The terrain is dry, large rolling mounds of dirt and rock littered with trash, and completely void of trees or shrubbery (except what has been planted). Many of the dirt mounds are glazed with balding grass, but that has been most of the natural life so far. One main road stretches through the country, with small side roads that branch off.
The people have been extremely polite. I pulled into a small diesel station, looking for an AZ sim card, and they didn't have one but the manager's friend called another friend to pick him up and he went and bought me one with the 20 menot that I gave him! In the meantime the manager made me tea! God bless the AZ people.
The police regularly stop to talk with us. Many of them have been courteous, and genuinely interested with who we are, and what the heck an RV is. Ours is the only one in AZ; and tourism (that's what we are to the police because organized religion is persecuted in AZ) is virtually unheard of away from Baku.
However, many of the police and plain clothed officers want bribe money from us. AZ is in the top ten corrupt countries in the world. Bribery is unofficially accepted. So far we have simply been saying 'no' and they have left us alone, I'm sure being foreign helps. They have many checkpoints along the way and if you don't give them any bribes then they have the ability to not let you cross over. In a twisted way it's kind of fun saying 'no' to a police officer, and pretending that I don't know what they're asking for, when I know.
We are presently at a wonderful friend's home. She is a jolly American with a ready smile and laugh, and humorous story. She's an awesome servant who has helped us in more ways than we can count! A sweet AZ young lady is her roommate who helps foreigners learn the language.
May God bless these wonderful people, and may He bless Azerbaijan.
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