to wait for my visa to go to Iran, I decided to go to the Republic of Nagorno - Karabakh, you may have not heard of it, I don’t blame you, I read about it in another travel blog. It’s a semi-independent country that is inside Azerbaijan, but all the population are Armenian and they also speak another dialect, so they know 3 languages without studying… (I’m a bit jealous).They were part of Armenia years and years ago but because of the Soviet Union, they were attached to Azerbaijan. It’s a bit like Kosovo (I’ll write about this later). As a semi-independent state, it is not recognized but all the states around the world. As a semi-independent state it is still fighting for its freedom, so in the border with Azerbaijan there are soldiers looking after the territory, they are fighting, even years after the war finished, there is still danger of war, and when I write there is a mom losing her son forever… and that hurts me.

I decided to go there without having a contact, without knowing what to do, without a place to stay, without a map and without a plan. I took a “mashutka” (mini-van) from Yerevan (the capital of Armenia) to Stepanakert (the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh). After 3 hours we made the first stop, I went to buy a peach, the day was hot and I was burning in the mashutka, I bought my peach and a bottle of water and I didn’t know how much money the lady at the shop was asking me, I looked at a guy who was looking at me all the time since I was in Yerevan and he said in English that she was asking for change, I didn’t have and she gave me my change, I went outside to wait and the guy went to talk to me, his name is Aram, and he is from Nagorno-Karabakh but lives in Yerevan. He was surprised that an Argentinian was going to his land, it is not a touristic place, there are still mines and anything can happen. He said that I was the first Argentinian he has ever met in his 24 years of life. He is a football fan (and I have to thank to Messi again for being the best football player on earth and for being Argentinian), and we started talking about football. He offered me his help for anything I needed, and I said that when I arrived at Stepanakert I needed to go to the MFA to register my presence there, he agreed to take me and he gave me his number and asked me mine. The driver called us to get in the mashutka to continue the journey.

 The journey was so pleasant later, it became mild and the beautiful scenery started to appear. Gosh, this land full of sad stories and broken dreams is so beautiful (Scotland has a rival), I didn’t want to close my eyes, I didn’t want to miss a single part, but in the middle of such nice scenery I could see the rest of the (past?) war, houses destroyed and warning signs. I could see people, different people. We arrived at the border and I am the only foreigner entering the country. I used my Argentinian passport and I didn’t have to pay a visa, the officers told other about my presence and people come to greet me. Two hours later we arrived at Stepanakert, I got off and before I touched the floor I had taxi drivers offering themselves to take me to hotels, etc, etc. but in a mixture of English-Russian, I only said “no money, no money” and one came to talk to me in Armenian (or Karabakhi) and I just said I was waiting for somebody, Aram appeared and the taxi driver who was next to me talked to him, he was offering a hotel, I said no because I had a tent, he tried again and this time he asked me for my nationality, I said Argentinian and he said that they had had Argentinian in the offered hotel, I said thanks and that I didn’t want to go that I had a tent. He insisted that it was going to rain (that was the worst excuse) that I needed a hotel; I said no and he left swearing. Aram said that somebody was going to pick us up to take him home and to take me to the MFA, then he said that it was going to rain to set my tent so he invited me to stay with his family. I accepted, so I was going to stay with a group of people I didn’t know. Three guys came in an old car, they asked who I was, Aram introduced me as his new friend and we got in the car and left.

in the border with Armenia...

We arrived at the house and I met Aram’s aunts, grandpa and cousin. They didn’t speak English or Spanish, only the 3 languages I mentioned before, but we could manage communication. They mentioned Ariel Ortega (a football player born in my province, Jujuy) and I was surprised they didn’t mention Maradona first! They made us sit down and prepared food for us, and later some coffee. In seconds I was part of the family. Aram needed to go somewhere else that day and left me alone with his family – his Russian-Armenian-Karabakhi speaking family. I sat down in the living room and grandpa started to talk to me, who knows about what, but I smiled and said “da” (yes) to everything, he smiled too… and continued talking. They offered me more food and gave me a lot, which I enjoyed. They told some neighbours about my presence and 2 girls went to see me and they invited me for a walk to the square, I accepted and we went, one of the girls worked in a hotel and knew some English, we were speaking in English and some girls in the street heard us and came to talk to me, and the previous girls were jealous and took me to other place, ha! I asked them if they could see more foreigners and we saw only 3 more. People don’t choose Karabakh as a tourist destination…

We ended up in the house of one of the girls; I saw her grandma, father and sister. The father invited me for dinner and it was around 11.30pm, I said yes because I wanted to see a typical Karabakhi dinner. I felt very honoured actually (thing that I don’t deserve). The first thing I didn’t know is about vodka, we started remembering the man’s wife who had died 10 days before that day, I didn’t drink the whole glass of vodka and the grandma (around 90) told me off to drink it, everybody laughed and I did it. I grabbed a kind of pepper and it ended up being really hot, they saw I was suffering and they gave me more vodka, I asked for water and it was so painful. With Vodka we remembered also the kids of the world and we celebrated I was there in another occasion, then they said that I had to try the local cognac so they opened a bottle for me, and gave me a bit and we celebrated that we were together. I didn’t finish the glass and the man of the house served me more. In a moment I noticed that all the room was in movement, but I knew it was my head, I didn’t want more alcohol but it was impossible to say no, then the ice-cream came and then the coffees. I was glad that Aram’s house was near (just 30 meters away). I walked floating and I laid in bed. At the beginning of the day I didn’t have a place to stay and I didn’t know anybody, at the end I was honoured with a meal and I had a bed. Oh, and it didn’t rain.

ready for dinner

And this is Ariel Ortega... =)

Armenia, part 2

Daniel, my new German friend, is gone and it’s time to face life alone since I started the trip. “Alone”, sometimes that word scares but is it true that I am ever alone? I go to have a really good breakfast (breakfasts are really important in my life now! – yep, I changed), but just 3 minutes before they finish serving it, anyway the lady smile at my sleepy face and gave me my portion. I stayed there planning the next part. I really want my visa to go to Iran, and I tried to push some doors. Another day exploring Yerevan and looking at new faces, I love doing this. One night I met Asha, a local girl, who offered herself to show me around. We arranged to meet at Tumanyan statue, I spent 30 minutes looking for this statue asking local people who sent me to a variety of places! At the end I found the place and it was my fault, I was asking all the time for Tamanyan statue, and it seems that my Armenian pronunciation is not that good, he. We met and talked a bit about everything, I was showing them my beautiful Jujuy and she showed me the place where she comes from (near the Iranian border). We met some of her friends and one of them even sang a song for me, he said it is a typical one. I have to say that even though it is a nation that carries a painful past, Armenia is a nation that carries a positive present. I stood at the top of the “cascade” at night for a while and I looked at the city, I thought a lot…a lot.

Another day I was sitting in front the computer planning the things to do later, and a French guy greeted me and invited me to join him and an English man for lunch, a French cooking, I could only say yes. He was also stuck in Armenia waiting for his Visa to go to Iran, and the English man, well… it wasn’t so clear to me. But after 15 minutes we were all friends, and we were even talking about the Iron Lady and Maradona. The French didn’t know anything about the dirty war so he could hear the 2 versions of the conflict that seemed to be very similar. My camera broke, so I bought a very cheap one, the seller said I had a 2 year guarantee, I said to him I’d be back in 2015 to see him…

Another day when I returned from the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (that is another story) there was a film festival in Yerevan so I went to watch a French-Swedish movie in a theatre called “Theatre Moscow” gosh, whoever you are you have to watch this film, it is called “Rendez Vous in Kiruna”. At night we (Fred, the French and I) met another girl to go and watch another movie, a Polish one, called Black Thursday, gosh, I almost lost my hope again, so many deaths, and so many stories that are only personal stories of loss and grief that nobody will ever know. But the movie finished and the rains started and we went to chat with this girl, she liked Margaret Thatcher and she hated Russians. Not a good combination. She told us that 5 years ago nobody could say anything negative about the government, chances of you getting into problems were high (it reminds me of Argentina now, but we have a bit more freedom). She wants to go to South America someday, well, she knows where to stay now in Argentina.

There was music in the air, there was laughter, and there were people smiling. I could see old couples walking hand to hand. There is no terror to fear (or maybe there is one inside all of us that we need to eliminate?). My heart stopped bleeding and started to sing, to sing a song that I didn’t know, or a song that I have never felt before (if it is correct to say that we feel songs). Surprisingly I didn’t hear anybody mentioning the most famous music band in Armenia, System of a Down (SOAD), but I found something on the walls. It’s impossible to forget the things we are proud of, isn’t it? My visa didn’t arrive the time they promised, I decided to leave, Armenia has its borders closed to Turkey and Azerbaijan, and open to Iran and Georgia, but I have the doors closed to go to Iran so I need to go back to Georgia, border Turkey and head to one of the destinations I’ve never thought of going before, Iraq. My heart is singing a song of redemption, I don’t remember the lyrics, it happened only in Armenia…

just in case you don't know SOAD...here is a little video =) 
Aerials - System of a Down