Feel the depression in Goris

This post deserves a melancholic song: Mac DeMarco - Chamber of Reflection

Getting from Yeghegnadzor to Goris was hard work because of the bus problem mentioned in an earlier post. In fact it was impossible to get a seat in a bus but also in a taxi. The taxi drivers refused to drive there even not for 50 € (25.000 dram) because this would break their suspensions and thus the car so that they would loose their income. A taxi took me only few kilometers further to Vayk because many bus drivers make there a break to eat something. There young soldiers tried to help me to find a bus without success. Nevertheless I learned a lot about the political situation from the Armenian point of view and they convinced me to visit Nagorno-Karabakh.

I found a big bus driving to Tehran with only about 5 passengers. It was nevertheless hard to get a seat and only after hard negotiations with the help of a soldier and paying 40 € (about a tenth of a monthly average salary)  I could drive with them. They 2 Iranian bus drivers were harsh and I was not allowed to walk around in the bus. I had to sit right besides the driver. Later it was clear why.

The bus started to climb the Vorotan pass and they told me that the last 3 days the south of Armenia could not be reached because the mountain pass was blocked by snow. This is crazy because there was not much snow but the officials have no bulldozer or similar to push the snow from the main street. Just look at this:

Not that much snow.

This is Armenia's main road! The potholes were sometimes so deep that the bus hit the ground and had to move back and forth a while to come out of the potholes.

After the pass the road got better.

From the pass to Goris the road is always at an altidude of 2000 m.

I was shocked. What is this for a government? This is the only road to the Syunik province. A government has to take care for their people but obviously they don't care. Now I understood the taxi drivers. For small cars the potholes where simply too deep. Later in Nagorno-Karabakh I learned that without corruption it is possible to keep the roads in a drivable shape. See one of my next posts.

Right before we reached Goris the bus stopped at a small improvisational gas station. I noted a smell of gasoline in the bus and now I realized why the bus had almost no passengers and I was not allowed to walk in the bus - it was packed full of diesel fuel. Under every seat they packed a canister and also the compartment for the luggage was packed full of canisters. I helped the drivers to unload the many containers which took a long time. We just continued to drive down to Goris when we were stopped like in an action film: a car passed us and then made a full stop. 4 men with guns jumped out of the cars and ran to our bus. When they entered the bus they showed the police cards. After some negotiations I did not understand we could continue.

Some of the unloaded canisters with diesel fuel.

View over Goris. In the background you can see the mountains with the caves.

View over Goris from the caves.

So once again I was confronted with corruption. The people in Goris explained me the system of these fuel stations. The police is collecting bribes because they are of course illegal. The Armenian mentality is hereby very strange. Yes the neighbor countries are enemies but this is not the main reason for the poverty. It is corruption! For example in Goris they told me about a sheriff who took a lot of bribes. In the next elections they therefore elected a person who claimed not to take bribes. He honored his pledge but then the Armenians said: "What a stupid guy. Now he is the boss of the police and does not take bribes to have a better life for his family." and "I wish back the old times where I could drive too fast and just give the police a few drams. Now I have to pay the full fee." In fact they elected another one and now thew are ranting about his corruption. Sorry to say that but this is idiotic.

Goris is a small town famous for its caves. Unfortunately it is also depressing. The streets are dead, all parks are in a bad shape, it is hard to find a restaurant and when the night came the town was completely dark because there was no electricity for the street lights. Here are some impressions:

Most caves near the center of the town are destroyed.

People told me that some inhabitants lived in the caves until the 1930s

One of the main roads.

The Saint Gregory Cathedral.

House of the bishop of the diocese of Syunik

The main square. The building in the middle is the municipality building.

The municipality building.

Statue at the main square.

A park

It was spooky that behind many windows people were watching me as if I am a spy or something. As you can see there was sun but people looked so disappointed from everything. All the talks, the whole town, it was as if I was in a cloud of depression.