I think I saved the best for last unknowingly.
I've been a real purist about not taking any tours while I'm here. I picture the mile-high buses crawling through the narrow village towns booting burros, pigs and cows out of the way. And believe me, they do exactly that. Then the tourists from the US, Germany, France and other parts pour out, run the gauntlet of souvenir sellers and immediately start snapping pictures before they even grok where they are. I guess you can see my snobbery cleverly hidden away.
I prefer the messy and uncertain pathway of finding the right marshrutka to get to the right staging area where the long-distance marshrutka or bus takes off from. I can read the signs on the buses to tell where they go and I'm fine with asking where the bus to...goes. Once arriving, it's a matter of finding a taxi driver, negotiating a price and going to the site. This way leads to so many adventures, pleasant and unpleasant both but rich.
Well, to get to Lori Province which contains the Debed Canyon, Haghpat Monastery and Sanahin Monastery is a long drive usually necessitating an overnight stay. I decided to go with one of the local tour services that is well thought of. For a very reasonable price, we had a 12-hour tour through the area which included a wonderful roadside lunch. Khorovats, of course. I hate to mention this to the world but my not-eating-meet world is crumbling a bit. Of course, it's hard to say no when someone has invited me into their house and extended their personality. But there have been the times when I'm out on the street and hungry or at this roadside lunch where I just had khorovats. Doesn't that sound much more, well, refined and foreign than kabobs of pork or lamb? So this is one of the many ways I'm changing here. Don't know if I'll become a blood-dripping-from-the-lips as I eat raw meat carnivore, but the ground has certainly been walked on.
Our very first stop was actually in the province of Aragatsotn. Out in the middle of an endless expanse of pastureland, is the Armenian alphabet built out of tuff stone blocks that are about 6 feet tall and sit on pedestals. Saint Mesrop Mashtots in 405 constructed the Armenian alphabet. This was a major event in the history of Armenia as it gave the country a way to resist assimilation by the various invading groups. This had huge cultureal signficance.
Anyhow, Debed Gorge, the home of Hovannes Tumanyan (another story), Sanahin and Haghpat Monasteries were a real highlight of this trip. The countryside is rough, green, covered with trees and the towns are absolutely luscious - in my definition of luscious which to me means rough in many ways with few of the standards we experience in the US but with a different kind of wealth which includes burros, pigs and cows in the streets.
We got home late and I went out to dinner with Anahit and some of the guests. Again, too late to want to enter a journal entry.
This is my last day. I will probably make one more entry tomorrow at one of the airports. I've really enjoyed sharing these adventures with you and appreciate your comments so much.
Tsedesutyun yev bari chanapar,
Bob
