Day 36: “My Good Tourists”

Packing up to leave a spa and sauna centre is never fun! However, we were excited to get hiking again. After another buffet breakfast, sorting our laundry, visiting the supermarket, and getting a taxi to the other side of town, we were ready to hike! And of course, we started with a climb!

Some way up we met two people who appeared to be day-walking. We said we were going to Lake Parz and then continuing on, and they then asked if they could follow us. We said okay, and let them know it was a big climb up - we felt uncertain they knew what to expect as they weren’t really dressed to hike. We needn’t have worried, however, as 2 minutes later we came to a giant mud creek and they decided that was enough for them so we parted ways 🤣

After a time of weaving steadily up through bright green forest and many fallen leaves, we came across some forest cows! How wonderful! Some of them were wearing bells - Ben said this is probably so the farmers don’t lose them. They were beautiful cows! Very good looking 🤠 We also crossed many rivers in this section - just little ones that gurgled happily along.

Then we came to a steep section of the trail. Some of these hills are just killer 🤪 I wouldn’t mind a bit more zig zag, even though it means you do walk a bit further! As we crested the hill, we came out of the forest and into this big open flowery meadow. It was beautiful, but I had the biggest stitch from bombing it up that patch of incline trying to keep up with Ben - I succeeded in this endeavour but the cost was a whole lung 🤪 Whilst I was fighting for my life in that field of flowers, a family of 4 came along and said hello. Worst. Timing. Ever. I tried to smile at them, I really did, but holy moly I just needed a minute to regrow my lungs 🤣

Once I’d stopped gasping, I went over to say hello to this family who were now chatting with Ben. Turns out they’ve just arrived in Armenia, but they’re coming to the end of their gap-year of travelling the world as a family! Their girls are 11 and 9 years old - they all did the Pyrenees! W h a t! That’s so amazing!! They’ve also been to countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Spain, France… one of the Stan’s that we can’t remember (Kazakhstan?). Just wow! Ben and I have vowed to do the same when we have kids in ten years time! Just incredible. What an epic experience for those kids - and for them as a family! Today they’re off to Dilijan for the day. So cool!

We chatted for quite some time, and they mentioned they’re staying at a guesthouse in a town called Gosh. They apparently have a bonfire every night where they toast marshmallows and barbecue potatoes! At the mentioning of toasted marshmallows, we were sold - say no more! We will see you there! What’s an extra 8km?! 🤣 Do it for the mallows! Just kidding. We actually thought it would be really cool to have a social evening around a bonfire, as that’s something that hasn’t really happened on our travels too much yet! And this family was really lovely, so it seemed worth the extra effort 🤗

From the meadow it was down through more forest, eventually coming to the intersection with the turn off for the lake. We chose not to go and see the lake, considering the extra kms we now had ahead of us! (We’d also been told it was average anyway…😅). Soon after this we took a wrong turn which lead to a steep detour - always check the map!! 😮‍💨 As we climbed back up the valley from there, we kept seeing these biiiiig trees that looked as though they’d exploded mid-trunk and fallen over 🤔 It was really odd! We can’t figure out what would cause this to happen…I wondered if a wood pigeon made a big hole and over time this weakened the structural integrity of the tree until it snapped and fell…Ben doesn’t think that’s a likely cause, however 🤔 I guess we’ll have to do some research when we have time & reception.

Speaking of trees - the forest here is truly beautiful. It’s so lush! And the trees in this area are so tall with big bright leaves. In this way it’s quite different to NZ bush, which tends to be very dark green with dense foliage! Anyway. Eventually we left the trees and came to another field - this marked the very top of our climbing for today! Woohoo! Now all we had left was the (steep) descent to Gosh. But first - we snack! 🥨

Arriving in Gosh, we walked around a corner and came face to face with a big monastery with a glass roof - Goshavank. How extraordinary that such a grand building can just appear upon turning a corner 🤪 Armenia is full of surprises!

After snapping a few pics, we wandered towards the guesthouse - DiliVita. On the way, we watched as some cows were harassed by farm dogs as they came down the hill - the cows really took one for the team there! Those dogs looked at Ben and I as we came into sight, but they chose to harass the cows instead, meaning we were able to pass without stress or fear 🙏

At the guesthouse we were greeted with Thyme Tea, and a tour of the grounds. We were also told that if we wanted dinner, we had to order it an hour before we wanted to eat it. So, feeling hungry, we ordered dinner right then and there 😅 We ordered some eggplant rolls, pelmeni, clenenki, rosemina, DiliVita special (not a clue what this was but it was yum), pumpkin soup, and a blackberry compote! Mmmm 🥰

Around this time, Max and Shaina arrived back with their children, Aria and Finley! They’d had a lovely day in Dilijan, and were ready to put their feet up. Later, at 9pm, we all gathered around the bonfire, drinking wine, cognac, and/or tea! We were addressed and toasted many times by the owner of this guesthouse as “my good tourists”! “My good tourists, thank you for coming to my home, to my country, let’s toast to this moment, to peace, to our families”. We also followed a 1500 year old Armenian tradition, of each being given a stick of wood to place on the fire - but before placing it on the fire, you had to think of a little problem you had, imagine the stick was that problem, and then place it in the flames ☄️🔥🙏

It was a lovely, lovely evening! Ben and I enjoyed roasting marshmallows, meeting the other guests, and chatting some more with Max and Shaina 🤗 It was sooooo refreshing having a conversation with people who speak English fluently 🤪 We actually got to use our voice boxes instead of communicating via google translate 🤣 We rate it!!! 😜 And then it was somehow 11pm already, so we’ve headed to bed 😴😴😴😴😴😴

Tomorrow we hike to an (apparently) abandoned town called “Geghatap”. We’ve read that this little village was Azerbaijani, back when the two countries were more intermingled (pre early 90s). But when the war broke out, the people of Geghatap had to leave. We’re not trusting it’s abandoned, however- it’s likely been turned into a place for farmers to stay. However, that’s where the flattest ground is that we can find between here in Gosh and where the track really starts to incline as we head over the mountain range to Sevan! We have our fingers crossed that nobody is yet staying there, as it will be tricky to find a back-up spot to pitch a tent 🤪

Goodnight!!!

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