A dense green mist spreads over the valley of the Inguri river, we look down on it from above, the road winding along the top rim of the canyon. Svaneti, Georgia’s northernmost province, was linked with the outside world only by mountain trails for thousands of years, so nobody made any real effort to occupy it. And so the rule of the Dadiani princes, who were only nominally dependent on the Russian Tsar, lasted up until Communism. “This road was built by Saakashvili”, our driver says in awe, while dodging the skinny cows and pigs, who cross at their glacial leisure, as well as the rocks that fall onto the roadbed, while passing over a dizzying abyss, “they did everything then, the current government nothing”. We enter a tunnel, from whose ceiling a spring is dripping copiously onto the road. The marshrutka stops under it, reversing back and forth, rubbing itself under the free car wash, much like the pigs yesterday against the wall of Gelati monastery.
We stop at the Jvari Pass, “otdykhat, eat and drink a little bit”. “How long will we stay?” “Fifteen minutes, half an hour, as long as it feels good”, the spunky little driver invites us in. A wooden hut, with two tables, we eat hot mutton stew, and the driver pours us glasses of orange juice from his own bottle. The neighbors come together at the arrival of the bus, a great platter of savory cheese pastry, khachapuri is ordered, which they accompany with chacha, a local grappa distilled with orange. Another minibus arrives, a loud-voiced man joins the company with his daughter and her boyfriend, the whole company is hanging onto and laughing at his stories. Then, at unanimous request, the girl produces a panduri, a Georgian guitar, and begins to tune it. “This is why I came to Georgia,” says Lloyd in delight.
Chemiguli shenmogelis – Mi corazón te está esperando
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Chemiguli shenmogelis guli ankara |
My heart is waiting for you, but |
Svanur koshkze artsivebi skhedan – Las aves se posan en las torres Svan
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Svanur koshkze artsivebi skhedan |
Birds sit singing on the Svan towers |
And by this afternoon we have arrived to the upper stream of Inguri, under Ushba Mountain, to Ushguli, the highest-lying settlement of Europe, the land of the Svan towers
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