Caspian Swim Time

So, despite warnings about the pollution we took the plunge two Sundays ago and went to the beach west of Baku for a wonderful swim day in the Caspian. Yes, it doesn't LOOK polluted, so you can almost forget. And the water temperature is heavenly.

Our friend Parvin and her son took us on the city bus--about a half hour bus ride, less than 25 cents each way. We picked up the bus a short walk from our apartment. We brought a picnic lunch of veggies, fruit, and bread--Parvin also brought hardboiled eggs and boiled potatoes--and a local brand of fruit loops for snacking (loop colors are not quite the same as in the US).
Look closely at the pic to the left (none of us pictured) here and you'll see an oil rig out to sea.
The sand was raked clean of most cigarette butts and while every umbrella filled up during the day, it never got crowded. If only it weren't for that darn oil rig and I think tourism might have a good shot as a serious industry here. It certainly was as nice as Baha.

The newest university here is a university of tourism--includes economics and English and I hear good things about the Rector there.


Ah--here's a better shot of those durn oil rigs. Not surprisingly, many of the Americans here working for British Petroleum are from Texas. This is a shot of Marlys (left), Parvin (center), and Vatan. The latter's name means "Motherland." Nice.

The area here is as windy as Chicago (I take this on faith since I only remember driving though Chicago once) and I'm certain that together with the sun, the wind and waves could offer much renewable energy--and likely will, after the oil runs out. Who gets the money from the oil? No one is sure--or, they know who isn't getting enough of it: infrastructure and education.







And here are Marlys, me, and Vatan.







The play structures were used by a few families at the beach, but most folks who came were couples and groups of adults. Some wore very skimpy swimsuits that Parvin was not keen about, but no outright Euro-nudity. Folks did bring beer (piva in both Azeri and Russian) and seemed to be having a nice day of it. One funny thing--when we went to go wash up for lunch, the water was not on--and no one could seem to get it turned on. This is normal outside the center of the city, but I'd think it a bit challenging for a resort-like place!












And just to bring you and our sunburnt selves (yes, we wore sunscreen--which doesn't help if you spend fours hours in the sea in direct sun midday--duh) back to earth, below is our view as we waited out side the beach gate on the road for the next bus to come along. This is Alison signing off for now. Moooooo!