24th of June, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Armenia.
I walk for about 30 minutes to get to a place where I can hitchhike. It is a good point that, first, Yerevan is not so big; and second, that T.’s apartment is kind of outside of the city.
I am standing by a gas station, holding a sign which says “Khor Virap”. A friendly man comes and tells me he is not going to Khor Virab but nearby. I misunderstand him, thinking he is going only about 5 kilometres from here, but I take it anyway because I believe it will be better to be even further away from the city. Roman and Armen are going until 5 Km before Khor Virap! But I think they simply drove a bit more than their actual destination just to drop me off closer. They are both very quiet but also very nice men.
At first, I stand by the road for a few minutes. But then I notice that I can start walking because the Monastery Khor Virap is only about 6 Km from here. I will keep my thumb up anyway!
There is an elderly couple by the road, selling apricots, and they give me some. Owm!
I don’t walk much because soon enough, Amlat stops his car. He is not a bad person, but I believe he would have tried something if I wasn’t who I am and kept a cold conversation the whole time. That’s because in the very first few minutes of the lift, he told me I am very beautiful. Yuck! Men should be forbidden to make compliments about beauty to strangers. Forbidden! I don’t want to hear that! I reserve myself the right to not hear your bullshit about beauty and your opinion concerning “mine”. Shush!
He drives me all the way to the entrance of Khor Virap Monastery and gives me also some apricots.
I sit by a shade and try to make a plan. I don’t see a source of water anywhere, and the only shops are small kiosks, so I eat some of my apricots and decide not to camp around here for the night. I will spend some hours around and then I will walk to cross the nearby village, get some water for the night, and camp somewhere after the village. I ask to drop off The Hulk in a small cafe, mostly because I see there is a girl at the cashier.
Khor Virap Monastery is in a very nice region, with what can be a great view of Mount Ararat, if it is not for the clouds. Which was the case of today.
The Monastery is also very interesting because of its history. I didn’t know a thing before getting there but it seems that, the place was first only a dungeon, which is still on place and can be visited. This dungeon was the home of a very unlucky man, Gregory the Illuminator, for 13 years, only because he was christian when the king Tiridates III of Armenia was voting for paganism. After surviving for all these years, he was taken out only to save the king’s life, who was now touched by the gesture and changed his and the whole country religion, officially to christianity. Armenia is the first county in the world to proclaim Christianity as the official religion.
I visit the dungeon even though I was scared to death! The reason is not mystical but physical. To get to the dungeon you must go down a 90° angle staircase, for about 15 metres, in a kind of tunnel, only about 1 metre wide. It is like going down the sewer. And I had my small backpack with me! But I thought to myself, what a hell! If I came all the way here, now I must see this thing. And I am glad I did it! It is sinister but also a super cool dungeon! It is not big, perhaps five square metres, a round room, and it is completely dark, but I totally recommend.
You can also go up to a small hill, just behind the Monastery, for an outside view of the building.
When I come back for my backpack, there is an elderly man sitting by the cafe, and for some reason we talk about me being from Brazil. He gets up and says that they have a Brazilian coffee in a bottle and offer me one. Hell, I would not refuse a Brazilian coffee like that, so I say yes! And the bottle it is so beautiful! He invites me to sit down and the four of us start to talk: me, the elderly man and the 2 owners of the shop, a young couple. The young lady offers me a glass of Armenian wine. I also accept. Yay! Two of my favourites’ drinks, just like that? This Khor Virap Monastery is magical! Laugh.
The wife and the son of the man who bought me the coffee come from the Monastery and she is also just lovely. We chat for a few minutes, and she even tells me that, if I was going to Yerevan, she would take me. “Come to our house and be our guest for tonight!” – the lovely man says. But I kindly refuse because I am going in the opposite direction. I depart quiet soon after them.
10 Years Around the World 