Interlude: Wake of Destruction, Georgia

I went with friends - an American and some Georgians - to Gori and north of it to the South Ossetian border today, through villages from which Russian troops had recently departed - the former buffer zone, in other words. Plenty of ruined houses, bombed- or burnt-out, and destroyed lives, in these villages.

Top: a typical scenario of damage
2nd: talking to a survivor
3rd: damage, closeup
4th: built 2006, destroyed 2008
5th: Merab, one of his village's haunted heroes, who stayed in place for the whole of the Russian operation and occupation

Dizi & Etseri, Svaneti, Georgia

Top three, from Dizi: Someone making k'ubdari (Svan meat pies) for the first time; and Svan ladies (Nodar's sister Tina, a widowed mother; her daughter and sisters-in-law)

Bottom: Mt Ushba from Etseri, just peeking over the horizon

Dizi, Svaneti, Georgia

Top: just outside Dizi, where once much of the marble for Moscow's magnificent Metro stations was mined

Middle: mushrooms - she found many great ones, most of them edible, and cooked up a feast at our hosts' house

Bottom: a nice though small set of horns destined for drinking wine from

Dizi, Svaneti, Georgia

Back to the start of this 25th Svaneti visit - pictures out of order, but never mind.

From the top: 6-year-old Iviko, growing up without his dad, who died when he was a few months old, managing the axe all by himself while I watched with trepidation. We also cut some logs together using a 2-person saw.

Clothes wire.

Someone looking beautiful at the window.

Paper lanterns, similar in appearance to the Cape gooseberries of my southern African childhood but apparently not containing the same fruit at all.

Ushguli-Lentekhi, Svaneti, Georgia

More from yesterday's trip home. It was 12 hours from Ushguli to Mtskheta, near Tbilisi, with some rather bad roads soon after the start of the trip, and me out in front of the car on foot, guiding it. But spectacular scenery made up for all of that. More to come.

Back from Svaneti

A few to whet the appetite - from my today's return trip from Ushguli all the way back to Tbilisi, via the rarer Lentekhi road, going up to 2600 m or so above sea level and closed by snow roughly half the year. The new digital camera performed like a star, and I couldn't have wished for better weather.

More from Dizi

GRAPPLE tree - grapes and apples growing together

Svaneti Again!

My 25th visit to Svaneti... and Someone's 1st.

My hoped-for internet connection hasn't proven to be so great - needs several more phone consultations with Magti, as it did the first time in December 2007, to make it work. So I'm writing this from the internet cafe in Mestia which, bless it, though down to one working computer, is still functioning - albeit slowly. At least I have my new digital camera, and the laptop to edit photos.

Dizi: Tennis - er, satellite TV, anyone? One of these dishes is obviously dedicated to sports.

Georgia - Doctors at Play

Nodar (left) and his colleague at the Iashvili Children's Hospital in Tbilisi, enjoying a favourite pastime in a quiet moment today.

Magti Mobile Modem again...

Today I went to an office of Magti, Georgia's largest mobile phone services provider, with my cellphone, laptop and connecting cable. A short while later I walked out with the three connected in a new way, the same as I'd arranged for my desktop last winter: now, once again, I'm equipped to access the internet from almost anywhere in Georgia! The portability of both laptop and new digital camera means that I should be able to continue posting to the blog even from Svaneti, where I'm going tomorrow for 10 days or so. Thank you, Natia, for the help, and Magti for your new packet prices which make internet down to 1/10 the price it was for me last year!

Stay tuned, blog visitors.

People of Georgia

A recent portrait - well, I shot it today. LOVE digital.

Svaneti, Georgia

Just one image to post tonight. This reflects that I returned home late, tired, and had no new digital camera work ready - just more raw 35mm film scans, for example from the April 2005 Svaneti trip. Each takes such a long time to scan and then clean up compared to digital...! I knew that this day would arrive, when I dread the cleanup of scans as compared to the ease of digital original work. Here it is, upon me - though I'll keep on scanning the film for its personal historical and, I hope, artistic value.

Hard at Work

THIS is what I can do with the new digital camera. If I set up my laptop right, I can have the story out on the blog in minutes instead of the next day, from practically anywhere, by mobile internet. Stills or video. Your Roving Reporter is gearing up in the new Georgia.

Visited an Armenian friend of mine yesterday, a jeweller - someone was having a ring resized. Ashot works from home, in the concrete jungle at the edge of Tbilisi not far from the new American Embassy. He cut two rings with a small saw, and added a section from one to the other. Nice, neat work, which I'd never seen done before. Then he refused money for his work - always a risk here when one goes to a friend for business! But I can play that game too, with a gift of a photograph, say.

The last shot is the view from where he works - not pretty, but at least there are hills for hiking a few minutes' walk away, with views of the old capital, Mtskheta.

And welcome to the first visitor from Barbados! Your country is Number 90 on the list - counting up to 100...

Time for a Change

New blog title bar today, based on the recent panorama I posted. This reflects that I'm soon to move back home to Ushguli, subject of this photo, for a second winter of English teaching. It also incorporates my original Geosynchronicity logo.

Becho/Ushba, Svaneti, Georgia

Three more from the April 2005 visit to Svaneti with Peter Nasmyth and Nodar Aprasidze.

The road near Becho; magnificent Mt Ushba above Becho; and a closeup of the south peak

Best View in the Caucasus...?

(Welcome to the newest countries to stop by the blog: Cayman Islands and El Salvador!)

Only one picture for now, but it's a recent favourite, a scanned film 2-frame panorama from early this year. Ushguli, of course, the top part - Zhibiani, with Mt. Shkhara, highest in Georgia at just over 5000 m, lit by sunset. It's actually about 7 km from the village; its great height and the air's clarity make it seem a short walk away.
The mountain to the right is Lamaria, 1 km or so above the village, and at its base is Lamaria Church and tower.
The left-most complete house is the Ratianis', where I wintered from November 23, 2007 to February 23, 2008; its lone window at left is from my bedroom.

Georgia: People and Places

Me!

Me with Lasha and Levan, intrepid Rustavi 2 TV guys from the Ushguli March 2008 week!

Dave doing his Minnie Mouse imitation (well, it was done to him, more like it) while getting a Tbilisi kiosk haircut!

Tbilisi riverfront at dusk, a few hours ago! Gotta luv digital photography!

People of Georgia

Peter Nasmyth, Nodar Aprasidze, another friend and I went to Etseri and Mestia, Svaneti, in April 2005, the first of 3 trips I'd make to the province that year. Crazy melting snow floods, some great photos, good times. Later, I feared that with all my comings and goings around the world that year, all of the 35mm film from those 3 journeys was somehow lost. It didn't turn up until nearly 2 years later, and now I'm scanning it for the useable stuff. Here's a self-portrait reflected in Peter's sunglasses, with the mountains near Etseri in the background. Remember this, Peter?

People of Georgia

Might as well call this set "Person of Georgia", because there's 1 man in 4 of the 5 shots.

Nodar: in Khevsureti; holding an unusual set of horns in the old Mestia Museum; with children and nieces in Dizi; and (last) with an ancient mortar, also in Dizi.

The 4th shot is of Yours Truly, Tony the Mighty Hunter, in Etseri.