ARMENIA

Armenia is definitely an interesting country where you can find both sides of the coin without having to flip it over.
Religion has been and still is one of the biggest influences on the landscape just judging the infinite number of monasteries that you can practically everywhere you go. Lot's of them ancient and really beautiful hidden in the mountains or in one of the tinny islands of a lake, where the landscape surrounding them was making us jealous of the monks that even nowadays keep the places fully working.
Unfortunately environmental care is bot of the first priorities in Armenia and just close by those magic monasteries you cab observe and old soviet metal factory still working, where the smoke of which stains the facade of the typical all look alike depressive soviet gray buildings of the city spreading around.

Visiting some of the cities you just have the feeling that the communist regime, like many do nowadays around the world, used this country to over produce to enrich themselves not caring for the harm done to Nature or the population, keeping them quiet with free houses and vodka.
Only sixteen years have past since the Soviet union disappeared and seems that people are still living the same way, where things get done not thinking about the consequences.

Armenians are really curious, friendly and specially strong. Even though the complicated situation to find a job after the communist left, or the bad conditions of the public services, or the tense relation that they have with many of the neighbour countries, including a still active war with Azerbaijan over the area of Nagorno Karabakh, they talk proudly about their country and how it will soon progress.
Some of that progress it is happening because some non-governmental organizations like the Peace corps from the U.S, whose are spread all over this country and many others trying to help developing the area in many aspects like business, environmental care or teaching.

Thanks to Penny Porter, one of the volunteers working with some of the schools in Kapan, we enjoyed a couple of days of her hospitality and we felt like home. we met a few of the other volunteers in the area and probably had the best meals so far in this trip, just before heading south to Iran.

Thanks again Penny!

LOOKING FOR THE HIDDEN CAMERA

We reached the border of Georgia by foot and getting the precious stamp to let us out, we just realized that we were in the middle of nowhere with no transportation far beyond the imaginary line that was telling us that we were in Georgia.
At the same time that we where crossing the border, a van appeared with three Turkish guys and we tried our luck. After discussing an expensive price ans letting go our last Turkish currency we joined the trio...at that time we still did not know what was coming!

Some people say that a country can change you and and your traditions, well we definitely could see that as we saw a couple of naked ladies being really "friendly" with each other in the small screen that the van was equipped with. We looked to each other and start laughing as they did while they were shouting " here, no problem ".
I guess religion has to get its passport stamped too.

After a few minutes one of the guys realizes that he has done a big mistake on leaving the chains for the snow in the border as the van get its wheels stacked in the snow in the first steep slope in our way.
After pushing the van for a while and starting to think that maybe joining the fantastic trio was not a good idea, we managed to get by thanks to the car that was circulating behind us. We used one of his chains for the snow tied up with a dodgy string found in the middle of the road after learning that the chain was too small for the van's wheels.
Bad luck! we thought at that moment, but in less than a minute we started looking for the hidden camera as the driver realized that he was out of gas but not after stopping in a petrol station and buy some cigarettes for himself five minutes before!.
Luckily for us the " Saint" was still driving behind us so he could drive one of the guys and get some petrol which we managed to get finally to the next town where we hoped to get a bus ride...

Gule Gule Turkey

Nearly two weeks travelling and exploring some of the places along the eastern Turkey. A region where not many organized tours adventure themselves, specially now that the situation between Kurds and the Turkish governament is getting a bit complicated; again a situation where nobody is wrong or right and many feelings are involved.
Sanliurfa, the city of prophets, was our first stop. The city is famous for, as history says, being the birth place of the prophet Ibrahim, nowadays one of the biggest pilgrimage places in the Muslim world. A place with a Middle Eastern touch thanks to the proximity of Syria, where people drink their tea in the sun enjoying the milder Winter while they are curious about us, where the proudly say that they are Kurdish, where Salvar (traditional baggy Arabic pants) are the thing to wear, where oranges taste like honey, where the first university was founded, and specially where people makes you feel really welcomed with their kindness and big smiles on their wrinkled faces when you sit down by their side because they have just invited you for a tea and have a conversation.

Leaving Sanliurfa we headed to Diyarbakir, the "Kurdistan capital", with its second world longest wall around the city and where old Karavanserays are still working as resting places for those with enough money to pay it.
Climbing the city walls you can recreate your eyesight with the historical Mesopotamia and the Tigris river, while the local kids practice their English with you and try to sell you a packet of tissues.
Thanks to Morat, who act as our guide, we learn about the Armenian Orthodox minority to be found in the city and also we discover the newest part of the city just outside the walls where you enjoy a Kurdish music concert and even try to emulate them in their traditional dance as we did with no much success.

With snow along the dangerous road we make it to Van. A quick visit to discover that everything around is covered with snow and the chances to visit the huge lake and the Armenian churches to be found on it are really slim if you do not carry much cash on you.

Keep going north and with sunshine to enjoy the views along the white landscape a 5000 meters wall appears in the horizon, impressive Mount Ararat invite us to stay in Dogubayazit, the town just at the foot of the mountain. Once there the chance to behold one of those magic sunsets and the " Thousand and One Nights" Ishak Pasa palace placed like a diamond in a small plateau in the cliffs of the mountain, are more than enough reasons to consider yourself really lucky for being there. Even though some locals walk around with AK-47 hanging on their shoulders.

The calendar is running more than we would like and we set off to Kars, our last stop before crossing to Georgia.
Kars is literally buried under the snow , as locals say "this could Siberia"and they are not far from the true as you walk around the frozen streets under the menacing -25 Celsius in the thermometer. The snow and the cold are not enough reason to stop us from bargain down the price for a taxi to visit the ruins of Ani.
Historical and amazing Ani is a place where you can breathe ancient times with empires that each one of them left a prove of their greatness as to let everyone know that they once were kings in this land.

With all that already saved in our minds and cameras it is time for us to say farewell to this country, where personally I would describe as an amazing mixture of cultures where its people is its biggest treasure.

Gule Gule Turkey!!