Kargaaad! An adventure in Georgia: August 5th to August 7th. Mestia

The ride to Mestia was thrilling. The sweltering city of Zugdidi was behind us, and within a half an hour of departure, we were in the mountains. The lower elevation was covered in forest, but there were also landslide scars and quite a few rocks on the newly-built road at times. The road twisted through a steep river valley, the bottom was a large turquoise-colored reservoir, used for hydroelectric power. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Georgia's power infrastructure was in shambles. Seeing this feat of engineering is a testament of how far this nation has come in only twenty years.

As we reached higher elevation, the valley widened into farmland and pastures. There were cows, but no fences. Our marshutka driver had to occasionally dodge a cow. We had a few fearful moments when the marshutka swerved out of the way of some stupid animal deciding to cross the road. Swerving from cows through high alpine roads fed our appetite for beef. Because we departed early in the morning, we didn't have time to stop anywhere and eat.

When we reached the towns before Mestia, it was like traveling through medieval cities. Most of the buildings were made of stone, the streets were narrow, and each town had several stone towers projecting past the other buildings' rooftops.

Mestia itself was similar to the other towns, except it was larger, and the entire main street was under construction. Apparently, Georgia is trying to turn Mestia into a ski resort. There was so much dust and debris in the streets, it was a bit surprising to come across. When you hear about Svaneti, you think of an ancient and isolated land.

Their also as a lot of litter in Mestia. Usually my village has some, but not like this. We were literally walking on garbage, the river had garbage floating down its rapids, and garbage lined its shores. Usually my village burns its garbage, plastic and all, but in Mestia it just piles.

When we arrived, it was still too early to eat, so we went exploring the city's back roads, and climbed up a hill to get a better view of Mestia. After that, there wasn't much to do in the city itself. Mestia is too small to have significant sights in the city itself. I consider it to be another stopping off point to its surroundings. Outside the city, there are monasteries, glaciers, and hiking trails.

I was hoping we could continue the trip to Ushguli, the highest year round occupied city in Europe, but it was a 200 lari cab ride, and that was one way! The group and I are too cheap to spend that kind of money, so instead we went on a hike to Chalaadi glacier. To save time, a cab took us where the road ends. From there, a hiking trail winds up a steep river valley to the glacier, which is approximately 5 miles from the city. The hike was beautiful, we went through pines and birch trees along a river. The Temperature was around 70F, but was much cooler by the river, the turbulent waters sprayed cool water into the adjacent air.

The hike to the glacier was a bit crowded with people. Mestia has many tourists visiting: Swedes, Russians, British, Italians, other Georgians, etc. Many of the Svans we met spoke more English, compared to people living in Tbilisi or Batumi.

The Glacier was an amazing sight, and we were able to walk along boulders to get close to it. When we arrived at the edge of the glacier, you could see water trickling down into the river. Water would surge up from underneath the ice, creating the river that we were traveling alongside the trail. One of my thoughts on seeing a glacier for the first time was how much movement is occuring. Water is pouring down its sides, and small rocks and pebbles continually slide off it into the water. It was defiantly not a boring block of ice, but a dynamic landmark, with a mind of its own. The sounds were trickles of water, splashing rapids, a clatter of rocks and pebbles.

A bit of knowledge our group picked up in Mestia is that in Georgian restaurants, you never know what your going to get. There are menus, and you can read them, find something and order. When the waiter frowns and shakes his head, you know they don't have what you ordered. After a few shakes of the head, you eventually find something, I've been lucky with ordering fried pork and potatoes. They have a lot of pork and potatoes in Mestia. To my traveling companions dismay, sometimes fried chicken isn't fried at all, but served in a soup. Sometimes you will order and pay for coffee and it never comes. Once I've gone without paying for my entire meal. I had the money, I handed it to the cashier, and she just waved me away!

There was an unfortunate event for my friend happened when we both ordered the same thing, which was fried pork. Our waitress brought to us one plate of the predictably delicious menu item. Adam, being the generous friend that he is, allowed me to eat the first plate. Twenty minutes later, we find out from the waitress that the plate she brought out was two servings of fried pork! We found this out only after I had eaten it all. I still feel bad about this, and I am sorry for Adam. What is funny is that Adam has had horrible luck in Georgian restaurants. What he wants is almost always not on the menu, His food always comes out last, and he is given his beer/drinks last as well. He ordered what I ordered first specifically because I had good luck getting what I wanted, and he figured they can't mess up fried pork, specifically when I order it!