Episode 3 - Revenge of the Pictures
Wow, I actually did some serious work on my internship project today, and now I might actually have some time to write.
We’ve travelled a lot this past week, and, personally, I love travelling in this country. You can only spend so much time in the city center before you lose your mind. It’s easy for people, diasporan and otherwise, to come to this country on vacation, stay for a few weeks around Yerevan and say they love it. What’s not to love? You have amazing food, beautiful sites, beautiful people, cafes, tea houses, ice cream, nice hotels, the whole package; and it costs pennies. Some people even joke that the Dram, the Armenian currency, is closer to monopoly money than real money. In America you can have a party of four at a nicer restaraunt, get a good meal, some drinks, maybe dessert and spend about 100 bucks. Here it’ll cost you a hundred bucks too …. but instead of four people you can feed 20.
…I’ve totally lost my train of thought….
Ah yes. My point is this. You can say you love this country because you come here for a few weeks and live like a king. You can stay in “Spyurk Central” and pretend that you’re in Armenia, but if you don’t scratch the surface then you and your love are blind. If you don’t listen to the stories, hear about the few ups, and the even more downs; if you’re not open-minded and you’re not willing to open your eyes to life in this country, then your experience here is just as hollow as George W. Bush’s head and heart combined.
I can never compare my life to that of the people who live here, we live in different worlds. But although we can never fully grasp what life is like here, I hope that my friends and I can take back as much as we can from this experience. I hope that in some way, we can leave a mark on the people that we have come in contact with here, just as they have left a mark on us.
Tomorrow morning we travel to Artsakh (The Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh), if you don’t know anything about Artsakh, I suggest you look it up, or maybe wait a few days for our next blogs. I’m really excited for our trip, they say its pretty inspirational when you’re standing in the middle of the land that was fought and died for, and making a toast with a shot of tuttioghi (mulberry vodka).
Well enough about the present and future, for now you may be more interested in the past. I dont have too much time for stories seeing as I need to get back to my research project. To sum up in the past week or so in a nutshell we travelled to Geghard which is an Armenian cave monestary carved partially out of a mountain. The monestary was built in the 4th century and the cathedral was built in 1215. It’s quite a site to see. Four years ago I was there and there were 1000’s of people there, this time we were virtually by ourselves, quite different experiences. After Geghard we visited Garni Temple. It is a pagan temple that was built in the 1st century. The money was donated by Emporer Nero of Rome and it resembles a lot of ruins you’d see in Greece. It was nearly destroyed in an earthquake over 300 years ago, but was restored during Soviet times. The temple is sweet, but the view surrounding is one of the awesomest things I’ve ever seen.
Also, we spent a few days at lake Sevan. We stayed at Harsnaqar(Bride-Rock) Resort, which could easily be in Palm Springs, Ca. It has the whole waterslide, pool, basketball court, beach, cafe thing going on. I’m guessing it’s a place built by Spyurkahyes for Spyurkahyes (Diasporans for Diasporans). I wonder what they do with it in the summer….strange… Anyways, It was a lotta fun, kind of a surreal experience in the middle of Armenia. We were warned 847 times about the altitude and the heat and the Sun, it did no good beacuse I think everyone got sunburned.
After that we went to the churches on the Sevan Penninsula. Very old, very beautiful. The monestary is still in use and looks pretty new. Interesting to note that most of that penninsula was underwater x-hundred years ago.
The next day we went on a trip with the interns from the Armenian Assembly. We saw Saghmosavank Monestary. I totally forgot it was Sunday and I almost walked into the middle of Badarak church service. Again, very old, very beautiful, and furthermore, the canyon in the back is breathtaking. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you I”m a monkey, pretty fearless really, but I’ll tell you that I was freaking out taking pictures on a rock and looking down and seeing a 4 billion ft. drop - maybe 5 billion.
The best part of the trip for me was Ambert Fortress. It’s about 800 years old and was a key place to do some of the monkey type stuff that I alluded to earlier. I think my thighs are still soar. You can see the pics below, it was a lot of fun. Great place to relax and take pictures.
Next we say Karmavor church, named for its red stones. Again a strange experience because four years ago there were 100’s of people there on our pilgramage, and now there was…you guessed it, no one. After Karmavor we went to Oshagan which is where Mesrob Masdotz, the creator of the Armenian Alphabet is buried.
Finally the other day my friends Eddy and Carina invited me over to the Karakashian house for a homecooked meal, good pasta, salad, some wine, some laughs and memories. My man Boghos is money on the piano too, money I tell you, except he forgot how to play the theme to Super Mario Brothers, but I forgive you man. Also one of these past days me and Boghos got bored and this cool photo project where he flies through my living room and kitchen but he didn’t want to put on the site, maybe I’ll put it up later cuz I’m a rebel.
Farewell folks, please enjoy the pictures because the Lord knows I didn’t enjoy putting them up on the site…excruciating, Matt, what is this software you’ve given to us? And why am I pretty much the only person putting pictures on this site?? Sometimes it’s quite a burden to bear being so smart and responsible. Seeya!
P.S. David and Eddy - Do your darn dissertations!
We got off the bus on the way to Geghard to take a picture in front of Mt. Ararat. It was the clearest we had seen our mountain on the trip so far.
There’s Lisa lighting a candle and saying a prayer inside the church at Geghard.
Deacon/Uncle Mike admiring the altar inside Geghard.
We explored around Geghard a little bit. There’s some cool places, some cool caves and a creek. Here you can see Geghard in the background, not the best pic of it but you can sort of see how it was carved out of the mountainside.
At the Geghard entrance the locals play a game. You see the square holes carved into the side of the mountain? Well if you can get a stone to land and stay in one of those areas, it brings you good luck. The higher you get your stone, the more luck you’ll have. There’s a few higher spots off the frame. I think Rita and Alex were the only ones to get one in, I gave up after 30 tries, I make my own luck anyway.
Here’s Garni Temple, see what I mean about it looking Greek. When you look closer you can tell which stones are originals, and which were replaced.
Here’s part of the canyon behind the Temple, freakin awesome.
Look, down by the lake! It’s a Raging Waters, it’s an Oasis! Nope, it’s Harsnaqar!
Here’s a bottom up view of the pool and hotel.
Here’s the guys room. I don’t know why I put this in, but it’s a pretty nice room.
The girls in the pool.
Some of us by the Lake.
Myself, Alex and Boghos.
Here’s a pic from our hotel of the churches at Sevan, and…….
A few hours later here’s us standing on the churches at Sevan. See the pic above and imagine that most of the penninsula was underwater.
Khatchkars - Crossrocks. These are native to Armenia and can be found almost everywhere in the country. There’s one big one in Dirty Harry, up that hill in San Fransisco when Clint gets shot. These three we saw on the hike up to the churches.
This is the Sevan Monestary, it’s right next to the churhces.
This is a view from the top of the penninsula towards the far side of the Lake. Somewhere over there is where the ACYO stayed on our pilgramage in 2001.
Here we saw some soldiers on the penninsula. We asked them what they were doing, but it was top secret.
The bus home back to Yerevan. Too much walking, too little sleeping and waaay too much Sun.
This is a shot of Ara Keghetsig or Ara the Handsome. I truly don’t remember the story behind it, maybe someone can comment on it. You can see Ara, he’s laying down on his back, and you can see his profile. His forehead and Armenian nose are on the left, then his chin, stomach and so on.
Badarak inside Saghmosavank.
This is the Armenian Alphabet. It was built a few years ago. We stopped for a bit on the way to Mt. Aragats. I think this is where the longest line dance in history took place.
Carina and David with they’re respective “K” and “T” - Western and “G” and “D” - Eastern
Behold Ambert Fortress
Now that I look at this pic, it totally looks like this thing could crumble any second. But that didn’t stop us.
Definately didn’t stop me either…naturally I climbed the highest out of everyone
That’s a few of us and some of the interns from the Armenian Assembly.
I see you…
This is the church down the hill from the Fortress. Built in 1026 I think.
I didn’t know this, but animals are still sacraficed here
Aleen’s kind of lazy so she rode a horse back up the hill.
CYMA in front of Garmavor, which I hear is Hovnan Srpazan’s favorite church. Srpazan, this one is for you.
Here’s us at Oshagan in front of my good friend Mesrob Mashdots-the creator of the Armenian Alphabet - 405 A.D.
Boghos tickling the ivories at the Karakashian House.
Eddy following in his parents footsteps, do your thing Ed.
Nice Spread-
July 15th, 2005 at 12:34 am
Great photos and great insights! Have a safe trip this weekend.
July 15th, 2005 at 12:41 am
[…] pdate
Filed under: Armenia, Travel, Youth — Posted by Katy on July 14th
Another good post from a CYMA intern, this time from Will Dodd. Beware, there are lots of photos, so if youR […]
July 15th, 2005 at 5:15 am
“as Hollow as Bush’s head…” We ought to be thankful for living in such amazingly disgusting times. Never in any other point of history has mankind been able to partcicipate in such a transformation. We all have the opportunity to help and enable change, positive progression in this world. Whether your travels take you Armenia, Manilla, London, Moscow, Washington D.C., the beach or your own backyard, we are all given that chance on a daily basis. We must continue to step up to that calling and run with it. Only then can we realize our true and fullest potential… And, in the end, we will all watch together, as the colors bleed into one and the light of love is at last cast across the entire world.
July 21st, 2005 at 2:52 am
Little Brother:
As your trip comes to a close i am confident that you will continue to reflect on how you have all grown as adults and your experiences will be a lasting memory for all of your days. We are soooo proud of you and all of the “interns.” Even without having seen you yet, i can feel how much closer you all have become to your heritage and how proud you will continue to be as Armenian-Americans. Be good and have a safe return trip.
November 13th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
Thank you for sharing the pictures and can not wait for my turn to visit Armenia.
July 26th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Levon - Great pictures. What a beautiful country. Must be a wonderful, proud feeling seeing the homeland. You are missed here in Torrance. Enjoy, travel safe.
George E.