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.