Day 11: Recovery Day

Hey everyone, update from Ben today.

We are staying in Jermuk for the time being. Sam is recovering well, but still feeling off so we are having the day here.

Jermuk is a town famous for its skiing and local mineral hot springs. It is built on top of several canyons, so there are lots of bridges joining different areas. As with so much of Armenia there are a lot of derelict buildings; it is strange to see once beautiful stone buildings falling apart with under-construction hotels going up right beside them.

In the morning we both explored around a little, but mostly we were searching for a pharmacy to buy some sunscreen - to replace the tanning lotion we accidentally purchased in Vayk (our faces are rather bronze now!). After searching several stores (and towns), and saying hello to several cute stray dogs and cats, we actually found some!

After that, Sam returned to the hotel to rest, and I kept exploring Jermuk. First, there is a large stag statue overlooking the town at the top of a cliff. It was a nice run, and while the view over Jermuk was cool, the best part was actually facing the other direction! The snow was so deep that it buried everything; no trees, no stones, the land was a featureless undulating sea of white rising in the distance to soft peaks.

Returning back to town, I crossed the largest bridge here in Jermuk and made my way down into the canyon. Here, walking along the river there are deep eroded basalt spires up either side, bits of volcanic rock like scoria and obsidian are visible too, and deep snow piled around large numbers of small waterfalls digging their way through the cliffs.

Following along the path it eventually comes to the largest waterfall in town: wide and cascading into the river below. Passing this, the climb back to town took me through deep snow where I got some funny looks from the locals - as of course I was in shorts.

The town has a lot of geothermal activity - there are several small hotpools bubbling out of the ground and even out of the roads, similar to Rotorua but strangely without the Sulphur smell. The water has been used for healing here for hundreds of years. Jermuk is well known for exporting its mineral water to the surrounding regions. In the center of town is a 'gallery of mineral water'. An interesting, mostly open, beautiful sandstone block construction with a series of large carved vases with protruding hoses, each spouting water from a different hotpool (they range from 30-55 degrees C). Many people walk past with cups and bottles to collect the water with.

From here I made my way back to our hotel, stopping to feed the last of my lunch to a stray cat.

Sam is feeling a lot better this evening so we will most likely be ready to continue our hike come morning.Read more