From Tatev to Yerevan

Snow. A lot of snow.

Snow is what welcomed me the morning in Tatev. It was a nice snow, white, pure and the silence given by the remoteness of the village really added to the picture. I changed my mind a bit when I see the bus that was supposed to drive me to Goris, the closes decent-sized town. Monday is maintainance day for the cable car, so the only way to get to Yerevan would be from Goris. So I did not let a Soviet-era kerosene-sputtering bus discourage me. Not even the fact that the engine stopped twice. But the driver, as old as the bus (probably more) restarted it twice, amidst the incessant chattering of the other passengera, all above 50, who probably where reminiscing the golden... pardon, the red era, when engines never stopped.

Once going, the trip took roughly a hour. Goris isn't far but the serpentine road going around the mountains where covered in snow, and comrades don't put chains to tires, so we were extra slow. The scenery was beautiful, though. No pictures, as there was no heating in the bus, and I didn't want to risk frostbite to take pics. When we arrived and I dismounted, I got swarmed by the usual flock of taxi drivers telling me random names. Among those I catched "Yerevan" and I nodded to the man. He said 5000, which probably meant I would have shared the ride. He directed me to a door, where a small taxi office was. A woman, taking money took my money and nodded me to sit on the only free chair, which was behind a small desk.

Several men entered, someone to take goods, other to pay, other to communicate things. All watched me with a weird look in their eyes. Only later I realised that I was sitting behind a desk with a military style coat on. I almost considered asking the woman how to say "PAPERS, PLEASE!" in Russian, but I thought better.

We departed Goris after roughly half an hour. In the car (another Mercedes, of course), there were two women (mother and daughter, with a sleeping baby) and another guy. Me and the driver completed the group. I sat in front, at the request of the driver. He probably didn't want to have to talk.

The trip was uneventful, but beautiful as usual. I got worried whan I saw a truck swayed sideways on the small road, but there was enough room for us to pass while men tried to fix the situation.

The lanscape went from snowy to autumn again. Beautiful as usual. I could post the same photos of before and you probably wouldn't realise right? But I will not. Mount Ararat coming into view was a treat, though.

Didn't I forgot something? Did you miss that little detail?

Of course you did. The sleeping baby. She woke up one hour later and cried for the rest of the trip.