Canyons, hammocks and hitchhiking.

2/6/22

We somehow managed to stop the marshutka exactly where we wanted it to stop, at a random point on the main road, at the correct turn for our hostel – hoorah! We got off and walked through the rural village to our hostel. The hostel was beautiful. It was an old traditional Georgian house which had been renovated wonderfully. We chilled on a terrace in hammocks and chatted. We were meant to go out for food, but I was used to Tbilisi’s city time and by the time we wanted to go out at 20.45, the restaurant kitchen was closing. The hostel owner offered to cook for us, but since neither of us were that hungry, we opted for only wine and returned to the hammocks!

3/6/22

We had a glorious breakfast at the hostel before deciding to hitchhike around for the day, to the canyons and waterfalls Martvili had to offer. A Belgian guy who was volunteering in the hostel, told us it was easy so we figured we’d try! It took us two cars for a car to stop and take us to the first canyon – what a winner!! It was three guys and the driver drove crazily, racing round every tight bend – we were glad when we had arrived at the canyon! We thanked them and went on our way!!

After speaking to people at the main canyon and with advice from the hostel owner, we decided to skip it and walked down the road to a quieter one that was not marked on the map. When we arrived it was pretty quiet, a group of teens and us. It was beautiful. We swam straight away, shocked by the icy cold rushing river. Afterwards we lay about on the rocks basking in the sun rays before having a last swim (and pose) before heading onwards.

We walked a little way past a dam and then to the turn thay we needed to take off the main road and then hitchhiked again, with the aim of reaching a waterfall. First a man drove us up until his home and then we walked past a school before a kind lady stopped her lift home from work (she was a teacher) to give us a ride. She got out at her house, which looked a whole lot like Miss Honey’s cottage on Matilda. Paulo wanted to take a photo and I noticed it was a guesthouse. I asked if she did food and she said she did. She gave us a tour of her guesthouse, which was beautiful and reminded me of the traditional homes in St Fagan’s! Then we ordered and she got to work making bread from scratch. She said she would be awhile since she was making everything fresh and suggested we go and swim in the river at the bottom of her garden in the mean time. We walked through a meadow down to the river to find not a single soul and a clean, if fast flowing river. We swam, chilled on sunny rocks and floated down the river with the current. Then we dressed back up for lunch. Lunch was quite a spread and was glorious!

After lunch, we walked to another canyon and then to a waterfall. We sat and gazed into the falling flow of the water a long while before walking along the river as far as we could and then getting a coffee. We got a lift with the owners of the coffee shop as far as they were going before walking and trying to hitchhike the rest of the way back. It would take us three hours to walk the whole way back! Hopefully, we would have some luck!! There were not so many cars on the road as it was around 19.00 and most of the cars which were, were full. Eventually we got another two cars to eventually reach Martvili town. One guy even swapped cars at the canyon and then took us to the town just to be nice before turning back to where he was going!

In the town, we bought drinks and snacks before walking the last few kilometres home – what a day!! We arrived home around 9pm, having missed dinner for the second day in a row! We got a litre of wine and chilled in the hammocks for our final night in the beautiful Karma Hostel.

4/6/22

Today was moving day again. We had a final glorious breakfast – I tried the homemade Spanish spinach tortilla which was yummy. Afterwards, we got our things and walked to the main road to try and get to Zugdidi. Our plan was to hitchhike there after getting the ‘hitchhike bug’ the day before!! Initially, nearly all the cars were turning off the main road, so none of them stopped for us. Others were full and other drivers just shook their heads. We were not hopeful. A marshutka eventually came past and took us to the next town. From there, we continued to hitchhike. An old man took us to his house in the middle of nowhere, where all of his dogs greeted us enthusiastically! We thought we would struggle to get our next ride from there but then two guys on their twenties stopped in a beat-up banger and gave us a lift to a fort (also past where they were going!). From there we walked over a bridge and to a straight patch of road where an old man stopped for us and drove us to the bus stop in the next town, where we could get a marshutka to Zugdidi. We stopped a couple of times for him to drop bread off at various houses and he also gave us a bottle of chacha (local alcohol 70%!) to be friendly. What a guy!

From there to Zugdidi it was plain sailing and then we waited maybe an hour for the next marshutka to leave to Svaneti. In this time, we ran around the market and bought hiking stuff – I bought a fishing coat (since they had no regular raincoats), and Paulo bought grippy trainers and a sunhat. We got cheese pastries before leaving for Svaneti.

The bus was absolutely packed out!! 16 people for 13 seats and 3 fold out ones! Full House! We stopped halfway for a food stop and tried the famous Kubdari (meat bread) offered to us by the bus drivers – it was pretty nice! Traditionally, kubdari was made with weed as well as meat and herbs and therefore has got its own UNESCO status!