Andy Snider, Fresno Chaffee Zoo's director of animal care and conservation, is in Armenia to tag and track Armenian vipers. Snider is a nationally known expert on reptiles and amphibians. Snider is in Armenia until Sept. 10 and is sharing his experiences with readers of The Bee.

Andy's Armenia Adventure
Part 7, 5 September 2008

I think I'd like to try driving here someday. I, too, would love the opportunity to make two lanes each way into four or five lanes and decide for myself which traffic lights really need to be obeyed.

I remarked the other day to one of the drivers that it seemed like the traffic laws were more like suggestions, which he thought was quite funny. The following day, he stopped at the light he'd purposely missed the day before, and was very proud to let me know it!

I don't remember ever having seen a speed limit sign here, or perhaps I'm just not recognizing it as such. I know there has to actually be a speed limit, since we saw a policeman on the side of the road the other day with a radar gun. It's uncanny how the drivers seem to know where the police will be, even without a radar detector in the vehicle. But it's really amazing that in the four years of which I've visited this beautiful place, I've seen exactly one accident. Considering that I see more than that in Fresno in the course of a single week, I'd say the Armenian folks aren't doing too badly at all.

Speaking of roads (well, sort of), the roads here have improved dramatically over the last year. It's obvious that much time and money has been spent fixing what needs to be fixed and replacing what needs to be replaced. And when you're going through incredibly rugged countryside, slowing down a little for some potholes doesn't really bother me that much.

I've thought many times how the Armenian countryside reminds me quite a bit of the foothills to the east of Fresno. Rolling hills, dry and cracked, with rocky outcroppings, leading to higher mountains with pines and other trees. To be honest, much of Armenia is tree-less, but there are still ample forests in some areas. The Fresno foothills have rattlesnakes (at least some of them do), while the Armenian equivalent would be blunt-nosed vipers and Armenian vipers, among others. Man, maybe that's why I like this place, and the Fresno area, so much!

For those "car" folks, of which I'm really not one, the most popular car here is a Lada, while Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are also quite popular in some areas. I've even seen one Ford F-150 truck, and our taxi the other day was a brand-spanky-new Dodge Grand Caravan!

The gasoline issue seems to have passed, as most of the stations are now open again. We must have passed 30 or so tanker trucks the other night on our way back from the Meghri region, which I'm assuming were either full of petrol or going back for more. Oh yeah ... the passing or no-passing lines on the roads are really only "suggestions" too. :-)