Ok, so I'm back in Yerevan after some time in Karabakh with a few thoughts on the whole matter.
Karabakh is a lot better maintained than I thought it would be; I thought it would be in pretty poor condition but it seems like there is a lot of money being pumped in there. That being said, I don't think the future is necessarily stable for everyone's favourite break-away state. There are a few reasons for this;
1) There is just so much diaspora money being pumped into the country that it is hard to believe what will happen when it dries up. Literally, these big beautiful buildings are being put up (a stadium, new government offices, hotels) which is great - it creates jobs, funds tourism, etc... but does it create a self-sufficient system?? We'll soon see. Given that a large percentage of Karabakhians (???) work in the army, is that sustainable?? I can't imagine that the balance books are actually in the black, but if they are, good for them. Either way, it's made a clean fashionable city that is a real joy to be in.
2) The people are so nice and kind, especially for something so traumatic that happened so recently. Everywhere, everyone is willing to lend a hand if you need it, people are smiling, the atmosphere is really great.
3) Things are not all rosy. There is a lot of hatred towards Azeris (which, given the number of people that died in the war, I'd say is understandable) and the fear that there will be another conflict. I can't imagine living how they are living; you never really know what the next month will bring. Will people be fine or will you be sending your sons off to war again? No-one knows but people are afraid. We visited the museum to 'the Fallen Soldiers of Karabakh' and it really illustrated just how much these people suffered during the war. It was basically a three room house and they put every picture of every soldier killed in the war up on the wall - it was pretty emotional. There was also a book with every soldier's background... I couldn't read it, it was only in Armenian, but it was there.
Well, on with the other stuff, we stayed with a JUDGE in Karabakh!! It was incredible!!! She came by, made us breakfast, hopped in the shower and headed off to the courthouse - it was so cool!!! On the last day, I was just coming down with some pretty wicked food poisoning (don't eat the fish in Stepanakert), and she told me to stay a while. 'You're such a sweet boy, stay, it's no problem. You can work here. We'll even find you a bride!!' I was flattered by the offer, but I figured it was a good time to make my exit!!!
The most impressive place in Karabakh was definitely Agdam. TECHNICALLY you're not supposed to go there, but we did. It's a destroyed city about 20 km or so from the 1994 cease-fire line. It was like another world, literally, every building had been destroyed and gutted EXCEPT for a mosque with two tall citadels. We climbed up the citadels and just say this absolutely destroyed city; the guidebook said that it looked like Hiroshima, but I wouldn't quite say that. The main difference was that trees were growing between the destroyed walls of houses - it was pretty horrific. In a phrase; war sucks.
Other than that, we found a nice little restaurant, had some delicious food for a few nights, ate some good but very bad fish, walked around and had fun.
Incidentally, I had the worst marshrutka (mini-bus that you pay for that acts like a bus) of my life. So I was dealing with the bad effects of vodka, wine, beer, more vodka, bad fish and 3 hours of sleep and we hopped on this marshrutka from Stepanakert to Yerevan. About 250 kilometers. No problem?? Right.... The first 4 hours are all mountains, the last 2.5 hours are all over a sun-scorched road with more potholes than the sun has stars. Not to worry, the air conditioning was on... but it only got to the second of 5 rows AND to make things even better, one of my travelling companions was sick several times on the bus. WOW - not super. Oh, yeah, and the seatbacks are really low, so you can't sleep. Delicious.
But, I'm back in Yerevan, feeling better after a low-key weekend of hanging out and embarrassing people by eating watermelon in a park, and feeling a lot better. A few of us are renting a car tomorrow and going to explore the north a little more - it should be good.
Hope you're well!!!
A
