Day 30.1: Dog goes "woof" Cat goes "meow" Bird goes "tweet" And mouse goes "squeak" Cow goes "moo"

Miles: 178
Countries: Georgia
Stops: Lanchkhuti -> Zestaponi ->
Playlists: Vocal Trance

It's a little cheating since I'm starting with yesterday today.

After our swim, we got on the road and drove until we got into Batumi downtown. We needed to find a place with wifi since Georgia is outside of the Roaming Zone for Rogers. Of course the only place we found for food was a Turkish restaurant, so we had a shawarma and Iskender kabob again ... I must say... I think it was better than the one we had IN turkey! SOOO good.

We used their wifi and got Georgian maps, updates and any other info we needed. Got back on the road and drove a couple of hours.

Three things we noted about Georgia:

1. They're even worse drivers than in Turkey. Zero regard for any rules or laws and we have our 4 eyes looking out at all times.
2. Even if a police car is going by with flashing lights, no one cares. No one moves, it seems a thing here.
3. Butt cracks are also a thing. Not sure if it's a small town thing, but we drove through many towns where we saw guys pull their pants down to let let their butt crack hang out. Cooling off maybe?
4. Folding your shirt up over your chest and letting your stomach hang out and just standing there with your arms on your hips seems to also be a thing no matter where we go.
5. Cows. Holy cow, cows. You can't go 2 minutes without a cow on the roads, including the major freeways. Drove by 3 separate cow herds on the roads just writing this one point.
6. Pigs, ducks, dogs, chickens, goats, horses, and more cows also seem to live on the roads.
7. What a change in scenery from Turkey. Everything is SO luscious and green. Like, emerald green and thick and just stunning. Swimming especially was wicked as we were in the bluest of waters with the greenest mountains as a backdrop.
8. Gas IS SO CHEAP. We're used to paying about $1.60-2/L (CAD) and it's down to 0.80CAD.

Cows!

Also, the language thing. My mom was telling me how Russian was mandatory in schools here, at least with the older generation so everyone, so far, seems to speak it, albeit with a super thick accent.

Cows (If this were a drinking game, it would take us MONTHS to get out of this country).

Cow!

Took us a while to find a spot to sleep since the gas stations were so run down and small. We drove off the road and found a little field where we tucked ourselves into a corner. With our tarp, --COWS--we were as stealthy as ninjas. We were a little worried since there was a parked convertible on the other side of the bush and what seemed like a small party down the cliff by a running river. Pretty sure we were trespassing so we fell silent and hid by the car everytime someone emerged. It was already dark, although only 8:30pm so we were good. We got ready for bed and I went to pop a squat. Managed to lightly brush some plant and broke out in hives/blisters all over my hand. Note to self: next time take a scouts class before wild camping and bring a flashlight. Polysporin and hand sanitizer --COWS-- did the trick since I woke up and it was mostly gone. Cow.

We woke up boxed in by a herd of cows, one just watching us; went down to the river to wash up, and hit the road.

We took a wrong turn and ended up in some back country roads that looked like a war zone: they didn't have potholes, they had craters in the road. Justin was loving it and finally felt like --COWS-- we were driving a rally. COWS.

We found a little coffee shop with wifi -cow- and sat around for over an hour catching up and trying to figure out Azerbaijan visas. We were having the same issues as with the Turkish visa where it wouldn't accept our credit cards. The coffee shop lost power so we moved on to find another shop with wifi. I have a friend from Azerbaijan and he connected us with someone who will be helping us with the ferry - so we're going to ask him to look into the visa situation when we find wifi again. COWS.

Not a super exciting post, but figured wifi is becoming so scarce, just update whenever we can to avoid them being any longer than they already are. COW.