Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Walk, The Second

The pavement was very uneven, and missing in parts, and the buildings were in a pretty poor state of repair. Many were in use yet unfinished, and everything was caked in concrete dust. After walking for about 10 minutes I found a flight of concrete steps leading into the ground. I ventured down them, hoping to find a huge underground complex from Soviet times, full of dead soldiers and military computers. Instead I found an unfinished pedestrain underpass. There were just bare wires where the lights should have been but I managed to make my way through it, and back, before continuing on my journey.

The next thing of note I found was a heavliy fortified building which turned out to be the headquarters of the US Peace Corps in Armenia. The US Peace Corps is a voluntary program which teaches the English language and American culture(sic!) to countries who can't say no.

While I was loitering with intent, an Armenian security guard came out of the building to see if I was a volunteer. We chatted for a while and then I went in search of a restaurant and food shop that he had mentioned. I didn't find the restaurant but I found the shop so I sticked up on supplies and walked back to my apartment.

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