04/08/09
Had a day out in the country yesterday. Edgar, Hovik and Garik introduced us to Vardan Jaloyan, secret nuclear physicist turned art critic, who took us out to his family home in the village of Urtsadzor (which was, seemingly, almost entirely built by his two brothers).
The hospitality we’ve received so far in Armenia has been quite overwhelming. It turned out that none of the visitors from Yerevan (Art Laboratory members) had been to Urtsadzor before but we had already been fed twice by the time we’d decided where to have the barbecue later in the afternoon.
The location decided upon was in the Khosrov Nature Reserve in the Geghama Mountain Range. On the way we visited Jamsho monastery and Fort Geghi which date from the 12th century and saw our first khatchkars (Armenian carved stone crosses).
We then found the perfect spot by a mountain brook and proceeded to the khoravats (barbecue) ritual which lasted for a few hours. Discussions ranged from politics, art, religion, history and the nature of progress.
On the way back to Yerevan, both relieved and disappointed not to have seen any of the bears, leopards, wolves or poisonous snakes that apparently frequent the area, we drove through a massive storm but arrived to dry streets.
