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Hitchhiking in Georgia
I'll admit that the Peace Corps frowns on hitchhiking but sometimes that is all you can do. There was one night I was in eastern Georgia and needed to get to a neighboring town so I decided to try my luck at hitchhiking. The whole experience renewed my love for Georgians. First, I had to walk down the mountain and into town and then out to the main road and it was going to take almost an hour. However, after 5 min of walking a van came by and offered me a ride without any prompting. They guy worked at the training center and was a great guy. We went out of his way to take me to the spot he assumed would be my best bet for catching a ride to the next town. When he dropped me off we exchanged phone numbers and he told me to call in case I couldn't find a ride because he'd come pick me up and have me spend the night with him- classic Georgian hospitality.
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| I didn't even have to smile to get picked up |
After my new friend dropped me off, I situated myself on the side of the road with my sign for where I wanted to go. At first a few cars slowed but no one stopped. After 20 min a delivery van stopped and two guys mentioned me in. I threw my bag in back and joined them in the cab. We started making small talk and I found out that they lived in my region of the country. We immediately had plenty to bond over. They were hilarious guys and the trip was full of laughter. At one point they were hungry so we had to hunt for a roadside bakery so they could buy bread (which we all shared) and the continued to ask me hundreds of questions. They invited me onward to Tbilisi but I declined and got off at my destination.
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| Vineyards in Lagodekhi region |
The next day I had to head back to the training center and I decided to hitchhike again. This time another nice man picked me up. He happened to be from Ukraine and we had a great conversation. He took me about halfway before turning off to go down a different road. He couldn't keep his Russian and Georgian straight he had a great time and I told him how much I enjoyed Ukraine. Always an adventure.
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| No seat no problem. |
Tusheti
Several other volunteers were planning a weekend camping trip and invited me along. We met in Tbilisi after our FLEX training and celebrated Alan's departure for the US (yet another PCV headed home, so many good byes lately). We ate great food and even ordered an entire iris pie from the Rooms Hotel (this dessert is worth a visit to Tbilisi all by itself). Then we went to the store to buy supplies for our journey the next day.
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| Our white chariot up the mountain |
To reach Tusheti we had to take a taxi to a monastery in Eastern Georgia where our driver met us in his 4-wheel drive, 9 person jeep. The road up to Tusheti took 4 hours and was mostly a unimproved, single lane, dirt road which switched up and down several mountains. It is easily one of the most dangerous roads in Georgia. Just to go to Tusheti we have to get explicit permission from Peace Corps staff due to the remote location and history of unforeseen problems. The road up is only open for 3 months a year and most families who live in Tusheti only stay for the summer months because winter can be so harsh.
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| Climbing into the clouds |
Diklo
We got to our first village, Diklo, late Friday afternoon and set up our camp right outside of town just as it started to rain. There were 8 of us in 2 man tents so it made gathering difficult. Once the rain stopped some old village woman wandered over to our camp and offered us a pot of herbal tea because she was worried about our health. Later that evening we ate homemade lamb khinkali in a local's home. They happened to all speak Spanish because they had lived there for several years before coming back to Georgia, that made everything easier.
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| Magic Tushetian tea |
A common site in Georgia, especially in the mountains, are the Caucasian shepherd dogs. I am terrified of them given their size and often aggressive behaviour. While leaving dinner the girls befriended a stray Caucasian Shepard and she followed us back to camp- they named her Gertrude (Gerdie for short). She spent all night in our camp "protecting" us. In the morning we noticed what she'd been protecting us from- a herd of cows. Whenever a cow would come into camp she would chase it away. It was hilarious to watch.
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| Camp with a view |
That morning when we went on a hike to the ruins of Old Diklo she accompanied us. As we passed by a flock of sheep and the shepherd's dog came after us she took the lead and stood her ground until the shepherd could call his dog off. She was a loyal friend. We explored the amazing ruins and returned to camp and slowly packed up. At some point during the morning Nate realized that his jacket was missing and we searched while we packed. However, by the time we were all ready to go the jacket still had not been found. We began to head out of town but decided to run back and look around one last time. That morning we'd seen a cow up on the hill chewing a plastic sack and had made many jokes. When we returned to search for the jacket we realized that the cow had in fact been chewing on the jacket which had been left outside all night. Needless to say the jacket was in poor condition, but luckily the bovine hadn't managed to eat the camera in the jacket pocket. In a test of cow vs goretex though I can testify that the cow wins.
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| Meet Gurdie |
Shenaklo
The hike down to the next village was short and mostly went through a beautiful valley. It was a bright sunny day and we covered the distance quickly. We were sad that Gurdie had decided to stay behind but assumed it was probably for the best. The village sat high upon a hill and we decided to camp outside of its boundaries so we scouted around until we found a decent area near the edge of the forest. We set up camp and had a delicious meal of cucumbers, bread, mystery sandwich meat, and cheese.
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| Following the leader |
Next we wandered off to find the supposed Fortress of Love where to lovers from different villages were forced to live on their own because no one approved of their marriage. The story has it that when the invaders came they ransacked and destroyed both the villages but the lovers were spared because they lived in a secluded area and today all the people in the area are their descendants. After a walk we found some old ruins which we decided were the fortress of love, but there wasn't a marker so who knows.
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| Lunch of champions |
After exploring the fortress we headed back towards town in search of a spring to fill our water bottles. We ended up climbing the hill to the top where some kids directed us to a place to fill out bottles. As we were walking to the place I saw a massive dog coming down the path and moved to get out of the way- I swear they are part bear. We were all a little nervous until we realized that it was in fact Gurdie our friend from the other village. She had followed our trail to the other village and found us. It was quite the homeward bound moment.
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| Homeward Bound moment with Gurdie |
The rest of the evening was relaxed and we ate dinner in a local guesthouse where we ran into another volunteer and his parents on vacation. Near the end of dinner it started to rain so we left in a hurry to get back to camp. By 9pm we were in our tents and the rain began to come down hard, and it didn't let up at all the whole night. We were stuck in our tents listening the the rain and hoping we could avoid getting wet.
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| Possible Fortress of Love |
Dartlo
It rained all night and I took several tablets of pepto because I wasn't about to go out in the rain! Around 8 the rain slowed and we were able to get out and start to plan the day. Our driver wasn't able to reach us so we were going to have to hike down the mountain and up the next one to reach Omalo where our driver would meet us to take us out to a far village. We quickly cleaned and packed our camp so we could get out onto the trail before the rain started up again.
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| Descending out of the clouds to climb the next mountain |
The way out of town was a muddy mess. We trudged along until we got to the end of the ridge and began to take the switchbacks down the face. Once we reached the river it was back up on the other side and then it started to rain. By the time we reached the final couple of switches we were slipping and sliding as we attempted to make the final climb. At the final moment as we began to crest the trail our driver appeared like a deus ex machina. We quickly loaded into the jeep and went flying off through the mud onto our next destination.
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| Dartlo |
We arrived in Dartlo and made a group choice to fore go another night in tents and we booked beds in a guesthouse. Then we went out to explore the town. We were situated on a hillside at the base of a beautiful mountain with a runoff waterfall. The town was in the process of being restored and looked really impressive. At the top of the mountain we could see some towers so we decided to climb up and check the out. Almost 2 hours later we arrived at the peak- exhausted, wet, and thirsty; it was a beautiful view and despite the terrible climb there was also a guesthouse at the top.
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| View from the top |
After we returned to camp we had a great final dinner and then decided to play some cards back in our room. While we were playing on of the other volunteers came in and was mysteriously bloody. He'd slipped in the rain and hit his head on the shale made stairs and had a rather large cut on the back of his head. It was late, he was a little out of it, and we had few supplies on hand. Luckily between the group we had all we needed to bandage him up and stop the bleeding. There was no way to get him out that night if needed so we were lucky it wasn't worse. It definitely made things more interesting.
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| #SquadGoals right? |
Back to Civilization
We got up early the next morning and cleaned up our bloody mess from the night before. Luckily the volunteer was ok and there was no need for further attention. The driver came and we started out 5 hour drive back to the town at the base of the mountains. It was a bumpy ride but the views are amazing. Stunning vistas from every window. We eventually reached the small town where our driver left us and then we loaded onto a marshutka to head back to Tbilisi an almost 8 hour journey from door to door. It was exhausting so we rewarded ourselves with a trip to Wendys and I decided to download Pokemon Go to see what the fuss was all about. I caught my first Pokemon there in the entrance to Wendys- classic.
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| Last stop before the final descent |
See some more beautiful views from Tusheti in the video below:
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