A few days in and already picked up by the police #4/13

9 September

     Policeman: where are you going?
     Me: Mestia!
     Policeman: Do you know you are going the wrong way?
     Me: uh...

And this is how I got picked up by the police. They were so kind and the whole thing turned ridiculous as the police would take me just to the next station and then call ahead to the next station where I would be passed along to a new truck. All in all I traveled about 40 uphill kilometers and laughed with the police the whole way.

I did manage to get a mini bus to Zugdigi saving myself the stress of riding out of the city and riding 330km on flat, hot, and very humid terrain. The ride from my hotel to the station was plenty exciting. As in many countries, lanes lines and safe passing zones are superfluous. I had to trust that people would rather preserve their car's paint job than hit a biker. The station was crazy. I never actually saw a bus, just hundreds of mini buses with the towns they were going to written in Georgian on the windshield. I stood there wondering how this was going to work. Someone finally took pity and when I said "zugdigi?" They pointed me to a mini bus. Done.

Once I finally started cycling, the road to Mestia was the longest most beautiful 140km. I camped along a section of road that was impassible for cars but perfect for a bicycle due to rock fall. I got to look over the Jvari Reservoir and listen to stray dogs howl.

The next morning I set out with determination. I had 75km to ride on a road that gains almost 10,000 feet of elevation in 87 miles. I made it halfway, I would have kept going, but there was a beer truck that was insistent on offering me a ride. While driving onward (my bike nestled among cases of beer) the driver who spoke zero english called his friend who did, and had his friend ask if I would drink a beer with him. It made me laugh out loud but I refused. The driver shrugged his shoulders with a "never hurts to try" smile, and his brother laughed.

We pulled I to Mestia and my jaw dropped.

The Sanveti area is beautiful and I cannot wait to get out and explore it. The town of Mestia is heavy with tourism and expanding at a great rate. The center of town is starting to look more like a village at a ski resort, but walk just a little ways and it is charming. Cows laying in the road, laundry swinging on lines, and a glimpse into what things were like before it became such a destination.