A camel gave birth to twins and started WWII??

Sunday, January 25, 2004
Sovhoz 22, Uzbekistan

Transportation Circus
Upon my return to Uzbekistan, some things reminded me almost immediately of why I had needed a break from this place. Exiting the airport, me and a couple of other volunteers who happened to be arriving back from vacations at the same time were at once surrounded by hordes of taxi drivers yelling in our faces, "TAXI! TAXI! NEED A TAXI? TAXI! TAXI! NEED A TAXI?" These drivers are always cigarette-smoking men wearing round, Russian fur hats (drivers probably make the most money in Uzbekistan), bad teeth and stubbly faces. They wait in packs outside the airports and train stations preying on anyone who has just come off the plane or train, especially the rich-looking Americans toting huge, rich-looking American suitcases. They grabbed our arms, tried to take our bags and shouted at us all at once. We shoved by them as usual and claimed back the personal space we Americans value so much. We negotiated until we found our desired price-1,500 soum, or $1.50-and were on our way.

One thing I did not miss about Uzbekistan was the Transportation Circus. It's especially fun when you have just come from America with big suitcases and when you have a fairly long journey ahead of you. Leaving the airport was only the first step in the long trip home to my village. From the airport, I went to the Peace Corps office. As it was about 9:30 p.m. and too late to continue my journey that night, I dropped my bags off at the office and spent the night at a nearby hotel. The next day I slept in and spent most of the day, using free internet in the office's volunteer lounge. That evening I loaded my heavy American luggage into a train compartment and laid down to sleep through most of the 12-hour, overnight trip to Bukhara. I arrived at the Bukhara train station, which is actually located in a town outside of Bukhara because the government didn't want train tracks running through a historic city, and from there I had to get to my village. Usually, I would take one marshrutka into the edge of the city for 300 soum and a second marshrutka out of the city in a different direction to my village for another 200 soum. But because I had big suitcases, I had the fortunate pleasure of dealing with another mob of taxi drivers.

JOURNAL ENTRIES

• January 25 , 2004
• January 10, 2004
• October 21, 2003
• June 6 , 2003
• March 16, 2003
• December 29, 2002
• October 31 , 2002
• October 28, 2002
• October 21, 2002
• September 26, 2002
• September 6, 2002
• August 22,2002