22nd of June was another day for the humankind and an important step for OssiBussi travels; we entered finally to this magic land after loads of hazzle with visas. On the border we were asked to pay 200 dollars of road taxes etc and 5000 dollars of deposit of bringing a vehicle to the country. Of course we dont have this kind of money and we denied to pay and insisted the deposit to be less. It took seven hours on the border to deal about this, at times more active, some hours just sleeping and cooking and taking shower on the border…

In the end there came one custom officer getting already a bit mad with us spending our time and not paying. He said, if we dont pay, they deny our visas and put us back to Georgia. Well, after some more discussions (Thanks a zillion for Aylin’s Turkish… Azerilanguage is just like Turkish so thats how we could deal about the payments!) and finally the custom officer was happy if we pay road taxes, forget about the deposit but give him 60 dollars and GO! Yee, so we did and such a freedom it felt to roll on azeri land finally!!

In one week it has been a lot of adventures, lets go back to them later… In general this country is something to remember with deserts and such warm-hearted people. The rumours of rude policemen hasnt been true; they have treated us very well. We are now already in the metropoli capital Baku by the superpolluted CAspian sea… And it is so Hot Hot Hot!!!!

More stories will follow…

Sun and shine***

Tanaan on taikapaiva!
Saimme viisumit Azerbaijaniin, tadaa, wolaa ja voltteja taaksepain -
nyt on uusi ovi auki Ossin menna, vahanko hymyilyttaa.

Mutta oli kylla kaikista vaikein, epaselvin ja kallein viisumi mita olen koskaan ollut hommaamassa. (suosittelen seikkailunhaluisille!)

Ihmeita tapahtuu, joskus vaan vahan kalliita…viisumit kutsuineen maksoivat 135 euroa per henki.

Haleja kaikille keijuihmisille ja iloista Juhannusta!

**
The Grande Momentum! We gor our visas for Azerbaijan…finally. Now its time for celebration…

The Magic hapens…sometimes its just a bit expensive, now we needed to pay around 135 euro each for whole visa process.

Kisses and happy mid-summer!

**Gabriel

Kohtaamiset georgialaisten miesten kanssa saavat mut omistamaan kokonaisen tekstin Heille. Georgian kulttuurissa Hyva Mies on hyva juomaan paljon viinia ja viinaa viikonpaivasta riippumatta (enemman kuin suomipoika). Kansa on taalla super-hyper-vieraanvaraisia vierailleen ja sehan on kaunista vaan tuo alkoholiosuus on ollut haastetta.  Vieras on tavoitteena juottaa ihan hirmuiseen kanniin ja sen jalkeen paikalliseen tyyliin lahtea ajelulle, oli se sitten bussi taikka Lada:) Alkuunsa otimme maljapuheet viineineen vastaan, mutta koska viinitarjouksia sataa harva se paiva, olemme todenneet parhaaksi sanoa “Ara alcohol, madloba”, “ei viinaa,kiitti”… Mutta tuollaista selitysta ei taalla kylla helpolla niella, melkein kunnianloukkaus. Yleensa kylanmies ja viinaitonkka taikka oluttankki tulevat Bussin ovesta sisaan, ellei ulos tyonneta. Tallakin hetkella Bussin sangyn alla matkaa noin 13 litraa lahjaviinia, what to do. Tammoset “lasillinen kuukaudessa”-naukkailijat siemaileekin sita jonkin aikaa. Surkeaa vain, etta taalla on tullut nahtya viisivuotias hulauttamassa viinilasinsa tyhjaks ja kolmetoistavuotias paivakanneissa miesseurassa…oe voe

Ja kun meita sattuu nyt olemaan Bussissa nelja naista ja yksi mies (niin tosiaan: paivityksena Tim loikkasi jo Turkin puolelta takas Istanbuliin Sydamensa viemana ja Elli lahti eilen aamulla matkaan kohti Italian Rainbowta. Sinne pitaa menna minne Sydan vie!) niin, mielenkiintoa ulkomaailmasta naisseurueelle riittaa… Veeraa jo kosiskeltiin jaamaankin piskuiseen kylaan Tbilisin kupeeseen. Matka opettaa sanomaan “EI” selvasti ja ronskistikin kun tarvis ja kauniisti silloin kun tilanne vaatii… Ja monella kielella:)

Jukka Poikaa lainaillen>
”

Hyva Mies
Kuinka sita ollaan,
Hyva Mies,
Kuinka sellaiseksi tullaan,
kukaties
kiita Luojaas jos et oo pahimmasta paasta,
viela on toivoo

Monta on Miesta
Maailma taynnansa
Monesta Tiesta valita Vaylansa
Evaana se, mika evaaks on annettu

Pienesta pitaen se opitaan
Miehen Mitta ja miten siihen sovitaan…
Hyva Mies

”

Georgian jalkeen matkailu jatkuu muslimimaissa joissa viinkulttuuri on toista maata… eli nostetaan nyt viela yks malja sit Georgialle ja sitten Nachwamdis, eteenpain!

Cherrytime has come… (but dont even think we cut the branches… this wasgift from local men…uu)

OssiBussi Shanti Lines is moving slow but these days even slower because our Azerbaijan visa hunting seems to be taking ages thanks to azeri byrocracy… Firstly we needed an invitation from some local organisation or company, but when we finally would have had it from SOS Children Village in Baku (after one week organizing) Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan told it is not acceptable. So, we had to ask the Letter Of Invitation (LOI) from travel agency and again email back and forth zillions of times (another week passed). Also, just these days the policy had changed and Azerbaijan is also confirmation of a hotel room booking for one night. Uh, what to do, we booked some five star hotel of 1 000 dollars just to have this proof, to be canceled when the visas are finally in the hands… Meanwhile waiting for the answers and Foreign Ministery 10 days processing of our LOIs we left Tbilisi for some adventure in south-east Georgia, Kakheti region.

Roof top travellers Veera, Sanna and Aylin :)

Nice panorama :)

Middle of amazing moony landscape there is one of oldest Georgian monastery area, Davit Gareja (some more photos will come later!). Anybody travelling to this direction should visit!!! Really heart-breakingly beautiful.. Monks living in the cave-houses, little church inside the stone too. Lot of space and miracles of the nature.. In the spot which most tourist (99% Georgians) visit in few hours, we stayed 4 days hiking around, becoming friends with border police and shepherd and the seismologist living there… Yes, on those hills we could already see Azerbaijan… There it is, the land where it is so hard to get in, but Mother Earth is exactly the same beauty, mountains and little rivers… We just happen to need some stupid documents to enter. This world is a bit out of mind with this border policy.

After Davit Gareja there was an option to go and visit Armenia in one week cause there it is possible to get visa on border (hallelujah). But we decided to stay in Georgia, explore Kakheti more. So, we entered Telavi area. Wellcoming wasnt so nice, because in one tiny village drunken young man hit our door window broken, just to release some aggression I guess.

With some hazzle of non-english speaking locals and the most spa-out-police ever, the villagers paid us 20 lari (ten euros) to get new window done. For four days we stayed without door window just plastic cover (elmukelmu) on door…

To balance this loss we found the most lovely camp by the clean river and spent some relaxed days in the nature. In Telavi we found amazingly easily glass cutter who did by handmade the new window.

Food Circle Now!!! :)

…And now we are back in Tbilisi, full of Hope… ready to fill the visa forms for Azerbaijan Embassy the third time now… yee… Thumbs up this Friday!

P.S I saw a dream where I got to know we are still in December here in Georgia… haaa…

Freia xxx

Just five minutes walk from our lovely camp by abandoned house near Tbilisi, there is an orphanage or tiny village for street people. We made few hours visitations with clay and painting and acrobalance. 

In painting session they went one by one to lay down on canvas and the other one draws the lines of the body. It seemed to be easy way to start painting. 

And as a result it become such a great collection of self portraits of children and older ones <3 :