Like a good book, the context, setting, and story line shifts as we move into Chapter 2 of our Armenian Adventure. Assuming traveling north to the village of D'segh where Mary lives and works would be uneventful would be to assume incorrectly! Since internet access is limited in this lush mountainous region of northern Armenia, I'll share briefly now, then delve more deeply later.
We spent Saturday (yesterday, which seems like forever!) morning arising in Yerevan and excited for the Saturday market we had heard so much about. Once we found the market, it did not disappoint. After 2-3 hours of slowly winding through the aisles of beautiful carpets which captivated my attention for much of the first hour, we made our way toward the other rows of sellers with jewelry, handiwork of all kinds. We stopped and chatted, loved seeing the variety of wares from silver pomegranate necklaces to tablecloths, painted works, musical instruments and many other items. After dragging down around this market for two hours, we recognized our need to get back to the hotel and check out, and arrange our cab that would take us on our 2-1/2 hour trip north to D'segh. Delay happens in all cultures due to a variety of reasons, and of course, it happened to us as we checked out of our hotel and hailed our cab. Nearly three hours later we were on the road in a non-air conditioned cab with a driver who really didn't understand where we wanted to go, and seemed to be struggling to make his propane-powered cab make it up the long and lengthy hills of Armenia. We headed out to the country-side in the tree-less hills where the grasses never grow very high, and the rocky countryside shows remnant of ancient glaciers. Our Skoda cab (Czech made) struggled to make it up one hill and suddenly the driver pulled over complaining of something on his side of the car. He kept pointing down and sure enough, had a flat tire. So in the middle of the Armenian boonies,we all pile out, empty out all the luggage we had so carefully and strategically packed and watch our embarrassed driver pull out the spare which looked more damaged than the flat tire! He got it on quickly and away we went 20 minutes later.
As we wound our way along the freeway, the preliminary stop we had planned at one of the oldest Christian church sites got lost in translation, and when we really couldn't find ourselves on our map, both Margaret and I realized the route we were taking was not the direct one--in fact if we figured it correctly, would double our distance to D'segh. We confirmed our destination with driver as best we could, who quickly called his boss (or someone) who helped guide him. But clearly he needed more help since for the next four hours, we stopped more than ten times to ask for directions. We learned later that this is customary in Armenia for men--something you wouldn't see in the US!
Finally, at around 7:30 PM, we arrived in D'segh, set high in the mountains with an unbelievable gorge view of trees, cliffs and everything green! We've seen so much already, and would see even more tomorrow. Can't wait!
Dad's quote of the day:
"Vistas of wonderment, flat tires and propane gas running taxi providing opportunities of grace, and gratitude for the giftings of God."
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