April 29, 2012

I slept slightly better on the couch and got up to find more rain peppering the ground and no signs that the sun would grace us that day either. Janice had called the day before and encouraged us to visit a local museum about 20-25 minutes away by taxi where some awesome views could be had of the Rasht Valley. Corrie seemed to be suffering from cabin fever and wanted to go up there even if there was nothing to see. I cooked breakfast this time and cleaned the kitchen thoroughly while Corrie got ready for this outing. We had only walked about two blocks on the way to picking up a taxi when the rain started again. I refused to continue on as I didn’t have a coat and was already shivering.

Corrie said she was willing to walk up the hills on the back of Janice’s house and since the rain had stopped at that point, I said I’d accompany her until it came back again. We had delightful walk, as the sun did come through, up and down some alleyways while being followed by some curious children and being offered to come for tea by some of the women. When Mr. Sharbat called to say the taxi driver was on his way to pick us up and then take us to his house for lunch, we retraced our steps not before being enticed to come into a house by a woman offering us a bit of porridge. The family was celebrating an engagement with all women in one room and all the men in another. The porridge in question was vile, a mixture of buckwheat and beef tallow, and after two bites I gave up on it. I asked Corrie to convey to the hostess my apologies, but we already had lunch waiting for us someplace else. Instead of having to sing for our supper, the hostess insisted we had to dance at least once before being released. The guys came from the other room, one of them with a video camera, and watched us. After we did our part, we fled the house.

                                                       
                                                 Dancing away

Our taxi driver was at the house waiting and then drove us about half hour to Mr. Sharbat’s house where another repast was awaiting us including the biggest flat bread I have ever seen. He lives with his two daughters, a daughter-in-law he calls “our bride” and his first grandson. One of his sons lives in Russia. He has been a widower for some time. Our soup was greasy and tasteless. I asked for hot peppers to give it some piquancy and then ate fruit and drank coffee. The toilet, the first one I’ve ever seen with two separate holes for what appears to be one for each bodily function, was some distance from the house and one of the daughter was entrusted with the task of walking me there under an umbrella and waiting for me with water to wash my hands afterwards.

                       

                                             Locally made flat bread

We got on road about 1:30pm and were delighted to find that the traffic was much lighter, being a Sunday I supposed, and that the road crew had leveled out much of the rough patch where we had been stopped for a long time on Friday. With only two brief stops for Corrie to take some outdoor photos, I was too cold to set foot out of the car, and another to buy what appeared to be fresh rhubarb, we got to the outskirts of Dushanbe around six. The driver stopped there to get his car washed and we asked why there was such a law in the city that you couldn’t drive around with a dirty car. His response was that the city was clean and therefore cars had to be so too. It sounded like circular reasoning to me, but I kept my own counsel.

                                                 Our taxi driver, who said he's 53 years old.

We asked the driver if he could drop us off close to my flat so I’d not have to carry my many parcels again, but he refused. We paid him and got our receipt quickly as rain was beginning to fall lightly and I had a long way to go. My apartment never appeared more welcoming than when I finally made it to the fourth floor and was able to drop my bags. Jamshed kept calling me, but I refused to answer the phone as I was simply spent and needed some solitude at that point.