The Armenian trilogy is about to finish, five weeks of travelling and having fun are not easily condensed in a few paragraphs and pictures... but I did my best. Still reality was much better than the tale, as it usually happens. And to be honest, I am a bit pushed to catch up with the current events in my trip since I do not want to finish writing in 2018.Vardavar is one of the most important celebrations in the country, dating back to pagan times. It is related to the cleansing power of water, fertility and so on... but actually the whole thing nowadays is about throwing water at other people. Specially girls to guys and guys to girls, but not exclusively. This meant that I became totally soaked when driving my motorbike in small roads since young locals were waiting for cars to discharge their water buckets... of course they were even happier to see a rare motorbike.

Sophie and I went to Geghard monastery to start witnessing the celebrations, which in that particular location blend religious and pagan traditions. That is my favorite monastery in the whole country, partly carved in the rock in ancient times and full of huge 'khachkars' i.e. stone crosses. I decided not to overload this blog with monastery pictures but instead chose one with traditional dances and costumes, from a local folk ensemble that was singing in the courtyard. Notice the lady with the mineral water bottle... it is not for drinking but for splashing.

Later the celebrations continued in Garni, a pagan Hellenistic temple not far from Geghard. If you think about it, pagan celebrations make more sense in a place like that than in a church. But religious leaders are always careful to choose their holidays and significant events to fall on the same dates as existing pagan festivities, so that people do not have to change their customs too much. There were dances and stalls in Garni but, to be honest, we did not see much of it since we spent the whole day by the river down the gorge having a picnic with other friends.

I thought I was going to leave Armenia after Vardavar but, unsurprisingly, I decided to stay a bit longer and made one last trip to Ijevan area. I slept at the only place I could find in town, with a local family who owned a cafe by the road. I was the only guest and they did not speak any English... just Russian and Armenian. I managed to find, with my survival Russian and body language explanations, some trails into the nearby mountains and did a couple of hikes. But I was honestly 'lost in translation'.

Before returning to Yerevan, Sophie and her younger brother joined a hiking trip to Lastiver, a place that is in the same area, just a bit further up the road. I went with them and spent a very nice day hiking down to the river, having a picnic, swimming a bit in the cold water and visiting some ancient caves and petroglyphs in the area. This is Sophie trying the water... I could not convince her to go swimming...

There was a lot more happening in Armenia and, no matter how much I write, I would always feel it is not enough to be fair with the country. I did not mention how I ended up meeting some people in a hiking trip, realizing it is one of the girl's birthday, offering her a motorbike ride and finishing the evening at her birthday party in town. Or the countless evenings with Artyom at the Aeon cafe and Calumet. Or how I got used to dodge drunk drivers on the highway to Sevan. Many of those details made me feel like at home and wanting to return to the country in the near future, hopefully before the winter makes it impossible to drive a motorbike in the Caucasus.

To be continued...