Gelati, Georgia, August 2007

I've run out of Svaneti video clips for now - though I'm off to Ushguli again on Oct. 25 for 9 days... Meanwhile, here's one from the Gelati complex near Kutaisi, a side chapel off the main church, ancient paintings of Georgian and Bible history.

Ushguli, Svaneti, September 2007

A weekend trip to Ushguli via Lentekhi (both ways) in September. This had the two main purposes of moving my winter things - especially enough books to read - and delivering a large amount of gifts for Ushguli school, bought by friends and their friends. 1/2 the entire year's curriculum books for all grades in all subjects; many new books for the library; 3 oil-filled electric radiators; and 2 computers. (Still to come: another radiator and computer.)

These 3 clips show the materials being taken into the school, to considerable excitement.

Ushguli, Svaneti, August 2007

A typical meal at the Ratianis' guesthouse. The food more than made up for being temporarily out of electricity. Dato and Nanuli's mobile number (from inside Georgia) is (899) 912256. They dont' speak English (yet!); both speak Georgian, and he speaks Russian as well. Very good service and conditions, friendly family - a great place to stay in Ushguli.

Svaneti, August 2007

Today may be the first time I've synchronised video and photographs - same time, same place.

Above, with my 2 American friends on a walk towards Mt Ushba (which hid soon after we saw it) from Mestia.

Below, on another walk, this time towards the magnificent glaciers of Mt Shkhara above Ushguli.

Kvirikoba, July 28, 2007 (top to bottom)

Top: here's what a successful lifting of the Big Rock looks like.

Bottom: general view of the festival and some of the 30 people with whom I travelled to Svaneti this time.

Salt for Svaneti[a], Part I (silent film)

Parts II & III & details below.

A hint for watching these rather long videos (c. 17 minutes each): let each chapter buffer or load for a while (half or more) before starting to watch it, then it can run without stopping to load the rest.

Salt for Svaneti[a], Part II (silent film)

Part I above, Part III and details below.

Salt for Svaneti[a], Part III (silent film)

Parts I & II above.

I found this gem from 1930, filmed by Mikheil Kalatozov, in the USA on VHS; friends brought it here to Georgia for me. Had it transferred to DVD here. The VHS copy states that only the sound, which is a modern addition to what was originally a silent film, is copyright. So I have removed the sound and am making this nearly hour-long film available to watch in 3 parts on the blog. It's from Ushguli, Europe's highest village; Svan friends of mine say that its depiction of Svan culture as it was then is quite accurate. There's a strong communist propaganda element to the film, of course, as should be expected from a film of its time period. And it's obviously an early film as far as genre goes - how much is documentary, how much drama? The baby death must be staged, along with the avalanche scenes; the horse's death may not be. The funeral itself is likely real, and the terrible July blizzard is a fact, remembered by people I knew.

This is the village to which I will be moving in November 2007 to teach English, learn Svan and really start investigating the Svan people's culture. So, enjoy the first film of Ushguli. (Each part is about 75 MB in size, at least as I uploaded it... some patience may be needed.)

Kvirikoba, Svaneti, July 28, 2007 (top to bottom)

Three from the Kvirikoba festval in K'ala, the first time I was there.

Top - part of the long, steep walk from the road up to the church itself. Even elderly people, though, were making the trip.

Middle - the crowd planting candles on the church walls and having their prayers read out, while the bell-ringer did his thing & shouted, "Hamin!" (Amen)

Bottom - one of the event's feats of strength, the lifting of a large rock which is not only heavy but quite unwieldy into the bargain. Popular with the young toughs showing off. Out of my league for both size and mass; and to whom would I strut my stuff anyway?

In and above Ushguli, July 2007

Oops - should've uploaded the videos before the manuscript shot! Oh well, never mind.

Top - I shot this 360-degree video panorama in rather a hurry, as the first one I tried, from the top of Mt Lamaria, failed to film after about 5 seconds. So, apologies for the whirlwind tour, which is from near the pass above Ushguli from which the Lentekhi side of Svaneti is visible. It starts and ends with what you can see of Ushguli at the bottom of the frame.

Bottom - candle making. This, using beeswax and cotton, is the traditional Georgian way. The next day some of us took the candles and set off by foot for K'ala, 10 km lower, for the Kvirikoba festival there. More footage to follow.

Football, Ushguli, July 2007

Us vs. them, i.e. guests vs. locals. 2 clips from opposite ends of the field, which is at the top of the village; a goal by each side. We (guests) won.

Svaneti, er, hobble, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Meanwhile, back on the ranch. Jeff having his foot blisters dealt with at last, by the best: Valya, Nodar's cousin and the medicine woman of Etseri. Grin and bear it, buddy. I had my own owwies to contend with, on my thighs (I wasn't about to display 'em), from riding the wretched horse home 2 1/2 hours. We rested a full day here, then took the marshroutka (public minivan) home to Tbilisi. The walk was over after 2 1/2 weeks. A great time was had by all. Many lessons were learned to apply to the next attempt, likely to be summer 2008.

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Top clip - panorama of the campsite.

Middle - a rare appearance by the usual cameraman, filmed by the usual actor. My reply to Jeff is something about "Rice and chicken"; then I ask him if he has ever had rice cooked on a fire before.

Bottom - the beautiful little spring-fed pond where I took some photos of Ushba peeking over the forest and gathered water in the idyll, unaware that back at the campsite Jeff was being given the run-around by the recently-escaped Nightmare. Thank Heavens he managed to hobble after her and grab her by the stirrup, then wait for me to return, or we might have lost her for the rest of the walk and been stranded.

There are only 2 more videos from the June Svaneti walk, both back in Etseri, our starting point. Between these clips of today and those 2, we: settled with the crazy horse; began walking towards Mestia; put Jeff on the horse on top of all the baggage as his blisters had finally got the better of him (his added weight didn't slow her down in the slightest); upon reaching Mestia, put Jeff and all the baggage into a car for Etseri, while I rode the Nightmare there. It only took me 2 1/2 hours, with some galloping and some rain and some more final craziness from the beast.

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Top: The glue didn't hold, so Jeff had to switch to his walking sandals. Although he'd done considerable walking in these to break them in, he had some minor blisters already, which they made worse. This was the begining of the end of the walk, though we didn't realise it at the time.

Bottom: Breaking a cardinal rule of camping during our one overnight in a tent: Don't eat in the tent! (It attracts big critters to the smells. But bears and such are much shyer here than in North America; and the rain made it feel like a risk worth taking.)

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Top clip - inside the top of the Ratiani family's unique "Twin Towers", Ushguli, with Anzor showing Jeff & me around. I'd love to have these cleaned out, the roof repaired and tours run up them.

Next 2 - at the Tamar's Fortress complex overlooking Ushguli, including the highest watchtower in Europe (unless someone can demostrate otherwise). Apologies for the poor sound quality. As for the darkness of the bottom clip - dusk was falling as we began our descent, but we'd known that this would happen and were ready with flashlights. (Jeff, are you enjoying this series of flashbacks?)

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Above Ushguli.

Top clip: crossing another stream as we walk towards the Shkhara Glacier. It was as cold as the histrionics indicate.

Bottom clip: another look at the unbelievable amount of snow remaining in June.

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

In and around Ushguli.

Top: a view from the way up to the summit of Mt Lamaria. I did this solo the day after Jeff and I arrived in Ushguli - for some reason I still had considerable energy. It was a lovely clear day for landscape photos. From the summit I made my first 360-degree photographic panorama ever, in 17 hand-held shots. I also took a video panorama on the cellphone, but annoyingly, only the first few seconds of it have picture, though the wind-swept microhone sounds persist throughout the clip... so all I have on video from that walk is this clip from part-way up. It'll do.

Middle: how much is that goatie in the window? 'Cause we'd sure like to buy it and send it far away from OUR window. Its bleating was much more frequent than the inexplicable shyness of this short clip suggests.

Bottom: footage from a detour walk Jeff and I made towards Mt Shkhara and its glaciers. This much snow persists until June... indeed, some of it was still left fully 2 months later, when I repeated this walk with other friends. Astounding.

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

After Ipari (the first time the horse ran away, also unavaliable on film because THIS reality show doesn't have anyone other than its 2 stars filming it), finishing in Ushguli.

Video 1 - a lone tower on a river, the Maiden Tower of Svaneti, in which legend has it that a girl's father imprisoned her because he didn't like her suitor, and in which she aparently died.

Video 2 - entering the part of the road I call the "Mordor Section" for its gloom, slate rock and general closed-in feeling. After K'ala, not far from Ushguli.

Video 3 - settling in at the Ratianis' guesthouse, Ushguli.

Svan Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Mulakhi to Ipari Pass.

Video 1 (top) - sorry for the corny dialogue, it was all I could come up with on the spur of the moment. This was the first time we had to cross a stream barefoot on the walk.

Video 2 - the little box appearing 1/2 way through the clip is a shrine to someone who died on the road, a sadly common thing here.

Video 3 - near Ipari, a carved wooden cross marks the pass. There's a beautiful little spring-fed lake near here. This is also the location of our only tent camp-out during the walk, and of Crazy Horse Day the next morning, unfortunately all missed on film because the cameraman was too busy trying to re-bridle the Nightmare.

Svaneti Walk, June 2007: Lenjeri through Mestia (top to bottom)

Approaching Lenjeri, then departing Mestia after 2 days' break there. Pressing on towards Ushguli.