The Baku Blog: Arriving
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by InterMat
Where to begin?
I’m sweating my – for lack of a better term -- face off in a glorified Econo Lodge. Getting here from Frankfurt was a bit more relaxing than I thought it would be, but here’s the run-down.
I ended up walking around the airport in Frankfurt for about an hour and then found my group of USA Wrestling folk – Dave Bennett, Mitch Hull and Pete Isaias. I probably know Pete the best of the groups, since I’ve covered Fargo the last nine years and Pete’s a big part of the event.
I was fearsome about the trip to Baku from Frankfurt, mainly because the trip from Philadelphia was one of the most uncomfortable I’d ever encountered. Although, much to my surprise, I’d forgotten about requesting and exit row when in Philly, so when I boarded the next Lufthansa jet, I had a lot of room and a monitor in front of me. Sat next to a German student that didn’t’ speak much English, but for nearly all of the four hour flight, I was out cold. And literally, it was cold.
I retrieved my blanket and passed out. Unfortunately, Oceans 13 was the movie – one I hadn’t seen, and by the time I ran for the flight attendant to bring me some headphones, I was zonked out again. I’d met some folks from Canada in the gate area before we boarded, then one familiar face showed up – former Stanford wrestler Matt Gentry.
Upon arriving, I had to take care of all my Visa application stuff and that was relatively painless. It was about 10 p.m., so the airport in Baku was generally empty. The Norwegian contingent wasn’t so lucky.
Norway, the Canadians and our small American group were on the same bus headed to the Hotel Absheron, which sits right on the banks of the Caspian Sea. It’s dark outside, so I can’t take in the full view.
I’m not impressed right now. It’s hot, it’s smelly, it’s dark, it’s dusty and there’s some weed that looks like a cross between grass and aloe growing all over the place. I guess it’s like a cactus, because this is a pretty arid part of the world.
We went up to the 16th floor, waited about an hour and got something (finally) to eat around 1 a.m. Baku time. Mitch, Pete and I then jettisoned ourselves to the 10th floor to find the wireless connections, check my e-mail and basically catch up on things that need to be done.
Kerry McCoy was the first one I saw getting off the elevator. “Just reading your blog now,” said the former Olympian. He then continued on and was reading the message boards – something he says he rarely does – and wonders what some people are thinking sometimes.
Join the club. It’s real late, the rooms are small – smaller than my college dorm room, so I don’t know what’s going to keep me up more. My feet or Pete’s snoring – yeah, they stuck me with Pete. I’m sure someone out in Colorado Springs is getting a rise out of that one.
Battery is dying, since I didn’t feel the need to find a plug. Tomorrow’s agenda, according to USA Wrestling: Sleep.
I’ll probably head over to the venue tomorrow and get used to the place I’ll call home for the next 12 days.
Highlight of the day: Azerbaijani Lager – Xirdalan served in a nice Carlsberg Pilsner glass.
And by the way, I was wrong initially, I’m not 12 hours ahead here in Baku, I’m nine hours ahead (Eastern) and 12 hours ahead (Pacific).
