Lənkəran: An Oasis

Thunder is currently rumbling across a dark sky and rapid raindrops are pitter-pattering across my windowpanes. The scent of of soil and water has made its way into my dimly lit room and the sound of men slamming dominoes on the table at the cayxana next door have faded with the storm's onset.

Thunderstorms often remind me of home. I remember sitting on the front porch of my childhood home and watching the sky change colors as storm clouds rolled in. I remember the ever faint sprinkle of moisture on my face when raindrops were captured in the wind's tight grasp and dusted onto eyelashes of eyes closed in quiet contentment.

I haven't written in a bit. This is primarily because I've been traveling a fair amount (I have plans to head out again in the morning). Last Thursday I traveled to Lənkəran to visit one of my PCV friends and stayed the weekend. I feel like I have so much to talk about from this trip. First, the bus ride down is nothing to be envied. It's an 8 hour trip on a bus which trudges slowly along and lacks the number of windows one would want on a bus lacking air conditioning. However, I've talked before about how much I enjoy meeting people on bus rides here. If I ever I were to write a book, it would be about bus travel because I find I always have very interesting experiences. This time I met a woman by the name of Kamila. She bought me tea when we stopped for our lunch break and then asked me to come and sit beside her for the remainder of our journey. She also invited me to come and visit her home while I was in Lənkəran, which I unfortunately did not do.

Upon arriving in Lank, I met up with Aaron (PCV buddy) at his house and we went to IREX for his evening conversation club. There I met a few students who were home for the summer from their studies in America. I love talking to students about their travels abroad. One of the girls had even applied to a program I'm helping out with. It's such a small world.

On Friday, Aaron took me around to see the city. We dined with a few of the men from his conversation club for lunch and I ate Toyuq Ləvəngi which is a dish native to Lənkəran. (My host mom in Xirdalan had actually prepared this for me when I lived there because she's from Lank herself and it is my favorite Azeri dish, but only when she prepares it, I don't know what she does different, but her Ləvəngi is the absolute best.) I ate so much food at lunch! Being a guest is hard work, but somebody has to do it! :) After lunch we went to the Caspian seaside and then followed it up with a koktəl (cocktail) which here is really cold (almost frozen) frothed milk and syrup. It was delicious! That night I met the Lənkəran crew (there are a group of about 6 PCVs who are good friends and get together occasionally for games and comraderie). At Eli and Mason's house I played a new card game called Sheepshead, a game which (I'm told) hails from Wisconsin and has approximately 1,443, 876 rules. I lost (badly) but I played big.

Saturday was one of my most favorite days. While Aaron was lounging around back at his house, I went off to explore a little on my own, including heading off to the bizarre. I love the Lənkəran bizarre! There are so many interesting things to see and on a Saturday morning it is alive and awake with activity. People shout out to you to buy things and lead you over to look at some of their beans, rice, fish etc. I chatted with vendors and talked people down in prices (I bought some fruit for a fruit salad). One of the things I like best about Lənkəran is that it has things that can be found only in Lənkəran. They make bags and hats out of....seagrass? (They remind me of what you see women make in the market in Charleston, SC.) They have their own (incredibly delicious) tea. They also have Talysh socks. Later in the day I went to visit Aaron's host family where I met his host mom who, I'm convinced, is one of the kindest and happiest women in all of Azerbaijan.

I left on Sunday morning at 8 am, the 8 hour trip starts early. I had the same driver and driver assistant (who I refer to as the driver's "first-mate" or just "Smee"). We chatted a little and expressed our pleasure in seeing one another again. This time on our lunch-stop, the driver asked me to join them for lunch where I proceeded, again, to eat so much food! (So much!) And drink about 4 glasses of atlama. (It's a thin yogurt that's served cold with diced greens like cilantro, celery, cucumber and others. It's delicious. However, when it's cooked it's called dovğa and then I do not like it.)

Overall, it was one of the best adventures I've had (yet) in Azerbaijan. It was a fun weekend filled with good people, food and locale.