Made it to Baku

Challenging night train ride from Tibilisi to Baku. We shared a sleeper car with Georgi from Georgia - a retired station master on his way to visit friends near Baku. Being able to speak and understand Slovak has proved so beneficial as it is close to Russian. It has been how we are communicating with people like Georgi. 

The sleeper car was nice enough until you actually try to lay down and sleep. We slept directly over the wheels of the wagon.  The train tracks in Azerbaijan make the Cyclone seem like silk. I counted 26 different types of sounds that metal make banging metal. Twice I startled myself from half sleep convinced the train was derailing. The AC froze the room until the train stopped - sometimes for over an hour - and it would shut off  bringing the room back to the desert temperatures. And there is a heat wave going on. 

I write this blog at a Gloria Jean's Coffee stand that has WiFi. That's right Gloria Jean's Coffee that you would find in an American mall. This mall is shiny, bright, air-conditioned and has KFC which Dad just brought a 3 piece meal over.