The most
remote and probably one of the most beautiful place in Georgia so far? After
the last trip to northern part of Kakheti region the answer is easier than
before. Definitely Tusheti. It is not only about the picturesque landscape and
unspoiled nature there. What made the trip even more amazing? People and luck
that we had on the way. Yes, we are lucky Polish bastards. But let’s start from
the beginning.....
As usual we
chose hitchhiking as a mean of transport. Went smooth and easy as usual in
Georgia;) First stop we made was to have a look at Alaverdi Monastery. After a
short sightseeing we kept on going,
still having a long way ahead.
Next stop happened, a bit unexpected, already in
Pshaveli, in the house of people that took us by their car...yyyy a small
correction: some kind of vehicle that used to be a car. Without windows, back
seats, partly without floor (I have no idea how to call in English this part of
a car underneath your feet...) but still, as for its condition, it managed to
take us quite a long way....
After a
small and unexpected coffee/lunch break we
continued our trip to get as far as possible on the way to Omalo. It didn’t go
so easy any more. No cars on the horizon. It started getting late, and slowly
we started losing hope that we would reach Tusheti that day. Having no better
way, we put our tent, getting ready to spend night in the place where our
vehicle had left us. But suddenly, out of nothing, we saw a car coming to our
direction. So we stopped the guy. He was
going to Dartlo. “Why not?”, we said. He agreed to take us. It was the faster tent
folding ever. 3 minutes and we were
already on the way to Tusheti. Long and bumpy way I have to admit. BTW: we saw
a bear somewhere on the top of the mountain;) After more than 3 hours we
reached Dartlo. Sleepy and tired as hell. Got off the car and saw and heard
nothing. Literally - nothing. Just felt the temperature is not as nice as it
was a few hours before....much more chilly. The first thought: “ *****where
are we? How the hell we will put the tent when we cannot see anything! *****”.
But I forgot it is Georgia so situation solved after a few seconds. Our driver
invited us to his place. Actually - hotel, as we realized in the morning.
So we
stayed there. In the end two days, exploring Dartlo and the strength of its chacha.
Next stop – Omalo. Finally we did some hiking,
around 20 km. This time we decided that we have to use the tent that I was
carrying all this time! As soon as we reached Omalo, we chose the perfect
meadow. Put the tent and try to fall asleep to start early in the morning
another, this time longer hiking.
 |
| Omalo |
Waking up in the middle of nowhere and seeing just overwhelming
beauty and flock of sheep around you. Priceless. We started hiking without much
hope we will meet some car on the way. Did some kilometres, stopped for a short
break, ate something and start joking that just dancing can help us to find
some lift from this wilderness. So we started. Believe it or not but again we
heard a car coming.There it was: an old
pickup.
Funny way when you seat on the metal frames without anything preventing
you from falling into precipice just behind u. Great feeling, especially when
you suffer from fear of heights.In the
end we survived, seeing breathtaking mountainous landscape, experiencing snow
in the end of June and having cognac on the pick of the mountain. Safe and
happy we reached civilization.
Lucky
polish bastards. I think our Czech friends – Eva, Libi and Petra, who had been
in Tusheti one week before us and had to walk a big part of the distance on
foot, can admit how lucky we were.
Alicja
EVS volunteer
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