Day 17: “…coffee?”

This morning the first thing we did was check to see if Shya was waiting outside the gate. Last night we’d heard a lot of barking and commotion outside the guesthouse, and we’re thinking it was caused by the late arrival of Shya. We wondered how he’d faired. Sure enough, a big dirty blonde ball of fluff was lying at the gate in patient wait. We sighed with relief but we also groaned. How were we going to get out of Bardzravan without him following? We’d checked the trail, and whichever way we did it we were either walking through farmland or a big highway, and we did not want him with us for either option…it’s just not safe ☹️ One good thing was that Shya seemed to have made a friend, or at least an acquaintance - another dog was close by. Shya seems quite submissive and shy by nature when it comes to other dogs. This wasn’t how we came up with his name (I just made it up in the moment haha), but it suits!

Ben and I talked about what to do. If I was really honest, I wasn’t up for another whopper of a hike day. I felt very drained from yesterday’s mission, and the thought of potentially having another day like that…well, it felt on the border of too much. I haven’t felt this way since working as a teacher, which is a really interesting connection/comparison for me to have made. As a teacher, I usually feel drained and fatigued come 1:30/2pm most days. So far whilst hiking, it has taken a day as big and stressful as yesterday for me to reach that same level of drained and fatigued. To me that highlights just how stressful I find my job. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a teacher and I miss my students a lot since leaving - just the pressure and workload is intense! Anyway. Eventually Ben and I decided that we’d take a taxi to Tandzaver. This would help us to achieve two things: 1. Shya wouldn’t be able to follow a car, so he would definitely be staying in Bardzravan (unless they choose to trek back to Tatev alone - doubtful, unless he was desperate). And 2. It meant I could have a quieter day where Ben and I would just walk around the magic forest trail and explore Tandzaver.

When Anahit arose from her seemingly very deep slumber, she got about preparing tea and breakfast. She said her friend that she works with at the school was coming over from Goris. When we all sat down around the table, it was to a buffet of bread, a traditional Armenian dish called kjakhash (no idea on the pronunciation sorry 😝), which is made up of kidney beans, corn, chickpeas, and emerwheat. Surprisingly delicious when you add a little salt! There was also fruit, eggs, and other yummy things. I mostly ate the bread, as it was so fresh and delicious! Always been a sucker for fresh bread 🤤

Throughout breakfast we all chatted via google translate, although it seemed to be having some difficulty with accuracy this morning and we laughed a lot over what it was coming out with! However, because of this miscommunication, we only realised the taxi was coming two minutes before it arrived. This lead to a very rushed packing up of our things, some rushed thankyous and goodbyes, and then a rushed hello and goodbye with Shya during which I gave him some biscuits and fruit for breakfast. As the taxi pulled away Shya ran after us, but eventually had to give up. We feel so heartbroken and sorry, and we hope he’ll be alright in his new town 🥺☹️😭

The amount of fog up in Bardzravan this morning was intense! And yet, the taxi driver drove as though the fog didn’t exist! In fact, most of the time, he sped down the left hand side of the road 🤣 We both just looked out the window and tried not to think about Shya.

Upon arriving in Tandzaver, a local called Ashat immediately came out and greeted the taxi driver. He then turned to us and said “…coffee?”. Ben obviously didn’t want coffee as he hates the stuff, but in that moment I thought it would be a lovely pick-me-up combined with a chance to chat more with locals and experience more of that lovely cultural exchange! So inside we went. We met Ashat’s wife, Mariana, who brought out coffee and cake for us - yum! In all honesty, the style of coffee Armenians typically provide is straight espresso, which…mmm I struggle with a bit (Ben inwardly grimaced as the coffee came out, and switched cups with me as soon as mine was empty so he didn’t have to be “poisoned” any further 🤣). But hey, as Mary Poppins says - just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down 🤪

Ashat showed us a few card tricks as well as some logic puzzles using matches! I had no idea what was going on most of the time, but Ben with his genius mathematical brain seemed to figure things out pronto! 🫡 After enjoying Ashat and Mariana’s company for a while, it was time to leave, so we Merci-chatted our way out of their house and went to find a good spot to set up camp. This turned out to be in the “magic forest”, in a spot surrounded by moss covered boulders and in between oak trees. It’s a beautiful place to rest!

We then went for a walk around the trail, which is actually an open-air art gallery. We found 5/10 pieces of art. Some masks on tree branches, a hole in a rock, some faces painted on the side of a boulder, some cave-like drawings against a cliff, and then an owl carved from wood sitting on the branch of a tree. I can’t say I was overly focused on finding the art, however, as I mostly used this time to call my parents and check in with them, which was a lovely heart-warming time 🥰

As we meandered down the other side of the trail, we saw smoke rising along with the smell of burning wood. Huh? As we got closer, we realised, in a bizarre turn of events, that a tree was actually on fire, and probably had been for hours looking at the state of the trunk. Luckily it hadn’t fully gone up in flames (or fallen over yet). The flames were just slowly burning through it. What the helly? That could for sure have caused a disaster! And we’re camping in this forest!!!!! I was so wrong-footed by the unthinkable stupidity that someone would light a fire at the base of a tree that I looked up “do trees catch fire randomly in Armenia” 🤣 (hmmm did I mention unthinkable stupidity? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣). No, trees do not catch fire randomly in Armenia or anywhere else 🤣 The usual cause of a tree being on fire in Armenia is because a human has been reckless with flames…

I called 911 (yeah they have the same emergency number as the US here…), and was soon placed on call with someone who could understand a bit of English. It took a really long time for this person to understand that a tree was on fire. It was a bit frustrating. I didn’t know how else to say “A TREE IS ON FIRE!” 😅😅😅 She’d say “can you see smoke?” And I’d be like “……yes” and she’d be like “can you see flames?” and I’d be like “yes….??????????”. And then she’d be like “I don’t understand what you are saying” and I’d be like A TREEEEEEEE IS ON FIIIRRREEEEEEE 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪 While I was on the phone, Ben was busy using a log to break off the hottest embers and the parts of the tree that were actively burning. Once they were on the ground, he’d smother them with rocks and dirt. He was also digging up handfuls of wet soil to try and press on more hot spots. It was apparent, however, that we did not have the resources to put this fire out entirely - hence I was on the phone with emergency services.

Once I’d got across that a tree was on fire, trying to then communicate *where* this tree was on fire was even more difficult. When I said Tandzaver she didn’t know what I was saying, when I said Tatev she still somehow seemed confused - it was incredibly frustrating. When I said we were in the Syunik region she suddenly understood - thank god! She sent me her number and I sent her a video of the burning tree along with the exact GPS coordinates. I expected then that they wouldn’t need anything else and a team would come along to extinguish the fire. Wrong! As Ben and I walked out of the forest, the response team had gathered and they quickly called us over. They seemed to be confused saying (in Armenian) “how are we supposed to know which tree is on fire? There is no smoke!”. I’d given them the exact coordinates so I didn’t know how they didn’t know. I then showed them the coordinates myself, but they seemed totally nonplussed and barely listened to what I said or showed them. In the end, Ben and I lead them back to the tree ourselves. They didn’t seem to be taking us seriously - they were laughing and perceivedly to us, taking the piss. They’d also brought a shovel but no water? How bizarre. Did they think the fire was on the ground? When at the burning tree, they actually got serious and the police asked if we’d lit the fire - that was a scary question coming from law enforcement 😅 I guess it must have seemed a bit sus for two people to stumble across a random tree in a forest that just happened to be on fire… however, they eventually thanked us for calling it in and we were free to go 🥳 As we keep saying - never a dull moment here in Armenia 🤪🤪🤪

As Ben and I once again left the forest, we encountered some raging rapids over a 4WD track. Ben was midway through offering to piggy back me across, when one of the emergency responders who’d stayed behind with their vehicles, caught our attention and gestured towards the gigantic army truck they were driving, asking if we wanted a lift across the river. Shit yeah we did!!!!!!!! We climbed up into the front seats - holy moly that thing was a tank! It really put a smile on my face; it was probably the highlight of my day! Ben was also pretty stoked with life in that moment! 😎

We then walked around Tandzaver for a while, and came back to the topic of Shya. We discussed for a while the possibility of adopting him and somehow getting him back to NZ to live out the rest of his days in royal comfort…it’s probably unlikely to happen, but it’s a sweet and comforting thought for now. There are many unknowns about him in terms of how he’d behave when he’s not in such a desperate and sorry situation 🤷🏼‍♀️ he’s definitely not house trained 🤣 I guess we’d find out about all that if we ever started the process of attempting to make it happen! What we do know is he is a lovely dog who just wants to be loved and looked after, and right now our hearts are very sad knowing we had to leave him behind 🩵🩵🩵

Day 17 done and dusted… onto day 18! Our last hike day for the southern section of our hike in Armenia! 🫡Read more