I need to preface my blog by stating that I am not a well-traveled
person. The extent of my travel includes
only brief trips to Mexico and Canada. Therefore,
flying around the world was an adventure beyond my wildest dreams- or
nightmares I wasn't quite sure which when I began this adventure.
I left the comforts of home and familiar food Wednesday
morning but given the distance I didn't arrive in Tbilisi until Friday
morning. I had a 12-hour layover in
Istanbul Turkey which was an adventure in itself and one I don't wish to ever
repeat. As soon as I got on the plane to Georgia I felt like I had stepped back
in time. The crew was dressed in skirts
and blouses with little hats, and we boarded the plan by walking out on the tarmac
and up a portable set of stairs. For me, it was definitely a step back in time.
I arrived in Tbilisi sometime around 2:00 am, and I must say
it was good to see Logan’s happy face waiting for me just outside the baggage claim. I was tired, hungry and ready to be with
someone who could just take over and let me just relax. After a big hug we were off to start our adventure
together. As we walked towards the exit
he leaned in to tell me to brace myself for what was waiting outside. How crazy
could it be? Its 2:00 am, shouldn't most
people be in bed? How wrong I was. I
think every taxi driver the country was waiting outside smoking and
yelling. I almost wanted to turn back,
but grabbed my son’s arm and held on to him and my luggage. After what sounded like a yelling match and
some very unhappy people, Logan turned to me and pointed out the taxi to get
into. I wasn't sure this was a good idea
- after all hadn't they just been fighting?
I soon found out that this is how Georgians speak - loud and full of
emotion. Let the fun begin!
The capital city of Tbilisi was a good place to start acclimating
me to this foreign country. English is
still commonly spoken, and there are a few American style restaurants here and
there. Including the dessert shop Luca Polare
which sold the best gelato I have ever had, I’m not a huge ice cream fan but I
loved this stuff!
The first stop on my tour was the Peace Corp office. Getting
to meet all the people behind the scenes working to keep Logan safe, productive,
and happy was wonderful. I have a new
love and appreciation for all of them. After
a quick bite to eat we stopped by the FLEX (State Dept. funded high school
exchange) program office and Logan introduced me to some of the Georgians he
has worked with. I was so amazed at the
work they do and the caliber of the kids that are in this program. Finally, we headed out to explore the city - touring
through old town Tbilisi, my first castle, a waterfall, several churches, and a
mosque until sundown.
That evening we met up with other PCVs at the new "Hard
Rock" Tbilisi. Knowing this was
probably my last familiar meal I really enjoyed myself, but probably not as
much as the PCV's who have gone without some of these American favorites for
much longer than me. It was fun to get
to meet and interact with so many of them and to get to celebrate Melody’s
birthday. We then decided to make the
night last a little longer and take the funicular up to the Ferris wheel on top
of the hill overlooking Tbilisi. Unfortunately,
we arrived just after the Ferris wheel had closed for the night, so we settled
for some hot doughnuts and ice cream. Luckily, Logan decided we needed to walk
home rather than take a taxi so we could at least pretend to work off the food
we’d just eaten. It was way past my bedtime when we arrived back at the AirBnb
and I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Saturday morning, I woke up to see Logan dressed and ready
for the day. I wasn't about to let him think his mother was too old and/or out
of shape so I quickly got ready for another long day. We were soon on our way to the transit
station for another taxi cab shouting/haggling match. We found a driver and
were off. Our first stop was the Ananauri Fortress, built on a hill overlooking
a valley/present day reservoir. The view
was stunning. Next, we were continued
onto the town of Stepatsminda at the base of Mount Kazbegi. As we neared the guesthouse our driver started
complaining about the dirt road and began to drive slowly and carefully like
his vehicle was some precious commodity regardless of the fact that he’d spent
the past two hours roaring through the mountains like it was the Indy 500.
Kazbegi turned out to be an adventure I wasn't ready for. We took another car up the mountain and it was
most definitely the scariest journey of my life. The bumpy dirt roads were barely
wide enough for one vehicle, and yet they were packed in both directions with large
vans flying around corners with and narrowly squeezing past each other as they
barely avoided going off the edge. I spent
the ride praying and hanging onto dear life while Logan sat utterly relaxed.
After a long day of hiking, walking, and exploring we headed
to our guest house only to find that there was a miscommunication and dinner
was not waiting for us. We had to walk all the way back down to the town to get
some dinner. Like the lunch we had
earlier in the day, dinner didn’t turn out very well. I started to wonder if I’d
find anything I like to eat, besides the tomato and cucumber salad which was
quickly becoming my staple. Later we walk
back up the hill to our our cold no heater-less room. Logan told me this was just a mild taste of
what winter was like. We hunkered down in our beds with our covers pulled over
our heads – it’s just like camping, I kept telling myself.
(I would like to note that on this day I got over 30,000
steps and climbed over 221 flights of stairs according to my Vivofit, Logan was
not taking it easy on me.)
Sunday morning, we headed back to Tbilisi to attend
church. We were a little late but
considering the 3 hour marshutka ride back into town, I was just glad we made
it there at all. Church was another new
experience for me. I've never attend church meetings that weren’t in English.
Here they were speaking Georgian, Russian, and some English. My favorite part was getting to attend the primary
classes and see these sweet spirits singing familiar songs in Georgian and
English. Later that day, after some more
sightseeing, we ended our time in Tbilisi by going to dinner with Logan’s
friend Nino, a FLEX alumnus. She was so
nice and kind and I so loved hearing her speak English as if it was her native
language. At dinner I laughed as she and
Logan talked about FLEX exchange students and their experiences in the US.
Afterwards we parted ways and we gathered out belongings and headed to Melody’s
house in Tserovani.
Tserovani is an IDP (internally displaced person, like an
internal refugee) settlement. Overall, it was much better than I had
imagined. I had pictured a refugee camp
with haphazardly built shelters and homes. This settlement was made of
identical homes- 2 bedrooms, living room, bathroom and kitchen. I was amazed to learn that these hundreds of
homes were built in just a few months following the August 2008 war with Russia
when many of these people were forced to
flee from their homes in the now occupied territory.
After our tour of the settlement with Melody we headed to
the old Georgian capital of Mskheta. A quaint town with picturesque streets and
shops. We meet up with Sophia a PCV with
Logan’s group and had lunch. With some convincing I decided to give khinkali
(Georgian dumplings) another try. They
were so much better than the ones we'd had in Kazbegi. I really liked it, and since Sophia was there
we were even able to order mushroom khinkali without many objections from Logan. Our stay in Mskheta was short because we
needed to board another marshutka, this time to Gori (Stalin’s birthplace)
followed by a short taxi ride to Skra (the small village Logan spent his first
three months in).
By visiting Skra I finally get to meet Logan’s first host
family and who I refer to as his Village Family. As soon as we stopped in front of the house
the family was out the street to meet us.
Logan was quickly hugged and welcomed like their long lost son. I loved seeing how much he has been welcomed
into this family. I could see right away
why Logan likes to come back and visit them whenever possible. Irma, the host mom, was so warm and kind to
me. She was eager to show me around the village and all through their orchards
and vineyards. It was a beautiful place
and I loved walking around a learning about their way of life. It was late when we made it back to the house
but Irma still had plans to serve some of Logan’s favorite foods. In no time at all, there were all kinds of
food being set out for us. It was so much more
than I could ever imagine eating on an empty stomach, not to mention the fact
that my stomach was still adjusting to all the new foods and tastes. I tried as much as I dared and Logan covered
for me a few times by eating off my plate or making it look like I had tried
more than I actually did. I certainly
didn't want to offend anyone, but at the same time I knew that my fragile
stomach could only handle so much. To top it all off I even got to experience
the dreaded outhouse I had seen pictures of a year ago. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected,
but I was fine only visiting it once. Thankfully my body agreed with my mind.
Tuesday once again started bright and early, we said our
good byes and caught a train from the village to Borjomi. Turns out the train
is much more enjoyable than the marshutka. Borjomi was our destination but we
stopped only long enough to drop off our stuff off and catch the next
marshutka.
Marshutkas are always an adventure, and this day it didn't
disappoint. We found the spot to wait
and soon the marshutka pulled up. As soon as we started to approach it another
newer marshutka pulled up behind. We decided we would just get on that one
instead. As we got on the second
marshutka the first driver came around asking us what we were doing and launched
into a triad yelling at our driver and seemingly us and others who choose this
vehicle over his. Most Georgian sounds like yelling but I knew without a doubt this
was no holds barred yelling. The guy was
going postal. There was no way I was
going to get on that marshutka with this stark raving lunatic. After no one decided to move he took off
squeezing his tires as he left. Our
driver waited around for a few more minutes before taking off. He had remained calm the entire time, but he
must have internalized his anger because he seemed to be taking it all out on
the road. I really thought this might be
the end for me. We were flying around
corners, and passing everything in our way.
In no time at all we passed that first marshutka. I was so relieved when we finally made it to
our destination. I wasn't sure Logan could ever get me back in another marshutka
again.
We met up with another one of Logan’s friends for lunch and
then took a taxi up to see the Rabati Fortress.
Finally, a really fortress and not another rundown set of ruins on a
mountain top. It was beautiful and everything I imagined a fortress to be. It had recently undergone some major
renovations but it was worth it. The
grounds were amazing, full of color and contrast. The buildings were restored and refurbished
but still maintained the old feel but with a clean look. I loved hiking up the stairs in the tower and
I felt like Rapunzel when we reached the top.
The views from the openings were beyond description. Taking pictures really didn't do the place
justice.
After spending plenty of time
exploring the museum and fortress grounds we headed off to see the ancient cave
city of Vardzia, another place I was looking forward to experiencing. I had reviewed Logan’s pictures before coming
and knew this was one place I really wanted to see. It did not disappoint. I am still amazed at how this cave city could
even exist. How in the world did these
monks create such a place in the side of a mountain? The caves were used to live in, to eat and
prepare food, to worship, and who knows what else. It was unbelievable to think
of the community they were able to create in the side of this mountain, not to
mention how they got supplies and tools up there to construct what they
did. It would be an arduous endeavor
today but to think that it was done almost 1,000 years ago is mind boggling to
me.
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