Discover a new world: Chachuna's forbidden

Preparing for adventures

I got up early in the morning, it was about 05:45, I looked out the window, the sun's rays were still fighting the darkness, the birds had just started chirping. I somehow managed to cope with the chill I got from getting out of the warm bed and started packing my bag. In general, hiking for me is not just moving from point A to point B, it's more like a ritual, first studying the route, finding information, planning, then providing food and finally packing my bag, these are the components that traditionally precede all hikes, during which I constantly feel something different, something that tickles your heart pleasantly and your body warms up, this is also part of this ritual, insomnia the night before leaving, emotions do not allow me to sleep. All this continues constantly, but always ends with different sensations.

After packing everything, I slung my camera over my shoulder, took one last look at the house, and, well, nothing was missing, I set off for new adventures, which this time awaited me in the semi-desert Chachuna Reserve .

Thoughts of the field

It was early spring, so the morning didn't look very promising. It was raining on the way and we encountered quite thick fog in places. I thought that this fog would not disperse and we wouldn't be able to see the most beautiful views. I thought that only mountains could think, but it turns out that the fields can think no less. However, the sun soon overcame it, gathered all its energy and gave us warm rays in abundance. Indescribable beauty unfolded before our eyes, a real paradise. I had a feeling that I would soon see, somewhere in the fields, how sheep and wolves play together, where rivers of milk gurgle and fields covered in thousands of colors create a picturesque landscape. By the way, I saw no less things, so people, know that paradise is not far away .

Imagine, endless green fields, bright sun and beautiful blue sky, all this created an environment from which you would not want to leave, it would make you forget about everything bad in this world, make you smile, give you energy, fill you with great feelings, charge you, energize you, fill you to the brim, make you feel as if you have become lighter, and the air around you has compressed, it feels like a novice magician succeeding in performing some difficult magic trick for the first time. You stand in front of this wonder, still not believing, do these colors really exist? If it's just an imagination, the further we moved, the more my heart expanded, the green color mixed with yellow and red, creating a true impressionist masterpiece. At that moment, I wanted only one thing: to stand there for as long as possible and admire all of this, to remember it well, to imprint it on my mind and heart, so that this feeling, which made me forget everything and turned me into ordinary matter, which is one small particle of all this and which, together with this very environment, creates unity, the essence of the world.

Fighting with mud

The mud took me back to a world where you don't feel the unity of the world at all. There had been a lot of precipitation the day before and today's sun hadn't had time to dry it out yet, so our cars were floating on the mud like figure skaters on an ice rink. With the help of a lot of shovels and a pickup truck from the border military forces, we pulled the cars out to the peacekeeping zone and saw the Taribani meadows. It was quite impressive to see these meadows in spring. The surrounding area was full of turtles that didn't even move from their place, calmly eating the newly sprouted, lush grass. I offered one of the turtles my share of cucumbers, but since we humans had long since lost their trust, it didn't shut up, turned around and continued to nibble on its native grass. After that, we returned to the cars and drove to the Dali Reservoir , which was built on the Ior River, as I know, but not from reliable sources, forgive me if I'm wrong, this reservoir was built to cool a nuclear power plant, this project was soon closed and instead of this place, a power plant was built in Armenia, we survived. The Dali Reservoir once again managed to delight me, despite the fact that I am panicky afraid of water, I really wanted to jump in it, the water was of a very beautiful color, it seemed that nature had not left it behind and had turned it green.

The Caucasus seen from Khornabuji

We decided to have dinner there under the shade of a cedar tree. After a good rest, we continued our journey to Khornabuji . This fortress is mentioned in historical sources as early as the 5th century. It overlooks the Alazani Valley . From here, the majestic Caucasus can be seen on the horizon in the distance as a white, sometimes silver or scarlet strip. Between Khornabuji and the Caucasus, like a mother dragon, lies the green Alazani Valley, on whose back the life-giving Alazani River flows like a serpent. For centuries, Khornabuji and its guests have been looking at this wonder. It is an infinity, and the silver-haired old man of the Caucasus enjoys all this, and we were lucky enough to be able to join all this, as a small particle of this beauty. Since I was coming from the end, when I got to the castle, almost everyone was already there. I followed the narrow path carefully, because it was wet and slippery . Poppies smiled at me from all sides and promised me challenges. When I finally reached the end, and oh my goodness, I stopped breathing for a moment, staring in shock. In front of me was the Alazani Valley, green and yellow, and on the horizon, the majestic Caucasus, shrouded in fog. At that moment, I was ready to die. My mind was transported to a completely different world. I felt good here, ready to merge with all this to the end. Our majestic, proud Caucasus felt this and it also opened its heart. The fog slowly cleared and in all its glory it appeared before the C.M. and once again convinced me that we belong to this world, of which we will one day become a part, and that it also belongs to us and gives us great energy. I left this place completely filled and charged. I left, said goodbye to the hornbeam, and looked at the last rays of the sun, which gently blended with the grayness of the Caucasus and briefly turned it red.

Hiking/traveling as a way to find yourself

People are always looking for things, in different ways, my search strategy is related to hiking/traveling, it is a way to find myself, as a small part of this world, to return to nature in order to understand the reasons for my existence and the greatness of the world, to escape for a while from the urban environment, noise, human sadness trapped in concrete buildings, soul-crushing indifference, hypocrisy... The world that we, humans, have created for maximum comfort, built huge buildings to drown out the cries of our egos and have received complete disharmony between the inner world and what we actually have to live in.... That's how I found a way, in the form of hiking/traveling, to establish harmony between the real "I" and who I need to be in order to be able to survive. We all search far away for what we might have close by. We search for paradise - harmony . I found it here and now.

This day had it all: a mystical, foggy road, mud, extreme, beautiful views of Khaskha, rolling wheat fields, the discovery of a new world, and many adventures.