from the land of pomegranates

While I am waiting for my sleepy-head group to get up, I wanted to extend greetings from the land of pomegranates, Yerevan, Armenia! Apparently pomegranites are the national symbol, and while I have seen pomegranates on ceramic pieces, paintings, woodcarvings, and carved into the side of the opera house, I have yet to actually see a real live pomegranate fruit. Although it irks me a little that my buddies are sleeping past 11, at least I got the opportunity this morning to meet other travelers at the hostel- two Spanish guys, one Canadian-Armenian, and one South Korean missionary. This is the great thing about the hostel environment.

So we made a last-minute decision to come to Yerevan on Friday night, and we left early Saturday morning for the bus station. Here we first encountered some of the crazy adventures that only budget travel will provide. We were planning on traveling by marshrutka, a public transport van, of which many travel through Tbilisi and to other parts of the region. We soon found that for only a couple dollars more per person we could negotiate for a very comfortable car for four of us, economical, more comfortable, and faster than the marshrutka. The catch? Our cabbie had only one leg and what we diagnosed as a Parkonsonian tremor in his hands. He was really nice though, pointing out that he had automatic transmission lest we be worried about his ability to handle a car with only one leg, and he also guided us through the border crossing, stopped for a snack, and pointed out attractions along the way (although he didn't speak any English).

The ride itself was spectacular. The whole way was through mountainous terrain, but the lush, tree-filled hills of Georgia across the Armenian border gave way to sharp, rocky mountains with huge cliffs, and then further on, to large but rolling mountains covered by soft grass, some with snow on top (even though it is 80-90 degress on the ground). Then we saw what will stand out as one of the most breathtaking sights of my life- we came over a hill to see the hugh Mount Ararat in front of us. Its monumental snow-covered peak was circled by clouds, and below the clouds the sillouette was barely visible, making it appear as if it was floating. (I'll be sure to post a picture of this ASAP, but can't now.) Mount Ararat is actually in Turkey, and at that point was probably 200 km from where we were driving. It is the point where Noah's Ark is said to have landed after (or during?) the great flood. Spectacular.

The rest of the day we spent eating hummus, falafel, and baba ganoush (new and healthy food, yay!) at the arts and crafts market, climbing a huge monument in the park for a view of the city, and weaseling our way out of a sticky hotel situation to make it to this hostel (funny story I'll tell later), before going out to the cafe scene for a bottle of pomegranate wine. We are absolutely loving Yerevan, and fortunately or unfortunately spending a good amount of time talking about how much more we like it than Tbilisi. I'm not sure what's in store for the day, but at 11:30 I'm going to have to go wake up Rachel, Julian, and Scott to get a move on.