June 30, 2012
I was not able to sleep past my usual six am and found
myself in the kitchen groggily trying to make coffee with the beans Nigora had been
so kind as to place in my luggage. The beans had been roasted very lightly and
thus contained little flavor or oil, but it was still better than nothing. When
Ryan got up, he told me had another Couch Surfer staying with him, this one
from Spain, and he had been forced to sleep on the korpachas on the floor. He
was a lawyer who was also interested in traveling to the Pamirs and perhaps we
could travel together. Once he was up, Fernando told me he was trying to obtain
a visa to Kirgizstan in the morning and then find out about buying an airline
ticket to Khorog. I cooked some muesli and had it for breakfast delighting in
the fact that I had access to all my favorite spices: cinnamon, cloves, ginger,
nutmeg and vanilla for once.
Eraj called me to say the seamstress still didn’t have my
dresses ready even though it had been over two weeks since I had given her the
materials. She said she’d try to have them ready for four in the afternoon and
Eraj agreed to come by Ryan’s place then so he could also accompany me to
Megaphon for my last payment on my Internet service. I took a marshrutka to the
Iranian store to buy decent coffee only to find that all prices had been hijacked
to almost double what they were the last time I shopped there. I ended up buying
just 8 ounces, or 250gr, of some Italian roast
beans for 30.00 somoni or about $6.00. I also noticed while at the supermarket
that the exchange rate for the somoni had gone up and now they were only
offering 486.00 instead of 490.00.
The sun was already scorching as I made my way back to the
mini-van and had no choice but to ride in one with all windows closed, except
for the driver’s, as Tajiks, especially the women, believe that fresh air on
their faces will make them sick. Thank god it was a short ride as I felt that I
was suffocating back there and could pass out any minute. I went to the
supermarket and bought juice, toothpaste and detergent to do some laundry and
forgot the toilet paper we had run out of. I took refuge from the heat in Ryan’s
kitchen before he invited one of the kids for lunch and left. Fernando returned
to say he had been granted the visa to Kirgizstan and now needed to find out
about booking a plane ticket to the Pamirs. He hadn’t eaten and I was already
hungry, so we went to the F1 café and had a rather insipid meal there before
proceeding to the travel agency I knew of near the supermarket, but it was
closed.
We came back to the house to do some online research on
Tajik Air, but nothing specific would come up. Ryan returned loaded with
groceries and two of the kids and then there was no peace to be had as he set
out to marinate beef chunks to make shish kebabs that evening. Eraj also showed
up at the same time as he had been at the university trying to comply with all
the requirements needed so he can do the additional year of studies that would
confer a master’s degree on him. Ryan advised Fernando to go directly to the
airport to obtain information about the flight for the next day as that was the
fastest and surest way to do it and since the marshrutka to the airport stopped
right in front of the apartment, very convenient to get there.
Eraj and I worked for a little bit on the PowerPoint
presentation he needed to take to Germany and then it was time for me to get to
the dressmaker who only had one dress out of three ready. At least, it was one
of the atlases one and I could wear it to the wedding tomorrow evening. She promised
to have the rest done by tomorrow afternoon, and if not, she’ll call Eraj to
let him know. We proceeded to Megaphon which would not let me pay half of the
amount for my unlimited connection to the Internet until July 15. Instead, I
had to settle for another plan whereby I can only access the Internet between
12:00am and 8:00am for 50.00 somoni or about $12.00. That still beat having to
pay $30.00 for the month when I won’t be able to use all of it. Eraj got me
into a taxi so I could proceed to the embassy not before promising that if
needed, he would accompany me on Monday at 5:00am to take the jeep to Khorog.
The sun was hot enough to melt steel and the thermometer read 41C. The taxi had
no A/C and the sun was facing me the whole time while the young driver maneuvered
around trying to load up more passengers unsuccessfully.
Once at the embassy building, I ran into Nigina who was
there with a group of friends to partake of the Fourth of July celebration the
embassy was sponsoring complete with a band, the sale of hot dogs, hamburgers,
cole slaw and potato salad along with cold drinks. Nancy and David were right
behind me and I tried to catch up on the details of their trip to Khorog before
I went searching for Shofoat as she was holding my passport with my travel
permit for the Pamir region. There was a good crowd there in spite of the
extreme heat and merciless sun and tables had been arranged under what normally
served as a carport for embassy vehicles. I retrieved my passport and joined
David and Nancy for a cold beer as I wasn’t hungry yet, and especially not
hungry for that kind of food. They told me their trip had been a bust as the
person who was to serve as their interpreter, and who works for the USAID, had
refused to travel with them and they had had to find their way back to Dushanbe
on their own. I couldn’t quite understand the reason behind that change in
attitude as the place was really loud and it was hard to hold a conversation.
Sandy and her family joined our table a little while later
and casually mentioned that I seemed to be the last person from our program
left in Dushanbe and that based on what had transpired during our conversation
after the mid-year conference in February, I was the last person she expected
to be still standing there. I just nodded my head and said to myself: surprise,
surprise. Nancy and David decided to share a taxi with me as I had made an
appointment at 7:00 to have a pedicure done as my toes looked terrible. Rebecca
came up from behind me to say hello and to show me she was wearing the Tibetan
earring I had brought her from Kathmandu. She mentioned she had seen my
postings on Facebook and I seemed to be everywhere these days.
I said goodbye to Nancy and David and made it to the salon
ten minutes late, but Tahmina was waiting and diligently set out all her
equipment to try and make my feet look somewhat decent. The beer was having its
effect on me and I was practically dozing on and off while she ministered to my
feet for the warm water and massage friction were inducing some sort of stupor
on me. It took her over an hour to finish and I felt bad that she was working
so late on a Saturday night, but she said she lived nearby and it wasn’t a
problem.
I stopped at the store to buy toilet paper and got to the
apartment courtyard to find out that Ryan was cooking the shish kebabs on coals
arranged around three concrete blocks right on the ground in front of his
window. He had arranged the traditional platters full of flat bread, fruit,
salads and drinks on the makeshift tapchon and 5-6 kids were partaking of the
meal in addition to Fernando whom I had failed to see in the darkness. I had
considered having another bowl of muesli and going to bed, but they all
insisted I had some of the meal, including the very chewy pieces of meat that
had not softened despite Ryan’s assertion that soda and beer added to the its
marinate would automatically make the meat tender.
Mosquitoes were beginning to eat at me and Fernando mentioned
he had been beaten by some of them the night before while sleeping, so Ryan
sprung to his feet, went inside and sprayed the bedroom with a foul-smelling
substance that made me gag when I went in to bring my dishes. He promised the
smell would be gone in 15 minutes and I’d be able to go to sleep undisturbed.
He might be a doctor and all of that, but that smell was strong enough to send
me into a coughing fit that had me in tears. I didn’t want to go back outside
where more mosquitoes were waiting for me, but had Fernando turn on the A/C and
after s suitable interval of time, and with the possibility of impairing my
breathing apparatus, I went to sleep.