Adventures in Aragatsotn

Mt. Aragats is the tallest in the Republic of Armenia; Aragatsotn meets foot, or foothills of Aragats. I had tried to sign up for a guided tour and then a hiking trip to parts of Aragotsotn; both were cancelled because there’s still snow. When Gordon and Jeanne mentioned that they were going on their own to (lower elevations in) the area, I said I’d like to come along if they could stand me for two days in a row.

We had Monday off; May 9th is Victory and Peace Day in Armenia – it celebrates both the end of World War II and a winning battle in the war with Azerbaijan. My host mother told me that 600,000 Armenians fought in WWII and 300,000 died, and that Armenia had lots of marshals and generals and Georgia, none; Azerbaijan, none. I decided to leave it at that, though I did have the opportunity to tell other people about my former boss, who called himself the first baby boomer – he was born on May 8, V-E Day, and is named Victor E. (last name omitted for privacy purposes).

We took the marchutny to Ashtarak, the provincial capital, where on our own we found a 7th century church (a sweet little structure), crossed a 16th-century stone bridge with uneven arches, climbed up to a 6th-century church on the edge of the gorge (even littler but somehow not as sweet), walked around, and re-crossed the gorge on an iffy-looking suspension bridge. Down in the gorge itself there were some nice picnic areas - or they will be when the weather gets a little warmer!

We hired a taxi to take us to more sites along the Kasagh gorge. First we went to Surp Gevorg church, which features striped bands of stone along its central drum; very attractive, and still in use. Then it started raining again! On to Hovannavank, a 7th-century monastery perched on the edge of the gorge, with a wealth of carvings and some sheep grazing just outside. Next it was Saghmosavank, from the 13th century. There’s a hike that goes from one to the other, but we didn’t do it; it’s close enough that we could come back to do it another day. Or when the snow melts, we could go further up Aragats, which also sound interesting. All in all, it was a good outing!

A final note for today – the front page of nytimes.com mentioned Congressional hearings about Peace Corps and its response to sexual assault (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/us/11corps.html?hp and http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/us/politics/12corps.html?hp). I knew about the hearings but was surprised to see them on the front page of the web site. I looked at the Peace Corps web site for something official to send to people who emailed me asking about this, and found http://multimedia.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/documents/Peace%20Corps%20Fact%20Sheet%20on%20Sexual%20Assault%20Prevention%20and%20Response.pdf and http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1783.

I’ll also refer you to a blog post by a PCV here, which has some details about the situation in Armenia - http://shirakdispatch.blogspot.com/2011/05/safety-and-security.html. In my own experience, I felt we had lots of training on the subject and that Peace Corps was prepared to support and counsel victims; I haven’t experienced an incident. Yesterday morning we had a consolidation exercise, which was a reminder that Peace Corps takes volunteer safety and security very seriously.

P.S. - one more comment - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/opinion/14tolentino.html?src=recg