2013_09_18 Wednesday: Mestia - Zugdidi - Borjomi

Today was a travel day that started way too early. Woke up at 5:50 so as to be on the 7:00 marshrutka from Mestia to Zugdidi, where our jeep rental was awaiting us. The driver didn't leave Mestia until 8:15, which was most annoying. 

The drive is supposed to take about 3 hours (136km). He did it in 2:45 including multiple stops. He drove way too fast, and gave everyone a big scare when he passed rapidly in between two cows (yes, cows tend to  hang out on roads around here).

Arriving in Zugdidi a little before 11:00, we waited for nearly an hour for our jeep to arrive. It's an old Pajero with 225,000 km on it, and an AC that works best when it's cold outside... In the jeep we found a time capsule treasure in the form of a cassette tape with music from that era (80's). In fact, this country appears to be stuck in the 80's music-wise. For instance, it was most amusing, the other day, having a 50 y/o tough Georgian driver listen to Celine Dion and to Roxette's "it must have been love"...

Anyway, we drove to Borjomi, which took far too long (nearly 300km). En route, we had a long stop in Kutaisi in a futile attempt to locate local restaurants..

A word about Georgian driving: it's insane. The concept of a continuous white line exists in theory only (namely, the lines exist, but ignored). Therefore, driving is rather tiring since one needs to continuously worry about passing oncoming vehicles. Further, there's always the occasional cow on the road...

Occasional cow

We arrived in Borjomi in around 18:00 or so. At the information center there was a guy by the name of Artur, who was extremely informative and most amusing in his hyperactivity, and in asking everyone to fill out a quick survey.  We then met with Neta and Alon again, and are sharing an apartment-like guesthouse on Prifomani 9, which is a really nice facility.