Volunteering in NAGORNO-KARABAKH (1st week)

Alejandro Zakarian
Buenos Aires,, Argentina 

After 3 months volunteering in Armenia, I moved for 1 month to Karabakh. Every volunteer is offered a homestay family without any cost and with breakfast included. However, Lucas, a friend from school who was doing the same volunteer program, was living there for some weeks and we decided to stay together. After nearly seven hours of travel, I had some energy just to walk the city center, which by the way is very small, and eat a pizza. The center has a very beautiful square that has a nice fountain in the middle whose lights turn on daily at night as the water moves to the rhythm of different songs. Thank God, this place has free WiFi 24 hours, 365 days a year!!! Nearby, there are government buildings, some restaurants and not much else … it is really very small. After a week, if you just sit for a while on a bench to catch WiFi, someone will recognize you and stay talking to you for a while! 

Back in our apartment, with some cherries, watermelons and apricots in the middle, we had a great chat on the balcony, which is actually the only attractive site of this typical old building of the past Soviet Union.

DAY 2

Every Saturday we have a different tour! This morning we were going to Amaras, a beautiful church and definitely a must stop, and to the mulberry festival, where we ate a tasty Jorovatz (something like Argentinian barbecue, but definitely different). We ate it with the classical Armenian lavash -a really old type of bread- and some vegetables. We tried a shot of vodka and listen to the traditional music of Armenia, which made me happy to hear.

Afterwards, we went to a platan tree that is over 2,000 years old and is one of the oldest in the world. It’s hard to believe but it has 27 meters of circumference and a height of 54 meters, equivalent to a 15’floor building. Here, Mesrob Mashdots, the great creator of the Armenian alphabet, spent long periods for inspiration.

DAY 3

For the first time after being four months away from home, I finally had contact with caramel and the Argentinian cookie “Alfajor Havanna”!!! After that, I was able to go anywhere… I was in a great mood (and my stomach was happy too!). Today we went to Tatik-Papik, the most important symbol of Artsakh, which stands for love, life and the importance of preserving the origins. Represented by a grandmother and a grandfather (Tatik means grandmother in armenian and Papik, grandfather), the sculpture intended to always stand as a reminder of where you come from.

On our way back home, walking around town, we found an Armenian guy wearing Messi’s jersey and obviously we did not hesitate to take a photograph and congratulate him! 

DAY 4

I began my work in the city at the Ministry of Tourism of Nagorno-Karabakh, where I helped them translate the website into Spanish.

DAY 5

My first day at my other job, the Avan Shushi Plaza Hotel. There I was also helping with the translation of their website, maintaining their Facebook profile and promoting tourism. Shushi is a city that is 10 km away from Stepanakert, but much higher and many meters above sea level. It is a beautiful city and definitely worth a visit. Although it suffered almost total destruction during wartime, it’s recovering and has many paradisiacal landscapes and the way people treat you makes you fall in love with the city. PHOTO 8

After work, we went to have some Armenian food. As always, pizza was there but we also had an amazing hummus which to this day I still can remember the taste. The people are all quite hospitable and the best way they truly welcome you is always with coffee, fruit or some food. In this restaurant, they brought a plate full of fruits, which by the way have been the tastiest I had in my life so far. The climate in this region makes the fruits amazing and super sweet. 

DAY 6

After working at the hotel, I went to the school where Lucas was volunteering painting classrooms during the school’s break. We ate lunch together with some sandwiches of cucumber and tomato, something very simple but also very typical here. Surprisingly, the kitchen entryway was quite low and a few days before Lucas hit barely his head. I laughed too much when he told me! What could happen? Today it was my turn… I banged my head and stayed several minutes lying on the floor! Hahaha! Later, we went to one of the most important and beautiful churches here, Ghazanchetsots. 

DAY 7

Once again, we returned to Shushi. This time to go Marmot Kar (called Zontig by locals), a sort of amazing waterfall. From where you leave the bus, you will have to hike for approximately 90 minutes to get to Zontig, if you want to take the most attractive path. Obviously, in that way with many shrubs and stones, you might find everything as well as a priceless landscape that makes you feel in paradise. Without a doubt, it was one of the most beautiful places that I visited during this trip. When returning, we took another path and yes… of course we missed the road that was supposed to be shorter and ended up taking a route that was much longer than the one we took to arrive. Lucas, when he wants to be our GPS, always fails and this time was not the exception… that’s why he love him! After a long hike, we decided to hitchhike until one great man stopped and brought us back to Stepanakert. On our way back we were told that there was an alternative way to reach Zontig and it only takes 15 minutes! Definitely we do not make the best decisions, but we do catch the best landscapes!!!

 

This entire week I was staying with Lucas and Dzila until our office found a homestay family. Finally, that day came and today I moved to my new place. Here lived mother Ruzanna, dad Aram and her 5 children (4 boys -Armen, Gevork, Garo and Albert- and Sofya, the baby of the house who was 2 years old). It was the first feeling of sadness in this new experience.  I always knew that living with my friend was something temporary but when I left I almost shed a tear! We spent our childhood together in the same school. Then we did not see each other for 15 years, until we met on the plane to Italy during our travel to Armenia. After sharing several months in Armenia and even though this separation was temporary, it was very hard to say goodbye.