10/29/06
(from Boston)

As you know, I am back in the Boston, and I’m wrapping up with this final report of Georgia, complete with pictures. I hope these work well in your browser because I’ve been lazy about learning how to make this pretty. The first picture (above) is a panorama I took in Borjomi, the mountain region where their famous mineral water comes from. How long it will be famous is now a question since Russia banned its import and it is too high in salts to be approved for the EU. Anyway, this is looking down the ridge we hiked up. Just around the corner is a farm, in the middle of the

trail and of the national park.

Here’s a lesson in ethnic looks. On the left- Georgian men. They both have fairly typical Georgian men-hair; dark, receding at the temples and cut close. These guys are both Svans, the tough guys, and members of the group we were learning songs from. Shmaugi is sitting; he taught instruments. Nicko is standing. How you spell these names in English is a mystery to me.

10/16/06
Well, now I’m in Tbilisi and I’m leaving late tomorrow/early Weds. I had an epic night on Saturday which deserves a telling. Perhaps I should take a minute to talk about drinking Georgian wine and Soupras before I get to the Epic of the Bath.

Grapes and wine are really important here- often reliefs on the walls will feature grapes prominently, and the Georgian cross, which has a curved crosspiece, may be (according to some people I’ve talked to) representative of a grape vine tied to a support. Georgian wine is really good. REally really good. The kind that is served most often at a Soupra is unfiltered Black or Golden wine, which is usually between a month and a year old, and is opaque and sweet and has a nice amount of alcohol in it. This wine is not something you can buy easily in the city and is not exported. As I mentioned before, every house has a grape vine. Many people make their own wine, some of which is sold, but the best stuff is saved for friends and families.

10/9/06

Georgia (the Country) report #1
Hey all-

First of all, Georgians don’t call it Georgia, it’s Sakartvelo or something similar. Also there’s different peoples and regions in Georgia, which seems to be about as important as being Georgian or not. the Svans are supposed to be the toughest- don’t feel pain- and they live in the highest mountains of the Caucauses, in stone towers no less. A few of the singing teachers are Svans- a sister of one of them fell and broke both bones in her calf, but went dancing the next night at a wedding (she didn’t know it was broken until she went to a doc a month after it broke). The picture I saw of a Svan town looked like it came straight out of Lord of the Rings- high stone towers at the base of

-excerpt of letter to Jovielle-
So yesterday was a great day- there was a tour of a monastery planned, to which I almost did not go, since I was exhausted and needed (and still need) some alone time. But I ended up getting on the bus, and going to the mountain, and it was so beautiful! Crazy folded mountains, no trees, dry; sandstone rocks, caves carved into the rocks with plaster frescos; lots of icon paintings, with all of their faces scratched out by the Soviets, and many of them in ruins because they used the monastery for bombing practice. Bastards! But really all that man-made crap was wasted on me. The mountains were so beautiful, I had so much fun scampering. And I scampered. I don’t remember ever scampering the way I did yesterday. Everywhere I went, I ran. Up the mountain. Across the ledges. I had so much hyper energy from SITTING DOWN ALL THE TIME.

9/30/06
Hi everyone, I’m in an internet cafe here in Tbilisi. I just came back from hiking in Borjomi, which was mountainy, lovely, beautiful; and then we went to an observatory established in the 50’s under the Soviets, but it was raining and we couldn’t see anything. I’m writing this in the 5 minutes I have before I take a shuttle to the train station so I can take a shuttle to the airport so I can take a shuttle to Sighnaghi, where I’ll be singing with Village Harmony...

Love to you from across the sea, over the mountains,
JOel

PS the highway that goes from Tbilisi to the airport is named the George W Bush Highway. There’s a giant billboard with his picture at the entrance to the road. They like him (at least, they did, until the Security Council incident in October) because he came to visit Georgia and acknowledged it as a country in a way that hadn’t happened before.. Russia had occupied Georgia for a long time and is only reluctantly letting go; having the US visit was a Big Deal....