4 to 5 august 2007, agarak (the armenian border town)

Ararat mountain which belonged to Armenia but now it is part of Turkey.

this water bottle was for washing hands.
how it works: uncap a little and the water flows out slowly... good invention!

Avor negotiating for a good price for a watermelon to be shared by all of us.

one of the many memorials one will see in the Cacusus.
this man might have been killed in a road accident as his memorial was by the roadside.

Avor stopped many times along the journey to refresh himself with splashes of water. i think the journey was quite trying for him...

beware of bear hunters?

we plucked berries along the journey to refresh ourselves. Avor loves them but they were too sour for my tastebud...

here we go...

big smiles after a fantastic breakfast!

this is Avor... i really miss him!

Avor's handmade chair outside his house

Avor's son (17) and wife (43)

it was darkness after the crossing but we found a family-run motel (Inter Motel) not far from the Agarak border. the motel was a good shelter but there were too many mosquitoes and had no shower facilities. i havent taken shower for the past 3 nights.

the next morning, Hamlet, the sleepy-eyed owner with a deep and manly voice, managed to get us a Kangoo-like van to Yerevan. at first, we were quite wary about Avor, the van driver, as he looked like one of the many touts at the border... but he turned out to be a kind and fatherly man who took great care of us on our way to Yerevan. first, he drove us to his house for a BIG breakfast before setting off for the 8 hours journey together with his son. this photograph was taken while we were having breakfast at the patio of his place.