Roadside rest stop
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2005
1
11
18
Trip End
Oct 03, 2005
Sisian,
Armenia
Saturday, October 1, 2005
A roadside pit stop is a chance for me to indulge in yet another boiled egg and bread snack. We taste the purest spring water and marvel that in this land of dun-coloured, stubby grass that there are dots of colours.
Lavender crocus and tiny red berry bushes have stretched tendrils, struggling blooms in this autumn chill.
Iranian trucks decorated with Arabic script and colour bright against the monochrome hills. I feel a tingle of excitement thinking of Iran. The real East is only a border crossing away. The Armenian people really are an island of Christian faith in this area of Islam
1. Rest Revive Survive - Armenian style
. Though to be honest, the neighbours have me intrigued as much as Armenia!
An immense Soviet monument looms over the road. Beside this stand the lonely grave of a young soldier. Hi photograph shows a handsome, unlined face. His date of death shows he was killed during the Nagorno-Karabagh War.
Nagorno-Karabagh is a Christian enclave that was annexed by Azerbaijan though Azeris are themselves Islamic faith. In 1988 there was a grassroots movement in N-K to join back with Armenia, their Christian relative. Since 1988 there has been war between Armenians and Azerbaijan forces over N-K. Ceasefire is occasional, but it remains a 'no go' area.
The result is that tens of thousands of young Armenians and Azeris have died. Naira blithely notes that Armenian women now have "the same situation in our country as you had in your countries during World Wars: ten women for every man!"
