We went because both of us had to and could. The “could” is that my wife no longer teaches English at Etseri School. The “had to” event was the funeral of a Georgian colleague who was murdered overseas before his 60th year (apparently, by a fellow Georgian).
The funeral came first. The tragedy is multiplied because the deceased man was his parents’ only child, they are still alive, and he has no children (neither his unmarried sibling does). Many questions remain unanswered, and the shock is still fresh. Police in their home country are holding witnesses, but they refuse to identify the suspect who is still on the loose. Misplaced honor makes them accomplices. We pray for peace and answers for the family.
We then traveled to Oni, the capital of Racha Province, where my wife’s relatives live, and stayed there for two nights. They sent us on an excursion to meet a man who delivers bread twice weekly to two sets Georgian border guards up where Racha meets North Ossetia. (Apparently, they haven’t considered getting freezers for their 10-day tours. It’s their loss, but it’s our gain.
The weather was not promising. It was mostly cloudy and rain threatened, but I had my camera equipment with me. Our driver was very accommodating to my requests for photo stops of the autumn landscape. Racha’s asphalted roads quickly gave way to 4×4-worthy ruts and gravel, but we expected this.
On the way I explained to my wife how the word “ford” came about.
The best shots were taken at our first stop for bread. I had a few meters to roam and about 180 degrees of coverage. I was not allowed to walk towards or aim at the Russian border. The action was all south, and the sky was most obliging to give me beautiful side-lighting when I needed it. For a few moments, I saw magnificent warm-hued forest topped with newly-snowed mountains. Then, it became flat again. I was still excited, though.
Next, we’re going to deliver a package to the village of Gona. It is a nearly abandoned place, and there is no cellphone coverage. The village used to have all kinds of shops, including one that sold gold jewelry. Now only ruins are left for archeologists. We had lunch in the yard of a local lady, where we bought a bottle her honey and shared our k‘ubdari meat pies in exchange for sourcream mixed with curds. The backdrop of this mountain was a long mountain covered in glaciers, which reminded me of the top of Ushguli where Mt Shkhara is Georgia’s tallest.
Itsa, Sori and other villages with nice names are on the way. Sori, Itsa Gona… we need one more Georgian place-name that is also a verb. What can you find in Google Maps? I’m out of ideas.
We ended up in Ozurgeti for another reunion. This time, we were with a friend, who had been working outside Georgia to pay off family debts for nearly five year, a sad Georgian story. She has been back for a whole month after being missed by her husband and three adult sons. I picked chestnuts under a tree that was at least a decade old for the first ever time. I was glad to see the outer shells dispense them before they fell to the ground.
It was a whirlwind trip, but only because we lost our teaching job. We are now preparing to migrate south-east, to Tbilisi, for our first winter away from Svaneti, since moving into our big house twelve years ago. We will take full advantage of this newfound freedom, and we will continue to roam and report on our adventures.
BLOG by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer is a writer and photographer who has been working for GT since 2011. He has lived in Georgia and Svaneti, respectively, since 1999. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
Read More @ georgiatoday.ge