#5 My bestest trick in the IZ was to stop at the double checkpoint near the Convention Center/Iraqi parliament - contract Peruvians on one side, Georgian soldiers on the other - open both front windows, and fire warm greetings in Spanish to the first and Georgian to the second. They always laughed - I had the impression they stood there for entire shift and could hardly talk to each other due to the language gap.
The Georgian greetings exhausted my vocabulary (apart from food and drinking words), but once I was able to use Russian with a Georgian officer to help clear up a wee mix-up that was hindering access at Checkpoint 3, where the Georgians manned the inner layer for some time.
Sorry to see the Georgians leave, especially for the reason they're leaving.
I actually was in Tskhinvali one August years back - breathtakingly beautiful setting, though of course back then there was no power and things were in their casual post-Soviet disarray condition.
Has anyone remarked that Gori, the Georgian town closest to S. Ossetia and the target of at least some Russian attacks, is Stalin's hometown? His birthplace/house, museum, and WWII command rail car are there - I assume the Russians will avoid hitting these shrine-like treasures ..... |