What a great 4 days I had. I got out of Yerevan again. This time I went to a friend's childhood hometown, the village of Tovuz (just north of beautiful Berd up in the province of Tavush). It was 6 of us on the trip and we traveled a really bumpy 4-5 hour ride in a Jeep. The road conditions after Sevan were HORRIBLE and we all pretty much felt sick most of the way, but it was definitely worth it. (We decided to take the Chambarak route rather than the Dilijan one.) Layers of green mountains covered in trees, hundreds of corn and grape fields, donkeys, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and hundreds of hay stacks surrounded us for 4 days.

We also had a chance to travel around the region. Aygedzor was the most beautiful. Tavush Reservoir right next to the border of Azerbaijan was also very nice. We had a chance to visit Nor Varagavank, a beautiful monastery camouflaged in the trees of a high mountain. The road leading up to the monastery, which actually resembled a dried up riverbed, was quite difficult to drive on, but we did it. Unfortunately the monastery was in horrible condition and there were a bunch of obnoxious drunks begging me to take photos of them.

Other than sight-seeing, we ate and ate and ate. All kinds of khoravadz (bbq)...pork seasoned in thyme; red trout; eggplant, tomato, and pepper; potatoes; fresh corn. We also had, get this, turkey khashlama (boiled turkey), fresh village yogurt and cheese, wine, mulberry vodka, sunflowers, and we also did a lot of blackberry picking.

Once I got back home in Yerevan I had a quick shower and the first thing I did was have more food. This time a North American dish.....French fries and Canadian hot dogs with Pepsi.