Between bronze age graves and homemade lavash
Shortly after my arrival in Armenia, as I was running late for a meeting and getting lost in the streets of Yerevan, I asked directions to a girl who was waiting in an office. She was gorgeous, with long black hair and all done up. She told me that she also worked for NGO's, we exchanged phone numbers and I ran to my appointment.
Later that day, we met again under the sun on the Republic Square and we started talking. I discovered that Lusine was actually an archeologist, passionate about various causes, and that she was the same age as me. This was to be the beginning of a wonderful friendship!
Last week end, she invited me to join her on one of her excavation sites in Kotayk where I would watch how they dig into bronze age 5000 years old graves. I was really excited about this new adventure. We had to go very early, and wait there until it was warm enough for the two ladies to get out of the van and start working -we were the only girls in the group, the men started working as soon as we arrived to the site, but they judged that it was too cold for girls so we could stay inside until the un came out, sexism has it's good sides...
It was a real open air museum. There were skulls, bones, pottery jars, bracelets... It was amazing to see how those things were just lying there in the open, and that I could touch them unlike in museums. The men there were making jokes about the graves, putting the names of each others grandfathers on grave stones, or saying that they will use the old bones to make khash (an armenian soup). I could help digging, and even bring a bone home. Do something good today, adopt a bronze age skeleton!
The nature around was beautiful, one of the best I have seen in Armenia. I walked (until they send three people to bring back the poor european girl lost in the wilderness) and reached a canyon, deep and barren... I also found the ruins of a 7th century church and a huge cross-stone.
Lunch time, there is even vodka and toasts in picnics!
Lusine sitting in front of the canyon
That evening, we took the train to Lusine's village. I got to meet a big part of her family as they were celebrating her mother's birthday. Again, people were extremely friendly, and the food was amazing! I loved the experience of having to use outdoors toilets (quite new for me...), petting the pigs in the morning, sleeping on a country-side style bed (more like a hamock) and tasting the grand-father's home made wine. I think the part of having to pee outside is harder in the winter though, but for my little week end trip it was exotic.
On sunday, we visiter Khor Virap, the monastery near the armenian-turkish border where Saint Grigor was imprisoned into a deep pit. We also went to the homes of Lusine's friend and family. I saw how they make the traditional lavash bread in the oven outside the house.
Nice breakfast!!! Fighting with the pomegranate for the status of national fruit, the apricot! Tziraaan...
The little 'khoz', pig in armenian
Baking lavash bread
Is there any more beautiful thing to pose with than a big piece of lavash :)










