Day 29: Old & New

(Update mostly written by Ben today, with a few paragraphs and proofreading by Sam lol (note; all references to emotions and all emojis are authored by Sam)).

Waking up this morning at our campsite was epic. The sky was bright blue with the sun almost peaking over the mountain to the East! The storm from last night (some of which had reached us) had left everything SOAKING WET (including quite a bit of our belongings). Luckily, what we needed for the day was dry enough - the rest could be helped later.

A quick wander down to the river for water lead me to bump into a Shepherd. We’d seen him last night (at least I think it was the same guy) with a powerful torch, presumedly looking for something as they were wandering all over. Unfortunately they were still on the hunt this morning - we could only guess that one of his flock must have done a runner. Hopefully the sheep is just being cunning and isn’t in any trouble!

After breakfast it became apparent that Sam was feeling pretty queezy, and had strange pains in her upper abdomen which were also making her mid-back hurt (🧐). We hoped it would go away given time, and were thankful that we had a fairly short day ahead of us. The fact that we had to wait for our tent to dry off a bit in the sun before packing up gave us some time to see if things improved - which they did, a little. The nausea at least managed to turn down a notch.

We set off around 9:30. Our track wound it's way back down from the tower further East and through more dense forest. The views we got through the trees of the other side of the canyon, the pastures and little towns, were really cool. At all times we had butterflies and/or dragonflies fluttering about ahead of us.

About ten minutes into our hike, we bumped into the young English woman the two hikers had talked about yesterday! It seems she has based herself at a hostel and is doing day hikes around the area! She was currently on her way to the monastery just outside Odzun when we came across her. We chatted for quite some time - mostly about how scary the dogs are here in Armenia. Turns out she’d been hiking in Georgia with her friend, previous to being here in Armenia, but they’d been bitten by a dog so had to remain behind to seek vaccines and ongoing treatment 🫪🫣😩😰

The way she described the dog attack was that they’d been far away from this dog, had done nothing to provoke it, and this massive thing had just come running up and attacked her friend. She said she gave this dog the boot with her foot. 😰 How awful and terrifying to have gone through something like that!! Hearing this has definitely made Sam and I feel nervous, as we’re just about to head up into the (now snowless but livestock-heavy) mountains where there will be those massive ferocious dogs about… 😰 Yikes! We’ve sent a few prayers up to those above to help us traverse this next part of our hike safely and without any dog bites! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

In saying that, we’re both really enjoying the hiking (like, really!) but we’re finding that the body aches and pains are coming on a bit more quickly each day! Especially after camping overnight. Sam has been experimenting with adjusting her pack straps (and mine) to try and tease out more comfort. However, one of the biggest factors (we think) exacerbating this is the weight we have both lost over the hike - we now have much less padding to protect us from the heavy weight of our packs!

Once we’d said goodbye to the English woman and we’d wished each other well on our journeys, we meandered down the path and passed through a small village. Some of the buildings here are intriguing - they’re small shacks that are clearly hand made. They’re perched on the edges of cliffs (sometimes overhanging them), barely a straight line or right angle to be found, with odd windows and sometimes things like car doors used in place of house doors 😂 Frequently, the roof panels (sheets of corrugated iron) are held down not with nails, but with big rocks. All with million dollar views of the canyon, however! Not much else is needed, apparently 😜

It was also interesting to experience how the climate changes with elevation. We left the pine and oak forest above and entered a much warmer, lower area. Different varieties of trees surrounded us - wild fig trees, big droopy purple iris-like flowers, and red poppies all grew among tall bushes of teeny yellow or blue flowers. As beautiful as it was, I was a bit sad that none of the fruit (figs, apricots, strawberries or blackberries) were ripe this early in spring 😔

Next we dropped down onto a main highway and walked along under the sweltering heat and humidity to the town of Alaverdi. It’s quite a bustling place that follows the bottom of the canyon and river for a time. It was here that we reached our lowest point of elevation in a month: 700m above sea level. Much of the walk was past what we think used to be a smelting plant of some sort. Big concrete husks surrounded a massive chimney up on a hill overlooking the town. Upon reaching a cluster of fruit markets, Sam, being absolutely famished, insisted on stopping for strawberries, and then insisted on buying 15 of them. She was incredulous at my doubt that she’d be able to eat them all before our big climb up to Sanahin. She assured me I need not worry - the strawberries would be demolished 🫡

We found a small park by the river for lunch, just before the medieval bridge that marked the start of our 500m ascent to Sanahin. While we chowed down our sandwiches (and Sam her strawberries - which she did finish and could’ve had more of 🤪), we looked across at this beautiful stone bridge. We are amazed that it is still in tact and perfectly functional - you wouldn’t know it was so many hundreds of years old. Just to our other side was another, newer, bridge. This bridge was a few rusted metal pipes arching over the river with metal steps welded to them. We pondered when and why architecture changed from building such grand beautiful structures that last centuries, ones that become tourist attractions or heritage buildings, to building purely utilitarian and often ugly pieces of shit that after a few years of disuse will look rotten and go to waste. It is sad to see - and this isn’t just here in Armenia.

The thing that pulled us out of our discussion was the weather. While we had sat and talked, the wind had picked up a lot and we could now see dark, heavy clouds moving our way. We packed up quickly and set off. Just as we’d crossed to the other side of the bridge, a tour bus pulled up and a bunch of older people clambered out. They walked down to the park we’d just been in and started taking pictures of the bridge, ignoring the surrounding concrete and steel blocks - case in point.

Big raindrops began falling as we moved up the slow and twisting stairs, which eventually turned into road, then dirt track, then cow track (with many cow pats). It was at the cow track that we finally left the hustle and bustle of Alaverdi behind. The plants enveloped us and did a very good job of blocking the sound from below. It seemed to be just us, the trees, and the daily rumbling of thunder overhead.

We finally made it to the top of the cliff that Sanahin sits on, having just passed through a herd of cows. Then we made our way even higher to our guest house: “Sanahin old & new”. We were curious to see why it was named that. Sam suggested it is literal, perhaps the hosts try to remember the old and embrace/blend with the new. This guesthouse is located at the top of town right beside a beautiful old monastery. Sam and I agreed to explore this once our packs had been dropped off - as long as we also went for coffee 😜

We met our lovely host, were shown our room, they explained that this was the oldest house in the town (other than the church) at 150 years, and then we left to explore. Outside the monastery are a large group of street vendors with various souvenirs and other goods. I was very enticed by large piles of crystals for sale, but Sam only had eyes for COFFEEEEEEEEEEE. Given how Sam had been feeling all day, it seemed like a good pick me up for her to have. Unfortunately, the nearby cafe and street vendors only made Armenian espresso 🤢 They told us that there is only one restaurant in town and it was there that Sam could get a cappuccino. And so it was agreed that after the church we would venture to this cappuccino cafe!

The church was beautiful. It’s a large complex with huge ornately carved crosses around the courtyard - and plenty of smaller ones carved directly into the stonework of the building for good measure. Inside, big vaulted ceilings hover over large engraved slabs of stone underfoot. The amount of effort that must have gone into construction like this is just incredible. They really feel special. Sam said being inside the carved stone walls made her breathe more deeply, and that the coolness of the air felt relieving.

From here we went back to a street merchant who seemed to have taken a liking to us (she kept on giving us free things like lollies, a small cross necklace, some fragrant bees wax, and promised a free Armenian coffee or juice tomorrow if we wanted). We needed a taxi, and this woman’s husband just happened to be right there, so she promptly offered up his services for 200 AMD (about $1 NZD). With him driving and their little daughter in the passenger seat, we set off for the cafe-museum-restaurant (we paid more than $1 when we arrived).

This cafe is built right on and over the towering cliffs, and is part of a ‘cave museum’, too. We sat down, Sam got her coffee (which actually largely cured her ailments), and I got a fresh banana and watermelon juice. We also got a few yummy pastries and spent our time planning out our next few days - as well as what to do when we got back to the UK after leaving Armenia.

Afterwards we went to explore the museum. It is divided into two sections, each in different sections of a large cave network under the town. The first cave leads out to the cliff edge. This one is filled with historic household items Armenian people used to use, and showcased the various tools they had for normal everyday life. A simple museum in an epic setting! We also had a guide who told us a little of the history of the caves use itself.

The second cavern was an odd one - but also epic! There are large salt deposits on the ground and around throughout this cave, and it has been converted into the strangest bar I have ever seen - lots of multi coloured lights were covered in cotton wool (we have no idea why, except maybe to dim the brightness?) illuminated the cavern. There was a drinks bar (empty) at one end and lots of random seats placed around - some carved from the rock itself. All up it created a space for drinking and chatting (in the cold 🥶) as the cave snaked deeper into the cliff. Against the walls were large piles of salt rocks, each looking like a giant block of ice (I licked one to confirm it was indeed salt).

Leaving the cavern we emerged out and into the rain. We made our way back up into town and stopped at almost every supermarkets this place has to offer - we needed to stock up on specific supplies, and not every market has everything to offer (one had bread, another had fruit, another had cheese and salami, and so on…). We are looking at 5 days out in the wops before reaching the next town (Dilijan), so it was important we got what we needed. We slowly ticked off our list (all except for porridge 👀) before heading back to the guest house.

Looking ahead, we actually don’t know what the coming days will bring - aside from higher altitude (that we can finally traverse now that the snow is gone!), and farmer camps. We don’t know, for example, what the phone reception will be like, and we’ll have to be really careful with our phone batteries. This means we won’t be able to post to penguins each day, as that uses up a significant amount of Sam’s phone battery (with the amount of time it takes to write everything up). Sam will hopefully be able to post something to instagram each day, but that’s also reception-dependent.

Soooooo… see you on the flip side, homies! 🫡 Have a lovely rest of your week & weekend 🤗 Big love and hugs, as always! 🩵Read more