June 11th: Qakh to Tbilisi

We woke up very excited to see Georgia. After an hour of driving through more beautiful eastern Azerbaijanian countryside, we arrived at the border to find almost no one had gotten through yet. We made the most of the wait though, sitting in the shade and chatting. A few locals came out, even one that was living in Canada but born in a city nearby. He told me about the Avars, the ethnic group of people that lived there and about the language they spoke. It seems weird to me that all ethnic groups don’t get to have their own country but I realized I wouldn’t be able to live in Montreal if that were the case. Our car waited in the lineup for 5 hours before we made it into Georgia. Our spirits lifted immediately. This country is so beautiful and lush. The typography of the written language is very aesthetically pleasing and the people are friendly. We ate ‘lunch’ at 5pm with our friends Pascal and Jerome looking over a beautiful vista. After lunch we forgot to clock out of the passage control and drove 30 minutes out before we realized. Once we had gotten the signout and driven to the prepared race course it was closed. Sad and defeated we drove to the hotel in Tbilisi. After we arrived, I went for a walk around the city. It was too late in the day to go to the center but in our local area I found a lady knitting on the side of a small street with an array of socks and hats. I practiced what little Georgian I knew to buy some knitwear off of her and wandered away through dim alleyways.

The buildings are poorly maintained but beautiful in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. After briefly getting lost, I found my way back to the hotel. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get to see more of Georgia before we leave.