Armenian Constitution Day was spent travelling with Aram, Joe and Ashod. Aram was invited by the Principal of the Chess school in Gyumri and had asked us to come along. We drove to Gyumri in the morning and the bus was waiting to take us to a further destination. I should mention we were quite late and yet the locals were waiting patiently for us in the bus. The final destination was Garnarich located north west of Arpi Reservoir in the Shirak Marz North Region with an altitude of 2000 metres. The bus trip up took a while and overheated a number of times along the way. We stopped at a village along the way and as usual the villagers were overly hospitable offering us (tan) a yoghurt drink. Once there, the locals were pointing at one mountain stating it was the Georgian border and at another explaining that was the Turkish border.

The men were hard at work getting the khorovatz (barbeque) ready while the women were setting the picnic table filled with village cheeses, fresh bread, cakes, vegetables etc and the kids were enjoying the open space and laughing heartily. It started raining suddenly and all was covered and we all walked back to the village. There was Armenian coffee offered all around, again great hospitality being offered by the villagers. An hour later we were back at the Reservoir and everyone resumed his or her positions. The Armenian people appreciate good food, music, various drinks and having fun. While the khorovatz was cooking, some were dancing, others playing volleyball, badminton, and of course Chess. This was right up Aram�s and Joe�s alley and amongst the crowd there was a young lady, Mariana who was under 18�s Champion of Armenia as well as young kids who played well.

After hours of eating, playing sports, getting to know the crowd and resting, we headed back to Gyumri. On the bus the men were singing and two young boys who had good vocals sitting behind me were singing Armenian songs. The funny part was that these two boys had changed words to this Armenian song and added their own lyrics something to do with the Armenian budget being empty, I won�t go into details. The bus stopped so that everyone could pick flowers from a field covered with poppies, lavender etc. I was tired and stayed on the bus and to my surprise; one of the old men had picked a whole bunch of colourful flowers and gave them to me. We got back to Yerevan quite late but what a great day. Anyone reading this log, I would strongly encourage visiting villages and really experiencing what Armenian people are about, you will enjoy every minute of this wonderful experience.