[ Autumn 2005 ] I continue my memoir of my Armenian tour.
This photo was taken on a hill where we could see the beautiful view, but I cannot remember the name.
I remember our guide said “this area has been dangerous because of landslide, but the soil is fertile”.
Also, this is some famous local poet’s favourite place where he made poems.
These children were playing with paper planes, but because the foreign tourists disturbed them, they became curious, looking at us and laughing.
I wanted to communicate, but did not know their language.
In the end, when we had to leave, I said ‘bye’ in Russian.
They replied happily and waved.
Naila, our guide of 27 years of age, told me later that she talked with parents and grand parents in Russian and with friends in Armenian.
That is part of the evidences of their history, isn’t it.
Armenia was always occupied by Turkey, Persia or Russia and in 1991 they became independent for the first time.
But soon after that, they lost 16000 people by the Nagorno Karabakh war.The country was in a mess and the factories of Soviet era were all closed down.
In recent years, they said they were getting better slowly at last.
In this sort of places, people become more religious and children quickly become adults.
