August 3rd-August 7th Zugdidi

Zugdidi means "Big Hill" but the city itself was flat. I met up with two other TLGers named Tara and Rachael in Kobuleti, where we all paid a cab driver 12 lari each to drive us to Zugdidi. Driving to the city brought us through the Guria and Samegrelo regions. From what I saw, the land is flat and fertile, but altogether, I am glad to be living in Adjara. I would take hills and mountains any day, and it was unbearably hot during the journey. A marshutka ride would have been an inferno, getting a cab to take us was a benevolent luxury.

Zugdidi is a moderately sized city, located about 30 km from the coastline. We were dropped off at a train station. From their, we made our way to the city center. A long, thin park at the city center provided shade and a fountain, where, eventually the TLG volunteers converged.

The TLGers and I told about each others' stories and descriptions of our families, over pizza and burgers at a fast food restaurant. A note of interest, Pizzas in Georgia are usually topped with mayonnaise. From what I heard, the families are awesome like mine, or have little quirks. One volunteer's family pushes too much alcohol on him. Another family doesn't want her to leave...ever. One family even has a horrible animal-child that bites, scratches and claws at their adopted volunteer!

My family policy for me so far has been very hands off. They are great to be around with when they are home, but usually are busy during the day, and are out of the house. My father Romani, either comes home at night, or not at all. My brother, Levani operates machinery in Batumi during the weekdays, and stays there for long periods of time. Xatuna works in Chakvi as a server at the Oasis Hotel, the resort town next to mine, and her schedule is like her father's. The only two family members that have been consistently home have been my host sister Shorena and my Grandmother, Nanuli. They didn't mind me leaving, just were curious on where I was going and when I should be back. I like being treated as an adult here, and expect this to work out really well, especially since I plan on traveling some more before school starts.

Soon after arriving, I came to the conclusion that Zugdidi is a boring city. Aside from a museum, the city has no other real attractions. For lodgings, we stayed in a quaint hostel a half-an-hour walk from the city center. The hostel was run by an ex-TLG member and gave us a five lari each discount! It was the first hostel I've stayed at and was pleasantly surprised. The beds were confortable, their was a shower, and the other travelers were friendly. The road to the hostel, was a dusty, their was no shade and at night, packs of wild dogs would roam the streets. To paint a picture, it was great seeing everyone, but I consider the city to be more of a stopping off point to Svaneti to the North. At the hostel, the previous occupants left maps of Georgia in the common area. The map of Svaneti had mountains and snow, and glaciers, compared to humidity, dust and wild dogs in Zugdidi. I became intrigued with the idea of visiting Svaneti from Zugdidi.

The first night in Zugididi, we spent our time drinking Georgian wine at a bar called "Amerikidan" which was a good night of parting. We all had a lot to drink, enough make us think we were all good dancers, a lot of memorable moments were made that night. The owner of the bar was an American who said the bar has all kinds of good holiday events, (Halloween, Thankgiving, Christmas, etc) but, I wouldn't want to come back to Zugdidi just for a party. I'm not inclined to stay at a bar for too long. A few hours hanging out is nice, but continuous drinking becomes wearisome...and expensive. Four hours of dancing, I was ready to go home and sleep, but the other TLG-ers wanted to stay much longer. To get out of the bar, I took my friend Cameron home, who had actually fallen asleep sitting up.

The next day, we went to Anaklia, which is a coastal town. Resorts and abandoned hotels lined the beaches. Georgia is a combination of ruins and new construction. There were crowds before apparently, and there will be in the future, but the present has sparsely populated beaches and hotels with low rates. The beach at Anaklia had actual sand and not the smooth stones at the beaches at Chakvi and Batumi. What I liked the most was a half-constructed, abandoned cement pier jutting into the sea. People were climbing up it, and jumping off down a 15 foot drop. Of course I wanted to jump off it too, so Rachael and I climbed up this makeshift ladder (A branch of some tree) at the base of the pier. We maneuvered through the half constructed deck to where the water was deep enough and jumped!. Jumping off was the highlight of the day, unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. I'll hopefully poach someone else's picture of the pier. Anaklia also has a water park which was going to open up the next day. We walked by it, and It looked awesome, but I didn't want to stay in Zugdidi an extra day, I wanted to move on to visit other places.

I convinced Five of us to visit the city of Mestia in Svaneti. Svaneti is located in the Greater Caucasus mountains in the north, and is apparently a cold and harsh climate. The summer months are much cooler than the rest of Georgia, and has some of the best mountain scenery in the country. From what I've heard, the people are extremely rough and independent. They have their own language, culture and customs. Even their religion is a mix of Christianity and pagan religions. One of my goals for this trip was to visit Svaneti, and perhaps make it up to Ushguli. Comprised of several villages, Ushguli, is the highest year-round occupied town in Europe. Svaneti was never conquered by foreign invaders, and many ancient Georgian artifacts, art and treasures were housed here during wars and invasions, and remain in the it's museums. The highland towns have declined to give up their artifacts to the Georgian government, leaving Mestia's museums empty of most of Georgian art, icons and history. Extending our trip from Zugdidi to Mestia was exciting. I was surprised on how flexible everyone was, being paid to travel in Georgia really frees everyone's schedules.

The last night in Zugdidi was quiet . Some were heading home, others were going to Turkey, and others were leaving to Armenia. Paul was even traveling to Sicily for a wedding. Five of us were to take a six hour marshutka ride up through a newly built road through the mountains to Mestia.

Tara on the left (Marskhniv) and Caitlin on the right (Marjviniv) Posing in front of  one of the two fountains in Zugdidi.  It is hot and humid there, I've dunked my head in that fountain more than once.

This house is the Diadani museum. We were rushed through paintings, furniture, antique silverware and Napoleon's death mask by some Georgian friends.

Me being cheesy.

We drank a lot at Amerakidan, but the bill for the wine was only 97 lari. Go Figure.

Another old abandoned building in the park next to the museum. Did I mention I like old abandoned buildings? I'd live in one, but it would defeat the purpose.

Anaklia! To the left is the pier I jumped off of, to the right is a waterpark that promises to be open tomorrow. Nice try Georgia, I've been lied to before here.