Gamarjobat!

Welcome to the suburban projects of Phonichala (my temporary home for the last week)

For awhile I thought this guy was a cobbler, as one might infer from sign above his trailer/store. As far as I can tell, the trailer is just a place to hang out and smoke cigarettes all day. Him and I couldn't communicate but we enjoyed each other's company at the local bar (the local bar is a small picnic table that serves one kind of beer for 40 Tetri or USD 30 cents GAMARJOBAT!)

.  Carved, scratched and spray-painted onto the walls and doors of nearly every 10 story high-rise in Phonichala are the names of 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Eminem, et al.  The only local I've come into contact with who spoke English asked only one thing of me:

"Tell me, please tell me of 2Pac. What do you know of him? Anything of 2Pac? You like? You like?" he pleaded.

At this point, I felt an incredible degree of self-irony as I, one of the least qualified Americans to explain the tale of 2Pac, began to give a brief biography:

"Uh well, you see, there was this East-West rivalry... And... uh it was 2Pac versus Notorious BIG and they really didn't like each other...and...uh....Oh! 2Pac died in 1996 the same year Weezer's Pinkerton came out, do you like Weezer?"

"2Pac?"