My First Weekend in Armenia

I realize that I had posted on Saturday afternoon, and therefore already covered the beginning of my weekend, but the interesting part happened afterwards! Just after I had posted that entry, Magnus and Vahe came to my window and asked me if I wanted to go with them to the protests against the visit of the Turkish president, and so I grabbed my camera and went along.

The protesters were protesting against the fact that Turkey does not recognize the genocide of Armenians in 1915, and that the Armenian government would allow the Turkish president to visit, even without their having recognized the genocide. The protesters lined up along the sidewalk across the street from the presidential palace. It was a peaceful protest, and not actually that big, considering, but it was definitely something interesting to see!
When the Turkish president's motorcade drove up, the crowd started shouting. I don't know what, exactly as I don't speak Armenian, but I did capture it on video nonetheless.

On Sunday, Vardan asked me if I wanted to go paragliding with him. Now while the idea of strapping myself to a parachute and jumping off of a mountain does not exactly appeal to me, I figured what the heck, I'd go along anyways, and at least get a good tour of the Armenian countryside! So after collecting supplies and stopping at the supermarket for water and snacks, Vardan, his two kids and I set off for the mountains.

It turns out that Vardan's kids both speak English and Russian in addition to Armenian, and his daughter is pretty much completely fluent, despite having only had English lessons for two years. I'm highly impressed. She served as my informal translator when people were speaking Armenian. It was kind of funny, because for a while it was just me and the kids and some of the other paragliders, and they kept kind of looking at me to make decisions about things, but I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Eventually they realized that they should talk to Vardan's 12 year old daughter instead!

Driving out of the city, you see some of the typical McMansion types of development that you also see in Russia, and the US for that matter. But there is one house (palace?) that really stands out waaaaay beyond all the others. It's owned by some oligarch, and it is the most incredibly gaudy, tacky, ridiculous thing the world has ever seen. It's designed like a French palace, complete with fenced in courtyard, columns, and the works. It is also absolutely COVERED in statues, sculptures, random architectural designs, and the grounds and fence are similarly adorned. It's one of the most bizarrely tasteless displays of wealth I've ever seen.

Further out of the city, you see that Armenia really is a bit of a desert. The towns/villages are all built along rivers that are really more creek sized, and most of them seem to be dammed with a reservoir that is then used for irrigation. There are lots of orchards, because fruit trees grow well here, but vegetables are much harder to grow.

After about 45 minutes of driving or so, we reach our destination and start driving off-road to the mountain. Some of the paragliders launched while we were driving up, and we watched them fly for a bit, before driving over to one who had already landed. We loaded his stuff into the jeep to save him the hike back up the mountain. While we were waiting for the engine to cool off a bit (it overheats quickly in the thin mountain air) another one landed, so then Vardan went down to pick him up while I waited and talked to his daughter. Then he drove to pick up another one who landed. Meanwhile, the kids and I went up the hill a little ways to sit under the trees. This was the point when they discovered that I knew Russian and became much more talkative. Eventually Vardan called and told us that the radiator on his jeep had a hole in it, and that's why then engine kept overheating. So one of the other paragliders got in the other SUV to drive off and help Vardan, while the kids and I and the remaining paragliders started to hike up the mountain.

It was a pretty intense hike (straight up the side of the mountain) and by the time we reached maybe the third switchback from the top (we went straight up, but the road went back and forth), we were tired. Luckily, a truck was driving up the mountain, so when it got to us, we flagged it down and squished in to ride the rest of the way up.

At the top of the mountain it was raining and cold--very different from the hot sunny base! We hung out there for a bit, and then drove back down. Halfway we met Vardan who was driving up, and we switched cars. Then we all drove over to this mineral spring, where the water coming out of the ground is naturally carbonated. After drinking and hanging out there for a bit with some Armenian police officers, we got back on the road to head back to Yerevan.

But first we had to stop off in the village and return the water jugs that a woman had loaned Vardan to refill his radiator. She complimented him on his two daughters and one son, so I guess I look Armenian after all, haha! (Okay, not really!)

Then we stopped in a town that has a bakery that makes the best bread, and it was fresh and delicious. After that, we stopped at this place where someone carved the Armenian alphabet in stone. We took pictures, had a snack, and then played a few rounds of hide-and-seek (well, a bit like kick the can without the can, actually) Then it was back to Yerevan.

And now it's getting late, so I'll update you on the rest of the goings on here some other time. Plus I'll add more pictures. (They take forever to upload which is why I'm not doing more now.)
Bye!