Azerbaijan: Day 16
Lada driver mayhem through Tblisi. Stinky cheese bread for lunch. Stuck at Red Bridge border with unruly teenage soldier guards for eight hours. Other Ralliers tormented but “Lady Sara Baltimore Miss America” charmed our captors and kept us in relative comfort. Official bribes paid = $5. Unofficial bribes paid = 0.
From the road:
07-31-07 at 12:13 – SMS Post
Lots 2 tell, but will have 2 wait. In summary, after 6 hrs at the border we r in Azerbaijan! Now 9 hrs ahead of EST. Onto Baku!
at 0:25 – Baku!
After driving all night on the worst roads yet, we’ve landed in Baku and found an internet cafe to help us track down other teams and a hotel were we can have a much needed shower. The border was a pain, but everyone was nice to us and our fake wedding bands came in handy a lot. It took 3 hours of waiting outside the gate to even get into the customs area (this includes the compulsory dinner break for the guards of course) and then another 2-3 hours to get the paperwork done. Cory talked politics with the road tax clerk while the other guards kept calling me Ms America. Anyway, there’s a lot more to this story, but it will have to wait, we are off!