BROjomi and Vardzia

This past weekend I ventured out of the village, and five debonair young men and I ventured to Borjomi (or as we called it BROjomi).  It was Derricks birthday weekend, and we were just paid so it was a perfect time to go on an adventure.  Thursday we all met in Kutaisi so that early the next morning we could travel to Borjomi by bus.

Friday morning rolled around and we were searching for a taxi to take us to the bus station with little luck.  Finally we were able to flag one down, and when we told our driver where we were going he offered to drive us all for the price it would have cost on the public bus.  Thinking it would be a quick ride the six of us piled into a regular sized sedan.  We were riding 5 in the back with two people always sitting on each others laps.  In reality the ride took three hours, and we had to rotate seating arrangements many times.  Luckily our driver was a champ and enjoyed it when we sang, and cracked jokes the whole way there.

Since we did not have to ride on a bus that ran on Georgian maybe time we had all afternoon to explore Borjomi.  We decided to hike a couple of kilometers to the hot springs that are fed by the mineral water that Borjomi is known for.  We made it to the springs and found that rather than being hot they were more of a luke warm.  Georgia may have been getting to us, and we all decided it would be a great idea to skinny dip in them.  That worked out great until a pair of elderly ladies decided to join us in the swimming pool.  Never less it was a great swim in the mineral water and a fun little excursion. 

Swimming in the hot spring, and yes those are our underwear.

Saturday morning we decided to hire a driver with a former soviet military jeep to drive us to Vardzia.  Vardzia is a cave city that was carved into the mountainside by monks in the 11^th and 12^th centuries.  It is truly an amazing site to see the ingenuity that they used so long ago.  The monastery is still used by monks today, so we could only see about half of the caves.  Its cool to see something that is so old still being utilized.  Our driver took us to another castle that looked to be from the 13^th century, as well as a good local restaurant.  It was a perfect day trip to see one of the great sights of Georgia.  That evening we ran into some of the newest TLGers (only been in their villages 2 weeks) and gave them a real orientation over Georgian wine.

The cave city of Vardzia

Sunday was a normal day of travel back to our villages.  Public busses across the country then an 8 kilometer walk back to my house.  This weekend was a great chance to see friends and historical Georgia.  Now its back to teaching the kids, which is rewarding in its own way.