Baku- the City of Wind

5:45pm January 10th, Baku

“Few cities in the world are changing as quickly and nowhere else in the Caucasus do East and West blend as seamlessly or as chaotically. Battered Ladas race shiny Mercedes past illuminated stone mansions, shiny glass towers and tatty old Soviet apartment blocks.” –Lonely Planet on Baku

“Some scholars look on the area south of the Caucasian mountains as belonging to Asia, while others, in view of Transcaucasia's’s cultural evolution, believe that this country should be considered part of Europe. It can therefore be said, my children, that it is partly your responsibility as to whether our town should belong to progressive Europe or to reactionary Asia.” – a fictional and less than neutral professor in Baku on the dawn on of WW1, in Kurban Said’s classic novel “Ali and Nino.”

It has been a cold and windy week here in Baku. The wind actually has the power to blow you a few steps this way or that . . . having never traveled to Chicago I have no idea if we have the same strength of wind in the U.S. I arrived to a few inches of snow and ice that turned into slush and mud over Sunday and Monday. The city was beautiful under the snow, a little dirty after it melted. Baku is a strange mix of modern buildings gleaming with glass and metal, and old sturdy soviet buildings . . . some that have been revamped and some that have not.

I had a lovely reception by my hosts here at NISA, and I have been very well taken care of. My apartment is nicely decorated, warm and comfortable, and only a 5 minute bus ride from the NISA office. In addition, I am about a 5 minute walk from the upscale Hyatt Regency area where upscale Italian and Chinese restaurants are excited to take rich oil exec’s money.

My first day in Baku, Mikayil, the executive director of NISA walked with me all over downtown Baku and in the old town area. Iceri Seher, the historic Old City has small cobblestone streets and is much less developed than stare mestos (Old Cities) I have visited in Eastern Europe. It manages to maintain some of its traditional atmosphere in a way revamped Old Cities do not. The hamams (bathhouses) are hundreds of years old but are still active and used by the males of the town. Mikayil and I climbed the Maiden’s Tower where we were afforded a view of the Caspian Sea as well as of Baku and its surrounding hills.


We strolled along the Bulvar, the road along the Caspian where street vendors sell cotton candy and balloons to families. The wind and cold drove us back up towards the busy modern city center where we wandered past expensive stores, restaurants (and McDonalds!), and through the Tourist Bazaar. We had donor kebab in pita bread which was delicious and peach juice to drink.

On Sunday I went bowling with NISA alum and students who will be attending the NISA Winter Session that I am helping to organize. It was great fun, and the bowling alley was newer and more shiny than any bowling alley I have ever seen in the U.S. We played two games and then I went for a walk with a few new friends. We took a bus up the hill to Martyr’s Lane which is a very somber (and clean) memorial to the Red Army’s 1990 attack in Baku after an attempt at independence. There is large ever burning flame at the end of the walk that we crowded around to get warm! We took the funicular down the hill (very exciting, I don’t think I’d ever been in a funicular before!) and found a restaurant to eat in as we were all desperately hungry!

I’ve spent the week in the NISA office, going out for fabulous lunches of lentil soup and traditional Azeri foods (yum! Meaty!). My favorite meal was xingal, meat and sour cream served over some kind of gooey-flour-made substance. It is dark, cold and windy in the evenings, so only twice have I been brave enough to explore a bit, since my warm apartment is so inviting. I have developed a bit of an addiction to the baklava which is delicious but very expensive. This does not bode well for my wallet or my waistline. Also, it is very cheap (around $2) to get a yummy lamb meat and a salad mix wrapped up in lavash (sort of very very thin pita type bread) for dinner.

I have been reading “Ali and Nino” which is a very intriguing story of Ali, a Muslim Azeri schoolboy from an aristocratic family who falls in love with Nino, a Christian from a wealth Georgian family with European sensibilities. It is the time of WW1 and they are living in Baku. As the story is told from Ali’s point of view, I am exposed to all sorts of cultural norms and practices that I have never before researched much or learned about. I have never personally made a study of Arab culture or customs, and I find myself encountering a very different kind of world (at least for fictional Ali in WW1 era Baku). I have drawn no conclusions as of yet, but generally I am very worried for the long term possibilities of Ali and Nino’s relationship.
Just a few things I have noticed—I am sure I will have more things to share as the month progresses . . .

The police are everywhere . . . walking, standing, guarding, and of course in their police cars pulling over traffic violators. As my new friend Yalchin says, “We have many traffic regulations, but no one fully implements them.” The strangest thing about these cop cars is that they have PA systems from which they broadcast instructions to offending drivers. Imagine you are walking down the main street in Baku, past a billboard of a smiling President Aliyev, and you hear a siren followed by loud, angry directions in Azeri (loud enough on the PA system for everyone within two blocks to hear). I have to say it is very strange, and it happens quite a bit, especially at rush hour.

The traffic is indeed quite scary and my most invigorating moments of the day are often when crossing the street. Does anyone remember the game frogger? Well crossing the street here is just like “frogger” only with humans. Mom, please don’t look up the game.

Luckily I usually take the bus which costs only 20 kopecks and deposits me very close to my apartment and work. The only trick is that you must tell the driver when you want to stop (except for a very few large fixed bus stops), and if the bus is packed and you are at the rear, that can be very difficult. The trick is to secure a spot near the front and to not be afraid to voice your need to STOP. :-) Having missed my stop once and been forced to hail a cab to make my way back (luckily every taxi driver knows where the Hyatt is), I am now a bit more vocal!

I spent today (Saturday! no work!) wandering around Baku and poking in bookshops and clothing stores- it was lovely! I had a very expensive but delicious burger at the Sunset Cafe, which is very American in style. I found the only English-speaking bookstore and purchased a "Learn Azeri" cd-rom that I hope to delve into soon.

I have had the feeling all week that something is very basically different about being in Baku, then any where else I have ever been while traveling (or at home). I think I finally figured out the basic reason why things just feel so DIFFERENT . . . there really aren't tourists here. It is the largest city in the Caucasus, and if there are any tourists, you certainly can't tell them apart from the locals. In every capital city in the world that I have been to there have tourists. I also, very clearly, am not a local. This is easily seen by the color of my skin, my eyes, even my hair. I think there is some chance that at times I am passing for one of the small members of the Russian population here, but most of the time I think I just look like a blond British doll. Thank goodness I speak some Russian so I am able to communicate, order food, etc., and not completely stick out.

I have noticed that whenever I am in a big-city (well, "big" is a relative term), I tend to adopt the "city" affect-- bored and slightly irritated as if I am thinking that I may be too cool to even be in this city. I think I learned it in New York.

Hopefully pictures will come soon, the internet is slow for now.

:-) HUGS!